Good news...for all Part 2

Last time, we considered the African word ‘ubuntu’, a philosophy of life that emphasises humanity toward others. This is a word that emphasises the togetherness of community over individuality—that looks for ways to affirm the humanity of others, recognising that we are all humans together. Made in God’s image.

We then extended our study of ubuntu to the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–39). Philip was able to show the Ethiopian that the good news of salvation through Jesus extended beyond one people group, the Jews, to all people. Now, we consider how the Ethiopian responded to this news.

Words of blessing and hope

Philip had begun to tell the Ethiopian eunuch the good news by explaining a passage in Isaiah 53. It makes me wonder what else Philip talked about with him. What did Philip move on to next? Did they work systematically through Isaiah or go somewhere else?

Given that they had the book of Isaiah with them in the chariot, I think it would have make sense to carry on reading Isaiah. If they did, they would have read wonderful words of blessing for the world. They would have read about a new covenant and a new creation. Words of hope for the future.

And, if they got as far as Isaiah 56 then they would have read (in verses 3–6): Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’ For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. I will give them—within the walls of my house—a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear!’

Did you catch that? The eunuch will have a place within the walls of God’s house! He will no longer be on the outside, as he was when he went to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Can you imagine how that good news must have sounded to a man who desired to worship God, but had been excluded. As Philip explained this good news, the eunuch felt so powerfully that this related to him, that he wanted to identify himself with it by being baptised. And so, at the next bit of water they come across, he asks: ‘What can stand in the way of my being baptised?’ (Acts 8:36). In other words, ‘Hey, if I’m really on the inside with God, is there any good reason why I shouldn’t be baptised as others are?’.

Philip could have said, ‘Actually, there are a few good reasons. There’s the whole “you’re an Ethiopian thing”, and then there’s the “eunuch thing”, too.’ He could have put the Ethiopian off by saying, ‘Now, I know we just read those verses in Isaiah, but that’s a prophetic book, so I’m not sure if it’s talking about now or sometime in the future. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll call a council meeting with the other disciples and we’ll take a vote. That’ll give you time to go home and sleep on it. Think it over; we don’t need to rush now. Then, if you still want to get baptised and the disciples say yes, there’s a six-month course you have to attend so we can make sure you believe all the right things and that your doctrine is sound.’

Perhaps that’s what Philip should have said. It would have been a sensible answer to a fairly radical proposition. But he didn’t. He just baptised this new convert. It was disturbingly quick.

It certainly disturbed the early church. It disturbed them to the point that at some time in the second century, an extra bit was inserted into this story. This extra bit had the eunuch making a confession of his faith, in order to satisfy Philip and everyone else that his faith was genuine and that it was right for him to be baptised. The addition, inserted after the Ethiopian’s question about whether there was any reason he shouldn’t be baptised, said: ‘Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

This addition is verse 37, but you won’t find it in your Bible. The earliest and most reliable manuscripts don’t have this verse, so it’s been taken out again. Disturbing and rapid as it may have been, Philip did simply baptise the Ethiopian eunuch right away.

A man with an unchangeable condition that left him on the outside, through the good news of Jesus, joined the community of faith. No wonder he was so full joy! Even when Philip mysteriously disappeared, still the Ethiopian eunuch ‘went on his way rejoicing’.

No more outsiders

When the angels on that first Christmas said, ‘I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people’ (Luke 2:10), they meant it! Jesus is good news and great joy for all people.

For the eunuch, it was his race and physical defect that kept him on the outside. In those days, these things mattered. Paul wrote about the divisions between male and female, Jew and Gentile, slave and free. These were boxes people could be put in. Yet Paul said, ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28).

But is it really that bad to box people? I mean, someone might have been a woman or a slave. Maybe people do belong to those boxes. What’s so wrong with boxes? Well, the problem isn’t with the box itself. The problem comes when those in one box begin to think they are superior to those in another box. The problem comes when those in one box diminish those in another box. The problem comes when we fail to see people as human beings and identify them only as people that fit into particular boxes. The problem comes when the box someone belongs to allows us to justify keeping them at a distance, simply because they are different to us.

What would Paul have said to us? What boxes would he challenge us over? What boxes matter to us? Waged—unwaged; educated—uneducated; owners—renters—homeless; married—single; able-bodied—disabled; brought up in the church—recent convert; modern—post-moderns; Baby Boomers—Gen X—Gen Y; addict—clean; gay—straight; crim—goody two-shoes.

These boxes may be true, but I think Paul and Luke are saying that whatever boxes we may belong to, the good news of Jesus is still good news for us and everyone else. No boxes are a barrier for God. And if they’re not a barrier for God, they shouldn’t be for us either.

The angels meant it: all people! Even those whose lives we really can’t get our heads around.

We’re all the same

A youth pastor felt God wanted him to do something unusual. An adult entertainment expo was coming to town and he felt he should be a positive presence for God at that event. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he booked a stand anyway. At the last minute, desperate for something to do, he found a rabbit suit in the Sunday school cupboard from Easter, so he got his wife to dress up in it.

The rabbit was a hit. All the girls at the ‘sexpo’ wanted to do was to have their photo taken with it. As the pastor saw this, he realised something. These girls, who were caught up in the sex industry, were just little girls who needed to be loved. Something started. An organisation called xxxchurch.com. A church for porn stars!

Later, when the pastor went to another sexpo, he took makeup artists from his church and offered the girls free makeovers. As the artists applied the makeup, they told the girls that they were beautiful, they were precious, and they were loved by God.

Recently, xxxchurch went into a brothel. Not the part where the girls work, but the grotty quarters out the back where the girls lived and slept when not on duty. They gave each girl’s room a makeover.

A coat of paint, new linen. On each sheet, they embroidered the words ‘loved’. And in big letters across each wall, they painted the word ‘loved’. Every day, those girls are reminded that they are valuable human beings.

Wherever they go, xxxchurch gives out Bibles, and on the back of the Bibles is written: Does Jesus really love porn stars? … absolutely. That may go against what you’ve heard about Jesus, but it’s true. Jesus loves porn stars as much as he loves pastors, soccer mums, liars, thieves and prostitutes. We’re ALL the same to Jesus. We’re ALL just people who need God to save us from the mess we’re in and to lead us in a better way.

One pastor obeyed when he really wasn’t sure what he was going to do. One disciple obeyed when God sent him to a ghost town.

A world of beautiful people

It turned out that for Philip, it wasn’t about the destination; it was about what would happen on the way. It was about the journey. Sometimes when God asks us to do something, it turns out to not be about the thing we think it’s all about. It’s about what we’ll learn, how we’ll grow and the beautiful people we’ll meet on the journey.

The world is full of beautiful people made in God’s image. People that we perhaps can’t get our heads around. People from boxes that we don’t belong to but who deserve community, kindness, belonging and acceptance. People who need ubuntu.

The world is full of people like Bill. Bill was a hippy. He decided one Sunday morning that he would go to a posh, conservative church. So in he wandered, very late. Bill, in his jeans, t-shirt with holes in it, bare feet and long dirty hair.

The church was completely packed, so Bill couldn’t find a seat. He wandered up the aisle looking for somewhere to sit. This began to make people feel a little uncomfortable. Bill kept looking for a seat. He got closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realised there were no seats, he just sat down on the floor up the front. This made people feel very uptight. The tension in the air was thick.

About that time, the minister realised that from way at the back of the church a deacon was beginning to make his way toward Bill. The deacon was in his eighties, with silver-grey hair and wearing a three-piece suit. A godly man, elegant and dignified.

The deacon walked with a cane. As he started walking toward this boy, everyone was saying to themselves that they couldn’t blame the deacon for what he was going to do. How could you expect a man of his age and background to understand some hippie college kid sitting on the floor in church when that’s just not the right thing to do?

It took a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church was utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. The minister had paused in his sermon, waiting for the deacon to do what he had to do. All eyes were focused on the spectacle.

Everyone watched as the elderly man dropped his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, the deacon lowered himself and sat down next to Bill, worshipping alongside him so Bill wouldn’t be alone. The congregation was choked with emotion. When the minister finally regained control, he said, ‘What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.’

What the people of that church had seen was the true spirit of ubuntu. One man, seemingly so different to the other, went out of his way to make sure the ‘outsider’ felt welcomed and valued. So that Bill could realise the truth that he belonged and that he wasn’t alone.

We all crave social cohesion, so how can we live the spirit of ubuntu? With God’s help, we can love like Jesus loved. Maybe we paint a wall. Maybe we visit a community. Maybe we share the good news of Jesus with someone. Or perhaps we simply go out of our way to sit beside someone so they know they’re not alone. Ubuntu.

By Carla Lindsey (abridged from War Cry 27 July 2013, p12-13)