I often ponder the breadth of God’s love for us……… and as I reconcile the Scriptures…I get these glimpses of God’s love that are even deeper than we might want to imagine in our religiosity.
I see God so much as having the qualities of a loving father. I am a loving father to my children. I can see where I get that love from…….God……..because He loved me so much. Even when I lived deep in sin (addiction with all it’s periphery sins). I see that just because we love someone in their sin…..that we aren’t condoning that sin (God, I do not believe, condoned the sin in my life…I DO believe that God grieved my choices). I can also see the truth of the story of the prodigal son……because God welcomed me back from that sinful place and time in my life (not that I don’t still have struggles)…and threw a big party for me……I am now an ordained Pastor. I believe that there is always hope when we cling close to the Father.
I also have a deep belief concerning Scripture. There are no contradictions. All Scripture, when looked at in context……..can…… and does reconcile. After all, Scripture is more than a “Codex” of books written over a period of 1600 years by over 40 people from a huge variety of backgrounds….lawgivers, kings, princes, physicians, peasants, and fishermen. Scripture is God’s story…a conversation with us. The Scriptures are His Words to us, His children. God’s wisdom…when put in context and understood….all reconcile.
I wrote about the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in December of 2005 and recently about Peter and Cornelius the Centurion in October of this year (a story that shares some of the same prejudices as the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch). This fact alone is an interesting thing to share……God’s Words to us are alive…every time we open Scripture……it is a conversation with the Father. I take something new away every time 
I touched on the overcoming of prejudice in both stories…..but this time I read these Scriptures…it really hit me…the deepness of God’s grace and love.
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH: A eunuch is a male who has been castrated. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, verse 12, Jesus mentions three types of eunuchs: “For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others have been made eunuchs; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven.“. Though he was a “God-fearer”, The Ethiopian Eunuch would have been barred from active participation in all Jewish rites by his race and his emasculation. We find this in Deuteronomy 23:1 (I especially find amusing this reading from the the King James Version). Additionally, the eunuch was traveling in a chariot (Acts 8:28) …a symbol of the evil empire of Rome.
PHILIP: A deacon in the early church, one of the seven chosen officials…one of the “evangelist” that was scattered abroad after the martyrdom of Steven. Philip (Not be be confused with Philip the Apostle) went to Samaria. His background? He was raised in the Jewish tradition….he was a nationalistic Jew. He would have viewed the Ethiopian Eunuch a gentile, as “ceremonially unclean”. Philip, however, reflected the way in which the gospel penetrated deep social barriers and dissolved racial and other prejudices, and demonstrated the endless grace of God in Christ Jesus that is freely available to ALL.
ACTS 8:26-39
The Eunuch is traveling through Samaria, reading Isaiah 53, Philip is led by the Spirit to talk to this man and helps him understand what he is reading in the light of Jesus. The eunuch accepts Christ and Philip baptizes him. I would point out that Philip does not display any of the prejudices that I would have expected him to display (social, societal, racial, religious, etc)…he simply talks to the eunuch. He should have refused to baptize the eunuch simply on the basis of Deuteronomy 23:1.
These questions are not meant to elicit guilt…my hope is that they will elicit thought and reflection.
While we most would agree that God’s grace is extended to ALL who believe…….
How often do social barriers, racial barriers or other prejudices keep us from realizing that God’s endless grace is available to all people also?
- How often do we share the message of God to those whom we have prejudices against?
- How often do we listen to the Spirit of God in our hearts and approach those in society in simple and loving ways…people that don’t think like us or look like us?
- Do we seek out people that are believer’s like us or do we seek out those that we would assume are not even believer’s? (we can seek out both )
- What about people whom God crosses our path?
- What would it be like if we could live outside these “prejudices”?
I have found so many people that I used to harbor prejudices against…. to love God (like the Ethiopian Eunuch did)…and I didn’t even know….. (I am reminded of Genesis 28:16….since I have started looking through “spiritual glasses”….“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” )
When we have people in our midst, the homeless, the addicted, people of other faiths (Muslim’s, Hindu’s, wiccans, etc.), how often do we turn to the social prejudice rather than trying to see them as God see’s them……loved. What about prostitutes, criminals, or homosexuals?
Like Philip…..I believe we need to love people where they are.
<<—- The proud family: Shannon, Liam and Tim Donohue
<<—- They dress me all up to go…..but I’m tired. That bein’ born stuff is hard work! All I wanna do is poop and sleep for awhile.
<<—- Grandpa Tim
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