Reading Acts 8:26-40 is always a new experience for me. Just reading the plain words, we see the story of Phillip explain Scripture passages in Isaiah in light of the risen Jesus. Then they stop by some water, and this person who’s been outcast for so long is welcomed by baptism into a new community!
This message of inclusion is particularly relevant to LGBTQ+ individuals who have often been ostracized and discriminated against by religious communities. But as we see here, to God, all people are worthy of love, acceptance, and inclusion.
But that’s not all. See, the eunuch was on his (their?) way back home when Philip came into their life. They’d been in Jerusalem, where he was marginalized due to being a eunuch, and were heading back to their position as head of all the finances in the queen’s kingdom. It must have been a comfort to know they’d be treated like a person again soon.
And then, Philip! Scriptures opened in a whole new way! The eunuch asks what the new boundaries are. “What will stop me from being baptized?” Because up until this point, there’s always something in the way. Not anymore. The more reliable historical manuscripts don’t even ask them to declare Christ as Savior. Just baptism and welcome.
Reading this passage reminds me that biblical faith blows boundaries away. What started as a small group of Jewish believers now covers nearly every people group. The Holy Spirit changes the directions of lives forever. Today’s Ethiopian Orthodox church traces their founding back to this very eunuch. And Philip was whisked away to preach to a whole new group.
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