As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36-37)

There’s nothing like spending the evening at church to turn cynicism about the troubles of this world into Good News about the triumph of love.

Wednesday evenings are, literally, a Godsend. First we all meet for supper, then people disperse for a whole slew of activities for every age. I’ve been attending Rebekah’s lively Bible-study through the Book of Acts. This week we looked at how the Good News began to make its way out of Jerusalem and into the world. It was the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch that grabbed me.

The man was someone with a lot of responsibility and standing at home. He was a “God-fearer,” meaning he worshipped the One God of the Hebrew scriptures. Travel to Jerusalem was no easy task, so it’s likely this was his first visit, a huge deal, and potentially a pivotal experience in his life of faith.

JUST AS I AM: But here’s what’s interesting, and very sad. Because he was a eunuch, the law said he was not welcome in the worshipping community (Later,  Isaiah 56:1-8 declares God’s open-hearted welcome, but there’s no evidence Isaiah’s words changed anything).

However, even though the man would have been turned away at the Temple, he was still searching the scriptures with an open heart.

Rejected by the status quo, an outcast because he wasn’t “just like everyone else,” yet still full with faith. Enter Jesus, via the witness of Philip, and the open-hearted witness of the Gospel of Love

This is what the good news of Jesus proclaims: God loves you. You are perfect in the eyes of the Creator. You don’t have to fit the standards set out by the law, just accept the invitation to follow Jesus.

The telling words are these, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

• Not the law – not any more.
• Not prejudice – not now.
• Not the fact that he was “different” from other men – Jesus took care of that.
• Not the judgment of people who are prone to say, “Sorry, but I don’t think you qualify…” – Christ’s invitation declares that all are welcome at this table.
• I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8)

I don’t care who you are, what people say about you, or what level of access your “position” in society qualifies you for – all that becomes immaterial when we encounter the great “YES” of the Gospel of Love.

What is there that could possibly prevent any one of us from living into that kind of promise and hope?

– DEREK