June 3: Provoking God

Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him (Ethiopian eunuch) the good news about Jesus. 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. (Act 8:35-38)

What grabbed my attention in this text as I was reading today was the line:

“What is to prevent me from being baptized?”

Wow… powerful words and an important question. Powerful and important because we have a way of making lots of things prevent a life of faith. We have a way of creating hoops to jump through, hurdles to get over, and tests to pass. And clearly that isn’t new because the Ethiopian eunuch asks the question – he expects that there might be things preventing him. What do I need in order to get this grace… this love… to be a part of this community… this faith… this way of life?

What is Phillip’s answer?

“He commanded the chariot to stop, and… baptized him.”

Nothing is to prevent it. The whole point to witness – to living our faith, to preaching our faith, to teaching our faith – is to bring people to relationship with God and God’s people. Why would we want to put something in the way of that? Yet so very often we do.

For close on to two thousand years the church operated in such a way that one came to believe in Jesus, one learned what that meant for your life, and then one became a member – belonged to the community. Today that has all shifted… the nature of the church in culture today says that now people seek to belong and only later do they believe and understand that which they belong to.

The Ethiopian eunuch models the former way because he had a sense of belief – he learns more about it from Phillip – and then he seeks the ritual of belonging in baptism. However he also opens us up to the richness of the reversing that trend – what is to keep me from being baptized?

Certainly not doubt – for we all have doubts.
Certainly not questions – for we all have questions.
Certainly not lack of understanding – for none of us has perfect understanding.

Presbyterians are really good at forming study groups, committees, and classes. We are some of the smartest Christians around! We have some great theology – and we understanding our theology better than most… we should – all this education has a purpose after all.

But sometimes that all can get in the way… it can become something that prevents the seemingly random, strange bubbling up of the Holy Spirit. It makes it hard for us – in the space of an inspired moment – to simply stop the chariot and act. And that is a loss that is unacceptable, untenable, and ultimately unforgivable. The Holy Spirit moves… in our lives, around our lives, and through our lives… and good planning and good learning aside – we need to be open and ready to partner with the Spirit free of hoops, hurdles, and tests!

We need to be ready to stop our chariot and live unscripted lives of faith!

Do you see opportunities in your life to teach, preach, and invite others into relationship?

Have you risked responding to the Holy Spirit to reach out even when you aren’t prepared with “right” answers?

Are you participating in removing stumbling blocks to faith, or are you sustaining them?

Provoking God,
Your Spirit bubbles around us daily full of potential and opportunity to be good news in the lives of our neighbors. Open us to the Spirits nudges and prodding to help others find good news by building bridges rather than gates and walls. Amen.