5EasterB The Eunuch

FifthSundayEasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 6, 2012

          The Jews of Jesus’ day had a long history of some very physical rituals as well as the surrounding cultures and religions.  As a young child between the ages of twelve and thirteen, I was required by my parents to take catechism classes.  That meant a series of instruction in the Lutheran faith for two years on both Sunday mornings as well as Wednesday nights.  It was a requirement to voting rights in the church as well as admission to the sacrament of Holy Communion.  During this time, it was our pastor’s task, as a new seminary graduate, to teach our class of five girls.  One of the topics was circumcision because that is one of the things that were required of all Jewish men as well as their male non-Jewish slaves.  But the other thing that puzzled me even more was the word Eunuch.  What was a Eunuch anyway?  I guess the best way to describe it is what you do to a young male piglet when you don’t want it to reproduce and want to raise it for meat only.  Upon looking this up in the dictionary, I found this:  

 

Eunuch definition

 literally bed-keeper or chamberlain, and not necessarily in all cases one who was mutilated, although the practice of employing such mutilated persons in Oriental courts was common (2 Kings9:32; Esther 2:3). The Law of Moses excluded them from the congregation (Deut. 23:1). They were common also among the Greeks and Romans. It is said that even to-day there are some in Rome who are employed in singing soprano in the Sistine Chapel.

Three classes of eunuchs are mentioned in Matt. 19:12.

This passage states, “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  My footnotes at the bottom of my Bible indicate that in reference to this last category, Jesus accepts the possibility of voluntary celibacy, as did other pious Jews.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary 

The Eunuch can serve a different purpose, just as a castrated male pig.  A male who is a eunuch cannot impregnate a woman and can potentially sing Soprano.  It was a matter of control and purity in the Jewish religion; and thus the prohibitions in that religion against all that are physically different.  We read in Deuteronomy, chapter 23, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.”  In Ezra, chapter 10, we read, “All these had married foreign women, and they sent them away with their children.”  Many of those sent away became a part of Samaria. It was considered an abomination to the Lord to have a physical defect or to marry someone outside of the religious community, such as an Ammorite or Moabite.  Despite this, Ruth was a Moab, great grandmother of King David and thus also of Jesus.  I guess that means that Jesus is not from the pure, untarnished Jewish line. Our second lesson has a lot to do with prejudices, prejudicial treatment of others, and the all inclusiveness of Christianity.  Interracial marriage goes back many years and so does other types of sexuality.  Christianity, in its truest form includes those that were formerly excluded by Jewish law.  The interesting thing is that people either don’t seem to read their Bibles, or don’t take note of the history of many, many years that it contains.  And if you have ever watched the TV show about various celebrities’ genealogies, if you go back far enough, we are likely related to everyone anyway.

          Another point that I would like to make is that Philip is not one of the big name apostles, although I agree that this passage illustrates he was chosen by God specifically for the purpose of the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch.  Philip was one of seven deacons chosen by the apostles in Act, chapter 6, verse 5.  This story takes place after the stoning of Stephen, also a deacon, who was stoned for his testimony about Jesus. Faith began before in the Eunuch as evidenced by his reading of the book of Isaiah.  He was a religious man, we are told, but without the good news of the gospel. He asked for the ability to understand what the passage in the book of Isaiah meant and as Philip opened the meaning of the scriptures for the Eunuch, the Eunuch was able to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world.  At our baptisms and those of others, we are reminded that the faith journey is a continuous one.  It is one that is to continue to the end of our lives here on earth. Philip, being directed by the angel of God, and then by the Holy Spirit; obeyed God’s direction to this specific person and by doing so, showed compassion. It didn’t matter that this person was a different race, a different sexuality, a wealthier classed person.  Philip was called and empowered by the Holy Spirit by the prayers and laying on of hands by the apostles.  And we are all called by God in this way, sometimes with the addition of oil, beginning at our baptisms, then at confirmation, whenever we receive a blessing at the communion rail, whenever we receive unction for the sick and/or dying, when set apart for a specific ministry of consecration or ordination within the Christian community.  At each of these times, we are again asked to recommit our lives to the ministry of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. There is still much to be done and much to think about.  Think of how the vast majority of this planet's inhabitants experience life: poverty, infant mortality, recurring famine, fatal epidemic, natural disasters, and deadly war. And even in Europe and North America, as so many struggle with joblessness and foreclosure, to claim that God is love goes against so much of our common, human experience.

Nevertheless, as Christians we persist. We even sometimes sing: "Love Him, Love Him, all ye little children. God is love; God is love." We proclaim that God's love transcends and pervades common human experience. Perhaps today we Christians sometimes proclaim this too glibly. Perhaps we sentimentalize this love. Perhaps we, when things are going all right for ourselves, forget that this is not the case for everyone. We forget that God's love is not obvious to everybody. God calls us to reach out to others and share that love, helping others to understand the love of God in Christ Jesus. There is no middle ground here. Either we are bearers of a new truth about God and the world, or we are above all to be pitied as the greatest of fools.

That is the way of the Gospel. We are bearers of the message that God is for you, God is with you, God cares for you, and, yes, God loves you. This message should strike us as a message so good as to border on folly.

But for Jesus Christ, this Gospel of ours would be folly. In Christ, God brought divine love to common human experience, not to trick us, not to make sport of us, not even to judge us or condemn us, but to join us, to live fully our common human experience, to be born, to live, to suffer, to die, all out of love--and to rise again to show that nothing, not even death, can extinguish this love. This is our hope, our calling, and our mission. Having been loved by God, we likewise must love, and not just those closest to us or those who are easiest to love; our love must extend to places and to people where love is foreign, where love is absent, where faith in love has faded or died. To be loved by God is to be given a mission: to take this bold faith to those who just cannot accept it, to the destitute, the broken, to those who have lost hope, and not to tell them this improbable truth, but to show them it is true, through our lives and actions. No one will believe it unless they see it in us.

6EasterB Hospice woman and Cabbie

6EasterB, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 13, 2012

A NYC Taxi driver wrote:

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, any knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard
box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, and then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive
through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice. ‘The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'.
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

            Last Sunday, the gospel lesson that I did not read to you was from the beginning of this fifteenth chapter of John about Jesus being the true vine and the Father being the vinedresser.  The gospel lesson for today is a continuation of that chapter.  The key word throughout this chapter is, “abide.”  And I say this because, that word shows up eleven times in this chapter. What does the word abide mean?  If we look in the Greek New Testament dictionary, we find that the Greek word men-oh which is the word translated into the English abide means, “stay, abide, live, remain, dwell; last, endure, continue” and in the transitive form, it means, “await or continue.”  I am pretty sure that this was a strong inspiration behind the words to the hymn, “Abide with Me.”  Rather than the text itself, last Sunday I read what appears to be the meaning of that text.

            In this story about the cabbie and the fare that he takes to the hospice house, he does the most kind and compassionate thing.  That is by far the best response this cab driver could possibly make, but some people think that being nice is always the correct response.  I don’t believe that is true and the older I get, the more I know it isn’t true.  Take, for example the raising of children.  If parents don’t encourage fair play with other children, or to not wander off in a store and never receive discipline or correction, they will have difficulty in school and other social situations.  Even as adults, some think that as long as nobody says anything, it is OK to break the rules of the employer and do things their way. Sometimes the best thing you can do seems to be anything but kind.  Sometimes we will disappoint someone because our best is to say, “No.” to someone.  There were times for me when it has been very hard, but necessary to say.  I remember many years ago sitting in the office of my supervising pastor who said to me, “There are times in our lives when we have to do something because it is part of our job; we may not like doing it, but it is part of our job.”  Every job that I have had consisted of parts that I don’t particularly enjoy doing and I venture to say that it may also be true of other people and the jobs that they have had.  As some have said to me, “Just say no.”  As in the theme for Nike, “Just do it.”  The best way seems to be the simplest.  Even the simplest things we do, small as they may seem at the time, can be the biggest.  The simple things we do today can have big percussions in the future. Remember the analogy of the mustard seed that a big bush can come from a very small seed.

            Jesus explains in the gospel lesson that our relationship to Jesus is no longer that of a servant and master, but one of friendship.  There are no secrets because Jesus has told us everything that has been revealed to him from the Father.  But remember this: Jesus has chosen us.  We did not choose Jesus.  In this relationship, we have the responsibility to bear fruit, fruit that will last.  It is this fruit that will last if we remain with Jesus, if we abide with him in all that we do and say.  Jesus will help us to love others as he has loved us and brought us before the throne of grace.  We always have that free will to walk away or to engage in disbelief.  We can always reject the love of God, but how could that possibly be beneficial for our lives?  How is that possible if we truly understand the depth of love that God has for us?  It is up to us to bear witness to God’s love for the world.  The congregation I was with before this one, for almost seventeen years does what they can to feed the hungry.  Just that one simple act has created disciples because they have reached out in love, the same love that God in Jesus Christ has for us.  The Holy Spirit is at work; even here.  Amen.