Personally I find the conversion and baptism
of the high ranking Ethiopian court treasurer in our first reading very moving
to read. A highly important and intelligent man from an entirely different
culture, reading Isaiah’s prediction of the suffering and death of Jesus, being
moved by the Holy Spirit to acknowledge him as Lord and Saviour, and asking for
baptism. Afterwards, we read that he went
on his way rejoicing but wouldn’t it be great to know how his Christian life
progressed after that? Did Queen Candace herself become a Christian – and
possibly her family and court? We don’t know.
Usually when individual stories appear in the
New Testament it means that they were known to the young Christian Church. But
then they generally are described by name. To take just one example, when Jesus
became too weak and unable to carry his own cross any further, the Roman
soldiers picked a strong-looking man at random out of the crowd. Have a look at
Mark 15:21. He is named as Simon, his home town is known as Cyrene, and we are
told he is the father of Alexander and Rufus. This certainly means that this
man became a Christian and, with his sons and family, were known to those who
heard Mark’s Gospel read. That’s another truly moving story.
But when Luke wrote The Acts of the Apostles,
the situation was somewhat different. Luke was writing for a Greek (Gentile)
audience as well as a Jewish one, and he may have decided to include this story
because it demonstrated that the Gospel was already spreading to a far-flung
audience, going as far as the upper reaches of the Nile south of Egypt, far
beyond the Roman Empire. We are left to guess whether this man remained strong
in his faith, although surely (I believe) he did, because the extraordinary way
in which Philip met him in his chariot reads almost on a par with Paul’s
Damascus Road experience. He was a top level financier too, so we can assume
that even bankers are sometimes not far from the kingdom....!
He was reading from Isaiah chapter 53. We
need just a bit of background here. The Jews didn’t just live in Palestine.
After the Babylonian captivity many had dispersed to the far reaches of the
Persian, Greek and then Roman Empires. They were called the ‘Diaspora’ which
simply means the ‘dispersion’ and these communities of Jews could be found in
virtually every town and city you could name. And many Gentiles found them and
their religion attractive. They worshipped just one God, who was Lord of all
creation, unlike the pantheon of often unpredictable and less-than-admirable
gods of the empire. Gentiles often admired their strong family life, their
generally strong moral and religious code and way of life. Not a few attached
themselves loosely to a local synagogue. They even came to have a special name,
these Gentile adherents to the Jewish faith and way of life. They were called
by a Greek name which translates as ‘God-Fearers’.
They had access to the Jewish Scriptures,
because what we now call the Old Testament had been translated into Greek and
had been available in its full and polished form for well over a hundred year
before the time of Jesus, and most of it for long before that. So there was no
difficulty for any reasonably educated Gentile in reading and meditating on the
Law and the Prophets - what we call the Old Testament.
This Ethiopian clearly belonged to this large
group of adherents, and he had actually been to Jerusalem to worship. It would
have been surprising, so soon after the crucifixion and resurrection, and with
Jerusalem still buzzing with argument and conflict about Jesus, if he had not
picked up something of the events surrounding Jesus.
And he comes across Isaiah chapter 53. This
is that most extraordinary chapter in which you read and feel as if you were
reading an eye-witness description of the crucifixion. Remembering that there
was no such thing as the New Testament at that time, what better place could
there be for Philip to start telling him the good news of the gospel and
leading him to faith. And this important man is moved by the Holy Spirit and
comes to a living faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Then he is not too proud
– in front of all his no doubt astonished attendants and entourage - to ask to be baptized by Philip down in the
river or lake they were passing. He went on his way rejoicing. It’s a moving
story that makes the heart and the spirit glad.
But, as I suggested at the beginning, what
happened after that? He would have returned to his Queen and court and resumed
his official duties amid a community with its own gods and rituals and culture.
It must have been difficult to say the least.
In some ways, it’s not so different for us.
We may find a true and living encounter with Jesus at a church gathering or in
the privacy of our own homes, and feel (like John Wesley) our hearts strangely
warmed, our faith coming alive, and our relationship with the risen Jesus
becoming real. But what happens when we get back to the office on Monday
morning, or resume what we call ‘normal life’? As in the parable of the sower,
does the seed fall on good ground and bear fruit? Or on shallow soil, or among
all the rocks of secular life, and sadly fail to grow to maturity?
Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel reading from
John Chapter 15 how we must maintain that vital, living relationship with
himself. We have to ‘remain attached’ or ‘abide’ in him, in exactly the same
way as a branch must remain attached to the tree stem if it is to remain alive.
The moment we become detached, we start to die spiritually.
The life-giving sap which is the life of God
himself, is drawn up through the main trunk, which is Jesus, and feeds that
life into the branches, the leaves and the fruit. There is no spiritual life if
that link is broken. So what is necessary for the life-giving link to remain
and grow and give birth to a fruitful Christian life? Here, briefly, are four
ways..
1. Bible Study.
In the Bible Study Group to which I belong, our leader John Kane told us that
he felt that, by careful reading of the scriptures, he was coming into a closer
relationship with Jesus. We are studying Mark’s Gospel and I know we are all
having that same experience as we follow Jesus through his life and ministry.
However much (or little) time we can give to it each day, and whatever form of
discipline and help in the way of notes we use, every Christian draws the sap
of God’s life into ourselves as we prayerfully draw close to Jesus through our
reading and meditation on the scriptures.
2. Prayer.
Prayer is the channel of communication which is so vital in keeping the
relationship alive. How can any relationship survive if the people concerned
never talk to each other? Whatever method of prayer we adopt, we need crucially
both to share our thoughts, our needs, our joys, our sorrows with our Lord, and
hear carefully what He has to say to us.
3. Fellowship.
The story is told of a man who went to visit a Christian friend, and as they
sat in front of a coal fire, he shared the fact that his Christian life was
growing cold. The friend lent forward with the fire-tongs, took a red-hot lump
of coal out of the fire and laid it in the grate. Silently they watched as it
lost its glow and gradually became cold. No words were needed. The point was
made. We need each other – we need encouragement, if necessary admonishment. We
need each other’s prayers and practical help. Our faith is always best nurtured
within a warm and lively Christian fellowship.
4. Sacrament.
When we come to Holy Communion, we receive under the symbols of bread and wine,
the promise of the very life and presence of Jesus within our hearts and lives.
They tell us that, for our physical health, we need five types of vegetable
each day. For our spiritual health, we need all four of these spiritual
lifelines, and no doubt more as well.
There is no time to expand on these this
morning – we could easily have a sermon series on each. But the picture I want
to leave in your minds is of the tree, the branches and the fruit. Imagine a
tree in full fruit, and beside it on the ground the sad sight of a branch that
has become detached. The life-giving sap of the tree can no longer reach it and
it is relentlessly on its way to death. It is an immensely sad sight and there
is now no possibility of re-attaching it to the main stem.
Fortunately for the Christian, and however
far we may have fallen back in our Christian life, there is – by the mercy and
grace of God – always, but always, a way back. It is never too late to renew
our living and life-giving relationship with our Lord. Let’s review our
Christian life and practice and make sure that we are each truly living and
healthy branches that bring forth much good fruit to the glory of God.
Robert
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