In the book written by Luke named “Acts” (AKA The Acts of the Apostles) in the Bible, there are a couple of separate stories in chapter 8. The first is about Simon the Magician trying to buy the Apostles’ blessing of the Holy Spirit. It is a good story and worthstudy in its own right. The second story, the one for today, is about the Apostle Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. This story is found in verses 26 through 39. I recommend you go and read it for yourself, but I will give you a basic outline for now.
First, the Ethiopian Eunuch is traveling from Jerusalem back to Ethiopia. He had gone to Jerusalem with the intent of worshiping.
Next, while riding in his chariot the eunuch was reading from the prophecy of Isaiah. Additionally, the Apostle Philip heard the eunuch reading (did you know that reading silently is a relatively recent development – some scholars claim it did not become common until the late middle ages) and ran to catch up and speak with him.
When Philip caught up with the chariot, he asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch replied that he could not understand without somebody to guide him in the text.
Philip explained the passage from Isaiah (Isaiah 53:7-8) to the eunuch at the eunuch’s request.
Afterwards, the eunuch asked what stopped him from being baptized, they stopped the chariot near some water, and Philip baptized the eunuch who rejoiced in his baptism.
Now for a couple of interpretive lenses, to which I have been exposed.
The first is from the church of my childhood, youth, and young adulthood. I was introduced to Jesus and entered the Christian faith in the Baptist expression of Christianity. In that context this passage from Acts 8 is used as a prooftext.
Within Baptist circles (among other protestant denominations), the order of events is used as an evidence for what is referred to as “Believer’s Baptism.” The person speaking will point out that the Ethiopian eunuch was seeking God, was instructed in the faith, and then asked for Baptism. The pattern is presented as normative and the Ethiopian eunuch proves the pattern.
On the other hand, with my personal theological development into the Catholic expression of Christianity, I have in my adult years heard this same passage used as an evidence for something entirely different. The speaker will say – Notice how the Ethiopian eunuch cannot understand the scripture rightly without somebody to guide him. This is an example of why we have a magisterium which speaks with one correct voice regarding the interpretation of the Bible. Only the magisterium can guide you correctly as to what you should believe.
Both proof-texting claims ignore the purpose of Luke telling the story in the book of Acts.
First, why does Luke emphasize and repeat the fact that the Ethiopian was a eunuch?
Because eunuchs were prohibited from worshiping in the Temple in Jerusalem – even more, eunuchs were excluded from the practice of the faith as a whole. We know that this is true because it is described in the book of Deuteronomy, which includes the Law under which the Jewish people lived.
The Ethiopian traveled to Jerusalem to worship and was almost certainly humiliated for being a eunuch and turned away – deprived of just treatment when deprived of the opportunity to worship.
Next, when the Ethiopian asks to be baptized, he says – What prevents me from being baptized?
The Ethiopian and Philip had just been reading a messianic prophecy in Isaiah. Philip would have most certainly would have explained to the Ethiopian that the Messiah is Jesus and He has come to deliver us all from the damage done by sin.
It is then that the Ethiopian says – What stops me from being baptized?
Unlike the prooftext usage, this is less about the Ethiopian asking for baptism than him confirming that the Messiah had truly come – that his days of injustice and oppression were over.
How do we know this? Because also in Isaiah (in Isaiah 56:4-5) eunuch are promised that when the messiah comes that they will be able to worship with the same fullness as everybody else.
What stops me from being baptized? The Ethiopian eunuch asks.
Nothing! The Philip replies. The Messiah has come and those who seek the Messiah are granted full access to worship and sacraments.
Now, a brief look at the passage from Isaiah the Ethiopian was reading, speaking of the crucified messiah the passage reads – In his humiliation, justice was denied him.
We need to understand the crucifixion. It was not clean and polite the way it is depicted in so many crucifixes in parishes all over the United States.
Crucifixion was so appalling that “educated Romans would have regarded crucifixion as a barbarous punishment to be talked about as little as possible.”[1]
The scourging prior to crucifixion was deadly in itself, the person being crucified was stripped of clothing and brutally beaten, whipped, and subjected to degrading violation of personhood.
An ancient, one of the earliest ever, depictions of the crucifixion is “a tiny 2d-cent. carving on a jasper gem… it shows a nude, contorted crucified figure.[2] This is reflective of the Roman practice of crucifixion because “the condemned would normally have been led naked to the place of execution” and crucified naked.[3] This practice confronts “the Jewish horror of nudity” common at the time and reflects the additional degradation described in Deuteronomy, which “judges it one of the most shameful things in the world to be (punished) naked in the marketplace.”[4]
Jesus was humiliated through a sham trial conviction, brutal scourging, abuse, and mockery, His battered and abused naked body crucified – on display for all the world to see. In all of this humiliation Jesus was denied justice – just / fair treatment.
Why was the Ethiopian eunuch studying Isaiah 53:7-8? Because in his life, most recently at the hands of those who make the rules for who is allowed to worship and who is not, his condition made him the subject of humiliation and deprived him of justice.
Why is this passage important?
It is not important in order to prooftext a favorite pet doctrine or dogma.
The passage is important because it reminds us all that no matter what we have done or what has been done to us; no matter how we have been humiliated and deprived of justice; no matter our life circumstances – we can find that humiliation and deprivation of justice in Jesus who took it to the Cross where it was crucified.
The Messiah has arrived – nothing stops us from living in the fullness of the faith free of the past.
Buen Camino,
Fr Steve
[1] Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels, vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), 946.
[2] Brown, Death of the Messiah, 2:947.
[3] Brown, Death of the Messiah, 2:952–953.
[4] Brown, Death of the Messiah, 2:953.