Spirit Hijinks...

 

Spirit Hijinks…

 

Acts 8:26-40
8:26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.)

8:27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

8:28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it."

8:30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

8:31 He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

8:32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

8:33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."

8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?"

8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

8:36 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?"

8:38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

8:40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

 

 

The Spirit of God is a mischievous soul in this text, isn’t she? And yes, I tend to refer to the Spirit as a “she” because in the Trinitarian formula, should there not be space for the feminine “pole” of God? Besides, most of the words in the Bible’s original languages we translate to “Spirit” are feminine, so why not? If I point out some of the nurturing, comforting qualities of the Holy Spirit, you might jump to the conclusion that I’m stereotyping the women’s role, so before you go there, think about the other qualities of the Holy Spirit: wisdom; knowledge; empowering; leading; extremely clever, and above all, eternally present to the church. These are the primary characteristics of the women I know, and especially ones I see in my female clergy colleagues. 

 

Not only is the Spirit “acting up” in this passage, but a lot of other things are going on, as well. Let’s talk about this Ethiopian eunuch, for a moment. Eunuchs were so designated as they would serve in the royal courts and/or the domiciles of the extremely wealthy. They would be man-servants to the women in these locales, because the term “eunuch” meant that they were not a sexual or in any way a seductive threat to the women. Some were truly slaves, and may have been “forced” into the service of being a eunuch, even surgically castrated so there would be no possibility of sexual interaction with the “guarded” women of the court. However, we learn from history that many eunuchs were employed because they were homosexual, and had no interest in women, naturally. While the Bible doesn’t directly say this Ethiopian eunuch was a gay man, we can surmise it for two reasons that are hinted in the text. Directly, the text says he was a “court official,” which was a form of employment, and a position of honor, which makes it hard to believe this eunuch was in any way coerced or “forced” to be what he was. As a gay man, he would have been a “safe” candidate for such a position, and would have been in demand for his professional services. Not only did his employer not disrespect or exclude him for being gay, but indeed, it was a “plus” for his employment in a court of a queen. A second factor is more indirect, but worth noting: if there were any “prohibitions” the author would want to note here, he would certainly have made a point of telling us that this man was “forced” to be a eunuch and had been physically made one through castration. 

 

In fact, the evidence is that this Ethiopian was employed as a eunuch in the queen’s court because he was gay, which makes what happened to him all the more significant. By receiving salvation via the Good News of Jesus Christ and being baptized by Philip, it is clear that his being a homosexual had no bearing on his relationship with God, nor did it matter to Philip, one of the earliest apostles of the fledgling church. The Good News here was an inclusive gospel, which seems to be one of the central points as to why this story is related in the pages of sacred writ.

 

So, one of the earliest conversion stories we have in the Bible of a single individual is of a gay man! We’ll call that “Spirit Hijinks” number one. Now, I know that we have a strong tendency to “think” of the Holy Spirit as a “soothing, whispering” manifestation of God, but here we have a leading story that suggests the Spirit is out to shake things up! By the way, we also have trouble imagining the Holy Spirit as a “person” of the Trinity, way too often labeling her as an “it,” and viewing her as some kind of “force” sent out from God. Not only is this an errant practice, but it is actually heresy, at least in the annals of “orthodox” Christianity. The Trinitarian formula is that God is “three in one, one in three,” with each person of the Trinity having the “full weight” of the divine, with their “function” best understood as the perichoresis, or the “divine dance.” To relegate the Spirit to some kind of “power beam” used by God is not at all what we believe in the Christian faith, so why is it so easy to “slip up” and call the Holy Spirit, “it”? I have a couple of theories about that…

 

First of all, what “person” do you think of when you think of the Holy Spirit? When it comes to “God the Father,” or “Creator God,” we have Michelangelo’s painting of the old guy on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. You know, the long, flowing hair, the muscular arm and “E.T.” finger reaching out from the cloud to touch the Adam at creation? And if that isn’t what you think of, maybe “Father” elicits at least the image of a “man” who has great influence in your life, possibly your own father. Point is, we can “imagine” a male figure occupying that “chair” of the Trinity. And when it comes to Jesus, the “Son of God,” we are not starved for images, either. Thanks to painters Warner Sallman or Richard Hook, we have a couple very powerful images suggested for Jesus, either of which—or both—that have been “burned” into our consciousness from childhood. For those of us in the West, white Jesuses abound, but thankfully, there are others out there, including one by a modern artist who claims to have captured what a first-century, Middle Eastern “Jesus” may have actually looked like. Josephus, the Jewish historian, also gives us a narrative description of him, I believe, but no one is sure it is accurate. Point two, though, is that it is not hard for us to have in our mind’s eye numerous images of Jesus the Son of God as a “person.”

 

But what of the Spirit? The Bible gives us descriptions of what the presence of the Holy Spirit is “like,” such as a “mighty wind,” “tongues of flames,” or a descending dove. No “person” here. Is it any wonder we often “view” the Spirit as an “it” rather than as a “she”? Over the years, I have suggested to my congregation that they should think of a woman who has been central to their life, development, and history, and imagine the Holy Spirit as she. A number of folk have told me this was most helpful, while others have gotten angry at me for daring to suggest that the Holy Spirit is a woman. (Probably the same folk who don’t like my “gay man” explanation of the Ethiopian eunuch, I’d guess.)

 

But if you’re still on board with me here, we can see from this text that the Holy Spirit is at least “playful” and creative! Note that at the beginning of the story, an “angel” tells Philip where to go, and yet it is the SPIRIT who “said” to Philip that he should go to the eunuch and “join him” in his deliberation over what he had been reading from Isaiah. We can’t discount the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who wants to introduce this gay man to the Good News of Jesus Christ! (Thankfully, Philip had not chosen to disaffiliate.) And that the text says the Spirit “said,” well reminds us that the Holy Spirit is a PERSON of the Godhead, not a “thing.” 

 

And then there is the ending of the Ethiopian eunuch story, which is a real hoot! The text says that after the gay eunuch is baptized into the Christian faith, the “Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip up” and he found himself in Azotus. In our day, we must note that his starting place for this miraculous “transport” was GAZA, a territory in the news every day, here in 2024, and for critical and tragic reasons. The distance from Gaza to Azotus is about 30 miles, and so Philip’s “Spirit Express” beaming was pretty impressive! Of course, those who like to debunk the miraculous might interpret this to mean that the Spirit just “spoke” to Philip again, telling him to get his butt to Azotus because it was his next preaching call for the Good News, but what fun is that? While I DO believe that placing undue emphasis on the miraculous is missing the point of what God is up to in any given situation, I also believe we shouldn’t need to “de-miracle-ize” these happenings. I get a kick out of those who appeal to the natural law as a reason why a given miracle could not have happened, when the very definition of a miracle includes “the suspension of the natural law.” Again, miracles are NOT the point of the story, but a popular “means to an end” that God has planned, and so it is with this transporter mystery of Philip, as told here in Acts. 

 

I can relate to a clever, playful and somewhat “direct” Holy Spirit, can’t you? As we read the Bible, we should NOT get the idea that the Holy Spirit is often too subtle in her work. And while I have never been “zapped” from one location to another, supernaturally, I have certainly been given “marching orders” by the Spirit of God. Sometimes they have come through a bishop of the church, but often they start by something I “hear” the Spirit saying to me. I have been “called” to visit parishioners in the hospital or in their home, and felt an immediate and compelling need to do so ASAP, and it has turned out to be perfect timing. One visit I will never forget was the time when one of my young parishioners called me and asked if I could come to the hospital to have a prayer for a beloved family member (who was not a church member) who was dying, but had requested a pastor to pray with him before he checked out. Given that she said his death was not necessarily imminent, I might have taken my time, but my Spirit “prompting” was to turn the car around and head straight for the hospital. As I arrived and walked into the room, the whole family was gathered around the man’s bed, and he was slightly conscious. The family told him that “the pastor” had arrived, and he was able to acknowledge my presence. I explained who I was, and that his niece had called me to come pray with him. I inquired as to the state of his soul, asking if he felt at peace with Jesus. He shook his head, “Yes.” So I had the family all hold hands, and I prayed a prayer asking God to open God’s arms and be ready to receive this man. I also prayed that God would give him the peace to let himself be received into God’s loving arms. I finished the prayer by inviting the family to say the Lord’s Prayer together. When I said, “Amen,” his monitor beeped three times and fell silent. He had immediately “flat-lined.” A silence fell on the room, as we all stood in both relief and a sense of “unbelief” at what had just happened. I couldn’t help but think of how Philip was “ordered” by the Holy Spirit to encounter the Ethiopian eunuch, and then was “spirited away,” afterwards. In a manner of speaking, this is what had just happened to me. I was thankful to God in that moment that had NOT been a lunkhead and ignored my “prompting” to get my butt to the hospital, ASAP. It was a powerful moment for us all, and that young woman (the niece who had called me) has never stopped talking about it as a kind of personal “miracle” story. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the “tug” of the Holy Spirit, when she comes calling!

 

Speaking of which, the Holy Spirit Hijinks continues for the Sterlings. Last Sunday, from a pulpit at Faith Community United Methodist Church in Rochester, PA (formerly Rochester First UMC), it was announced that I will be their new pastor, come July 1 of this year. YES, I’m still a retired pastor, but this half-time appointment came about because of two great female colleagues of mine—Butler/Franklin District Superintendent, Rev. Debbie Ackley-Killian, and the Holy Spirit! I could never say “No” to either of them, so let the latest “retirement” adventure begin! For seven years, I commuted 16 miles each way from our home in Adams Ridge to St. Paul’s UMC in Allison Park, and now, I’ll be commuting 16 miles each way to Faith Community, although not quite as frequently. I’ll now have a place to share these “retirement sermons” beyond my “The Word from Dr. Jeff” blog! Pray for the poor people who have to listen to them—I’m trusting the Holy Spirit, on this one. My appointment to Rochester isn’t quite a “Beam me up, Scotty” trip like Philip had in Acts, but close enough for me, as I never imagined I’d be doing it. I’m trusting God has something in store for us all.

 

As we move forward with Jesus in 2024, may we do so in the spirit of the Ethiopian eunuch, after he heard the Good News and was baptized: “He went on his way, rejoicing!” Amen.