What is to Prevent Me?

May 04, 2025 00:25:34
What is to Prevent Me?
Knox Pasadena Sermons
What is to Prevent Me?

May 04 2025 | 00:25:34

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Preacher: Rev. Kevin Haah / Passage: Acts 8:26-39
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Episode Transcript

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Pray with me. Startle us, O God, with your truth and open our hearts and our minds to your wondrous love. Speak your word to us. Silence in us, any voice but your own. And be with us now as we turn our attention, our minds and our hearts to you. In Jesus name, we pray these things together. Amen. Our scripture reading this morning comes from the book of Acts, chapter 8, 2638. Hear God's word. 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. So he got up, went. Now, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, go over to this chariot and join it. So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, do you understand what you're reading? And he replied, how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 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. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, about who may I ask you, does this prophet say this about himself or about someone else? Then Philip began to speak. And starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. And 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? He commanded the chariot to stop. And both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [00:02:58] Speaker B: Good morning, Knox family. My name is Kevin. Ha. My wife Grace and I have been a part of Knox, roughly for about a year now. And it's a pleasure to share the word with you today. And today is May 4th. And so I had a great Star wars joke to share with you, but my wife told me not to say it, so may the force be with you. Thank you, Nancy, for the reading of the passage today. One of the most important ways that I've learned to read the scripture is to read them from the margins. Our cultural, political, racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, affect the way we read the Bible. There's no such a thing as an objective reading. We generally read the Bible from our social location. But we need to also look at them from the margins, from the lens of the marginalized, the poor, the immigrant, the widow, the orphans, the social politically disadvantaged, underrepresented, those who may be treated on the margins. In fact, theologians talk about hermeneutic privilege of the poor in that those who are poor, blessed are the poor, blessed are the mean, blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see the kingdom of God now. So today we're going to look at this story that you might be familiar with, but from a slightly different perspective, from perhaps you might be used to. So we're going to look at this passage from the perspective of the Ethiopian eunuch. So let's take a moment now and see what we know about him, not just from the passage, but also from the context of his time and place. So he was from Ethiopia, about 1500 mile from from Jerusalem. And back then, Ethiopia referred to the area in Africa south of Egypt, which we now call Sudan. This area was ruled by a line of queens called the Candace of Moreau. Meroe was the city of that area. And we know from history that the canvass that this eunuch served was named Amontitere. And we know that they were never conquered by the Roman Empire. They were a rich, powerful African kingdom ruled by a series of women. The eunuch was a high ranking official in that kingdom. Riding in a chariot is like driving in a Rolls Royce of the time. And we know that he was an African rich, successful and powerful. We also know of course, that he was a eunuch. He served as an important official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace Amatere. In those times, the men who served the royal household had to be unit. They had to be castrated in order to make the royal palace safe for women in this kingdom, it was especially important because the queens ruled the kingdom. Often they became eunuchs from their childhood as they were trained to serve the royal household. And I did some research on the effects of castration on eunuchs historically. Here's what I found out. When the production of testosterone is halted, they develop physical characteristics we may deem as more feminine, like developing breasts, soft skins, higher pitched voices. This is especially true if they were castrated before puberty, in which case they never experienced puberty at all. They didn't fit into the typical binary of male and female. In today's term, we might say this person was gender non conforming and of course they couldn't have biological descendants. But I'm not saying that this eunuch would have identified as gender non conforming. He didn't think in those categories. But I am saying that he physically did not fit into the male female binary. So this African eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship. Something compelled him to travel 1500 miles on a spiritual quest. Maybe he felt like something was missing from his life. We don't know how he became a Jew or a God. Fear a gentile who worshiped the Lord. But we know that Judaism was different than the religion in his own country. Judaism, if it existed at all at the time in Ethiopia, was not a significant religion. The candidates had their own gods. What would drive a person to go on a spiritual quest like this? Something, someone compelled him. But here's the painful part. When he got to Jerusalem, when he got to the temple finally, he would not have been allowed in. Because Deuteronomy 23:1 says, no one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall come into the assembly of the Lord. Imagine how he would have felt. He pulls up in this grand chariot, rich African official coming 1500 miles on this spiritual quest and is turned away at the door. He would have felt humiliated and disappointed. Have you ever felt like that? I know from gender non conforming friends that they've experienced and continue to experience painful exclusions from the church. I remember one trans friends telling me how excited she and her trans friends were when they finally thought that they found a welcoming church, only to be asked to leave a few weeks later. It broke her heart and it broke mine to hear the story. Many gender non conforming people have attempted suicide and many of them have succeeded. According to a study published by American Academy of Pediatrics, more than half of transgender male teens who participated in the survey reported attempting suicide in their lifetime, while 30% of transgender female teens said that they attempted suicide. Among Non binary youth, 41.8% stated that they had attempted suicide at some point in their lives. We know that LGBTQ suicide rate is four times higher than that of general youth. Many transgender young people experience family rejection, bullying and harassment, or feel unsafe for simply being who they are. And it's been getting worse lately. Have you seen the media? Churches should be loving and embracing them, but many have actually led the effort to exclude and reject them. Let's go back to the story. Luke the writer doesn't give us the eunuch's name, but Ethiopian Orthodox Church tradition gives him a name, Baco, and acknowledges him as the founder of their church. So Baco is crushed, humiliated and treated with injustice. He turns to go back home and we catch the story in Gaza. Remarkably, he has not lost his faith. However, he's poring over the scripture, he's looking for hope. And he comes to a passage in Isaiah, chapter 53 that catches his eye. It catches his eye because he's reading from his own social and gender location. He's reading, this is in Acts, chapter 8, verse 32 to 33. But he's. This passage is quoting Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 7. Like a sheep he's led to the slaughter. And like a lamb silent before its shearers, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth. This, of course, is one of the most important messianic prophecies of the suffering Messiah. And the Holy Spirit has sent Philip right at this moment to meet him with the gospel of Jesus. God cared for Baco so much. God loved him so much that God wanted Baco to hear the good news of God's love and inclusion. And why do you think this passage was so striking to Baco? Why do you think he was consumed with trying to figure out who the prophet was talking about? Perhaps it's because Baco deeply identified with this person in the passage. Maybe the passage about a sheep to the slaughter whose silence struck him because he reminded him of how he had been castrated. Maybe the part about the humiliation and being deprived of justice resonated with him because he was humiliated at the temple and deprived of justice. Maybe it's the part about who can speak of his descendants. He's a eunuch. He doesn't have any children, any descendants. The seed of his life was taken from him. So he was wondering, who is this man? The Lord knows and sends Philip on a mission to find this man. And he comes just running up to Baca and listens and asks. Philip is not pushy, but journeys with him until he's invited to share. I wonder if this is the call for those of us who are cisgender to journey with those who are lgbtqi, to listen. Not to condemn or reject or judge or talk at someone, but to love as we listen. If we're invited in, then we can share about what we think, who we know. You know, Jesus didn't condemn gender non conforming people. You may be thinking Jesus said something about gender non conforming people. Yes, he didn't think in the categories that we think in, but he knew People who were gender non conforming eunuchs. And this is what Jesus said about eunuchs in Matthew chapter 19, verse 12. He says, 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. Let anyone accept this who can. Why is he talking about eunuch in this passage? Well, Jesus is responding to a conversation about marriage and he says some people just don't marry and that's okay. And some are born that way, some are made that way and some choose it. The first group, those who are born that way. Jesus is acknowledging that not everyone fits into the binary gender expectations. He sees them and he accepts them. Jesus didn't reject gender non conforming people, he accepted them. Now let's go back to the story about Bocco. So Philip shares the good news of Jesus by sharing the identity of the person. In Isaiah chapter 53. I think he shared the good news of Jesus by sharing and explaining the passage right before the passage that Baco was reading so immediately before In Isaiah chapter 53, verse 3 says he was despised and rejected by others. A man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity. And as one from whom others hide their faces. He was despised and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities, carried our diseases. Yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the punishment that made us whole. And by his bruises we are healed. He shares the good news that Jesus was and is this Messiah a man of suffering and pain. He was despised by men and he was stricken. He was pierced for our transgression, he was crushed for our iniquities. And the affliction that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Powerful, powerful gospel. This is a prophecy written probably around 500 years before the time of Jesus. And it spoke about Jesus and it spoke to BAAL and after Philip shared how the suffering Messiah in Isaiah chapter 3:53 is Jesus the one who was despised, wounded and rejected for our sake? I imagine they kept reading and I would guess they reached Isaiah chapter 56 and listen to Isaiah chapter 56 through Baco's ears. Do not let the foreigner join to the Lord, say the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And do not let the eunuch say I'm just A dry tree. Thus says the Lord to the eunuch who keep my Sabbath, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant. I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them everlasting name that shall not be cut off. This passage says that the Deuteronomy passage would not exclude Baco anymore. There is no more exclusion. Foreigners are the same. They're included. Jesus has fulfilled the law and exclusionary laws of Torah will not apply anymore. That was the prophecy in Isaiah 56. But the good news that Philip delivers debacle is that that promise has been fulfilled in Jesus. In Jesus we are included. All people are included. All LGBTQI people, including all trans and non binary people are included and embrace. And this must have hit Baco like a bolt of lightning, because look at his response. He exclaims, look, here is some water. What is to prevent me from being baptized? What is to prevent me from being baptized? He sees that he is invited to the family of God. And baptism is symbol of entering into the family of God. And Philip. And Baco gets out of the chariot. And Baco gets baptized, sprinkled, dunked. Isn't this a powerful story? God loves all of us. Been wondering about if God loves you, loves all of us, really cares for us. Particularly in light of how the church has been treating queer people. I want you to know that God does. God loves you. God loves us. Just as God made Philip run after Baco, God is running after you. Would you let God embrace you? God is what your heart has been yearning for. Without God, you will never find fulfillment. With God you will find redemption, forgiveness, hope, meaning a firm foundation to stand on. You'll find a friend that will never forsake you, never exclude you. You will find an adventure of a life. Not saying that it'll all be rosy, but it'd be an adventure. I'm so sorry for the way the church may have treated you. I hope you forgive us for any obstacles we put in your relationship with God. Maybe you're here. Or maybe you're listening to this recording. I'm begging you to give God another chance. Just as Baco did. He didn't give up, even after the exclusion. But you know, this story is not just for gender non conforming people. Though most of us have felt alienated from or rejected by God or the church or people close to us, even ourselves. At some point, the experience of rejection can be excruciating. Maybe you experience this in a relationship. Maybe Even in your marriage, maybe through a job, maybe your family, maybe your parents, children. Maybe you were bullied. This passage makes it clear that God is running after you. God wants to embrace you and let you know that God loves you. Sometimes we experience rejection from even ourselves. We feel like we're not good enough. Maybe we disappointed ourselves. Maybe it comes from our perfectionist tendencies. Maybe it comes from our moralistic tendencies. Sort of residual effect of church. Maybe comes from this sense of doubt and deconstruction that some of us have been going through. When we start to experience this, we often project that unto God. If you can't accept and embrace yourself, you may conclude that God doesn't embrace you. You live with this lingering sense of alienation of yourself and God. And you feel like you don't belong anymore. But please remember this. God sees you, loves you, accepts you, embraces you just as you are. I always picture that prodigal Father running after the Son. That is the picture of the Father. God is running after you. God's love for you is not conditioned on anything. That there is nothing that prevents you or others from belonging to God. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Let's pray. Lord God, help us to be mesmerized by your love for us. Help us to be mesmerized by your love for people who have immortalized. Help us to honor them. Help us to hear them them. Help us to include them and love them with all of our hearts. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

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