Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
The story from Acts for today about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is one of my favorites. It is something like the Gospel in a nutshell.
According to my commentary, the Ethiopian eunuch is an “outsider” because he comes from a place far from Jerusalem and because he has been castrated. I don’t know all the ins and outs of that outcast status, but it’s important to the story that his status—religiously speaking—is very low. And he knows it. Despite all that, he makes this incredibly difficult pilgrimage to Jerusalem because he wants so badly to know God. And on his way home, he encounters Philip. And the next thing he knows—he’s been baptized.
For a number of years, Bill and I had talked about our desire to become Catholic. But we knew we had a problem—we were both divorced and remarried. On the off chance that we could become Catholic, we met with a priest from another parish. He was very kind. He made some calls and, with regret informed us that we could not. We were sad about that but not surprised. A few years later, a friend of ours here at IC encouraged us to talk to Father Satish. Always good advice! We will never forget that conversation with Father Satish in which Father invited a couple of outcasts to begin attending RCIA. The rest, as they say, is history.
Philip, Father Satish, and Jesus don’t know how to exclude outcasts. Jesus says in the reading from John today:
- “Everyone who listens to my father and learns from me comes to me.”
- “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
- “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
He doesn’t say “everyone” . . . except the outcasts. He doesn’t say whoever believes except those who for this or that reason doesn’t measure up to social standards. He does say whoever eats this bread except those who don’t look like us or who come from far away.
He is “the living bread that came down from heaven. . . . and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.”
Thank God for followers of Jesus, like Philip in the early church and pastors like Father Satish, who insist on inviting even the outcasts in.
- Sue Trollinger