Changing the world, kiss by kiss
Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 2, 2021
Acts 8:26-40 • 1 John 4:7-21 • John 15:1-8
I don’t know about you but I find the Acts of the Apostles one of the most interesting, exciting books in the bible. Carrying on from the end of the Gospel of Luke, written by that same gospeler, it chronicles the events immediately after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The book documents the transformation of the disciples from a deeply disappointed and grieving group to being spirit-filled and powerful leaders, spreading the teachings of Jesus around the Mediterranean world. While the resurrection is undoubtedly a challenging concept, its effects are much less complicated to appreciate. Exactly what happened that first Easter Sunday morning is uncertain. That something of enormous, life-changing significance happened is without question when you look at the extraordinary transformation of that motley band of disciples.
In the days immediately following the death of Jesus, the disciples huddled in Jerusalem. His resurrection appearances over the fifty days before the Ascension, emboldened them: they were increasingly set on fire by the spirit. And people noticed. They wanted to be part of this exciting new group. Looking back from our perspective, it’s easy to think that the disciples knew they were developing a new faith: Christianity, distinct from Judaism. However, I don’t think that was what was in their minds at all. They were certainly challenging the status quo, but I don’t think it crossed their minds that they were trying to develop something that wasn’t Jewish. After all, at this early point, they all thought of themselves as Jews. They participated in temple worship even as they taught, baptized and healed in the city streets. They were on fire and many people flocked to them.
Not everyone however. The Jewish elders were angry. These were the ones who had indeed worked to shut Jesus down, both because of his challenge to their leadership and teachings and additionally because of the potential danger of bringing Roman wrath down on all of their heads. And now these upstarts were stirring everything up again! Jesus’ followers were beyond tact: they were outspoken in their accusations against the Jewish leadership. They had handed Jesus over to the Romans to be crucified. They had killed him. It didn’t go down well.
The situation in Jerusalem became increasingly tense and confrontational, and if you remember Stephen, the first deacon, was stoned to death. This shocking event scattered the disciples. Most fled the city, leaving a small group behind under the leadership of one of Jesus’ brothers: James, committed to maintaining a low profile presence.
While one can certainly see tragedy in the missed opportunity to bring Jesus’ teachings into the mainstream of Jewish thought, the expulsion of the followers of Jesus from Jerusalem and into the Mediterranean world was the most invigorating thing that could have happened to this new Jewishly based belief system – for the rest of the world.
Let us take a moment to consider this Mediterranean world. It consisted of all the land around the sides of the Mediterranean sea: lands, at this time, all part of the Roman Empire, efficiently connected with well-built roads connecting cities, trading centers and sea ports. This was by no means a primarily white skinned world, which is important to remember with all of our white-biased iconography. Skin tones would have gone from olive to the darkest black found as in Ethiopia. Lighter skins from the more northern extremes would however have been recognized as belonging to the same great empire. There were the common languages of Latin and Greek that most would speak. And for much of the Roman era, a multiplicity of religious practices and faiths were tolerated since the Romans didn’t want to take the risk of angering any local gods. An enormous amount of diversity was maintained under one large umbrella.
Today, our passage from Acts find Philip being called by the spirit to a wilderness road where he will encounter an Ethiopian eunuch and have the opportunity to not only open the Jewish scriptures to him, but also baptize him on the side of the road in the name of Jesus Christ.
To help us to imagine the scene: being in charge of Queen Candace’s treasury makes this man a very wealthy, important and trusted man. That he had made the long journey to Jerusalem to worship tells us that he was a Jew, however, since he was also a eunuch, the purity laws would have prohibited him from entering the inner courtyards of the temple.
Jesus’ teachings offered a radically inclusive, love rather than rule-based way to live one’s life in the living God. All were welcome. All could belong without exception. There were no barriers to this Ethiopian wanting to follow the way of Jesus.
As our reading from the first letter of John tells us, it’s all about the love. We all belong because of the love that “is from God.” If we love, we are “born of God and know God”: it’s as simple as that. A perfect love that casts out fear. A love that teaches us to love all our sisters and brothers, and in doing so, is a love that brings us ever closer to God.
Our world so desperately needs us to recognize and deeply root ourselves in the luxurious soil of this love. A love that not only casts out fear, but has no place for greed, self-interest, division and revenge. A love is not limited, but abundant. A love not only for our loved ones, but all people, indeed, for the whole of creation. A love that will bring us into right relationship with all things. A love that is for us to live. A love for each of us to practice and live into in our own small way. A love that will change the world kiss by kiss.