Acts 8:26-40 John 15:1-18
What does it mean to be part of something – a club, an organization, a special group of actors or singers, part of an orchestra, a sports team, a book club, a sewing circle? We all like to “belong”, but invariably there are those who never quite seem to “fit in”. This is especially painful when we are young, but while for many the situation resolves itself as we mature, there are always some who continue to suffer on the fringes of acceptance.
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 and went.
Philip is part of an entire community that is on the fringes of society. The early Christians worshipped in synagogue with their fellow Jews, and this continued for a while, until, somewhere around 90 -100 A.D., the more mainline members of the Jewish community had had enough. Christians found themselves expelled from their synagogues, and then the persecution began. St. Stephen, known as the first Christian martyr, is hauled off and stoned to death.
But the Spirit is strong, and the community mentioned in today’s first reading, having been expelled from the synagogue, has settled on running a food program, a “table ministry”, for the poor. As they move forward, they have realized that they need to do a better job of spreading the Gospel, and Philip is one of those chosen to go out and evangelize.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home.
Who is this Ethiopian Eunuch, and to what community of faith does he belong? Is he a Jew? We know that in his life in Ethiopia he is a very important man, a high court official, but as to his faith, we aren’t certain. But one thing we know about him is that he was a person on the fringe, because he either admired the community from the outside, or, if he belonged, was excluded from the inner sanctum because he was a eunuch.
When Philip encounters him, the eunuch is seated in his chariot, and Philip doesn’t pause to consider his next move. Instead, driven by the Spirit he ran up to the chariot and heard the eunuch reading the prophet Isaiah. In ancient times it was common for people to read out loud, so when Philip gets close enough, he knows exactly what the eunuch is reading. In the exchange that follows, Philip helps the Ethiopian understand that what Isaiah has prophesied is the crucifixion of Jesus.
We can see there is a great joy in Philip, and like Jesus’ mother before him, he has gone in haste to do God’s work in this world. He runs to the eunuch, boldly addresses him, and then offers to teach him the Good News. Phillip is fulfilling his responsibility as a Christian. They travel together for a distance, and the eunuch must have felt the incredible energy and joy flowing from Philip. What motivates Philip, what keeps him going, what makes this encounter possible, is the strength of the Spirit which is his, because of his love for our Lord.
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.
For the Ethiopian eunuch this is more than just the acceptance of a new teaching. For him it means that he has at last become a full-fledged member of religious body that will accept him as he is. It means inclusion. It means joy.
As for Philip, after the baptism, his work is done, and God does not allow him to remain and feel any self-pride. This work is Philip’s responsibility as a Christian, not a personal triumph. The Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
Jesus said to his disciples, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
The image is one that was familiar to Jesus’ listeners, that of God as the vinegrower. In the Jewish community it was a well-accepted metaphor. What we, today, don’t know about the care and tending of a vineyard would fill volumes, and does. Thus, unlike the Jew’s of Jesus’ day, we aren’t knowledgeable about pruning grape vines. Just to put us in the picture, it helps to know that pruning is important. Don't be afraid to remove at least 90 percent of the previous season's growth. In the first year, cut back all buds except for 2 or 3. In the second year, prune back all canes.
The Jews of Jesus’ day accepted that they were the grape vines, and that God would deal with them as any vinedresser deals with his vineyard. Pruning sounds painful, and it is aggressively done. Thus, the vines thrive and bear much fruit. Jews in Jesus’ day would see themselves as one of the grape vines, and would accept that God would prune them, so that, not without some suffering, they would become better and more devout people as their errors and sins were removed.
The image of a carefully tended vineyard is a good one to describe a community of faith. Some vines are dead center, some, like the Ethiopian eunuch in our first reading, stand at the very fringes of the group. All come under the watchful eye and care of the vinegrower. But in today’s Gospel Jesus says something unexpected.
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
It’s a statement that turns things upside-down. In a vineyard every plant stands alone. Each plant is an individual, not connected to the plants around it except in that they may share a common support system and are dependent on the same vinedresser. It is community as we accept community in this country – one for all and all for one, but not all one unit, not one being.
The very first thought we might have is that to be part of a single unit, the Body of Christ, is the greatest blessing one can receive. It is total acceptance and inclusion. But then come our second thoughts. To be only part of a greater whole requires that we surrender much. We are human, and thus proud of our individuality, our uniqueness, our self-will. But Jesus tells us that as His followers we are but a branch, an outcropping of the greater vine.
I am the vine, you are the branches. This means that our gifts, whatever they may be, are given to us for the common good, and not for personal gain or glory. It means that we are not called to stand out in the crowd, to be better than someone else, to succeed in making it to the top. It means that what the world tells us is important, is not important at all, and may actually stand in our way as we strive to become holy people. This is the hardest thing for most Christians to grasp, that we are actually one Body, called not to vain glory, but to humility, not to success, but to faithfulness.
What could possibly motivate anyone to become the branch of a greater vine, rather than a glorified individual standing on their own merits and accomplishments? St. John sums it up for us: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them… There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… We love [we are Jesus’ followers] because He first loved us.
Philip is on fire with the Good News as he lovingly shares it with the Ethiopian eunuch who, after his baptism, finds himself equally filled with the fire of the Spirit, and with love and joy. We are people called to immerse ourselves in Jesus’ love but this means we are called to stand outside society and bring that Love to it. It is being in a different kind of fringe. We belong, but not to the world. It is a choice we are called on to make.
Jesus makes it clear that to be His follower, a branch of His vine, will not always be comfortable. Every branch that bears fruit God prunes to make it bear more fruit. At times it will hurt to be reshaped into the person our Lord calls us to be. But the reward outweighs any suffering – the reward of belonging to the vine, of being one with Jesus and all the faithful, flooded with His joy and love.
Jesus has promised us, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, help us to be servants, as you were a servant to others. Help us to be loving and humble, speaking lovingly to others, bringing kindness and joy into their lives. Help us to draw into ever closer union with You, to be brave when You must prune us, and joyous when you give us work to do. Remind us Lord that we are Your branches in this world, and that everything we do is done, not for us, not for our glory, but for Yours. If anyone should ask us how we manage to be the people we are, let us tell them, “We do it for Jesus.” Amen