5thSunday of Easter Year B – Revised Common Lectionary
Homily preached at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, New Harmony, IN
Acts 8:26-40 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
John 15:1-8 I am the Vine you are the Branches
When I was growing up
We had this decorative set of Bellows
Propped up on the brick hearth by the fire place
You probably know? But just in case…
There are two wooden paddles
Like way oversized ping pong paddles
And in between is an accordion-like air chamber
So you separate the paddles
They are hinged
And the air fills up the chamber…
And then you press the handles back together
And the air gets squeezed out
…usually in the direction of the not yet blazing fire
…way more efficient than getting on your hands and knees and blowing
but the same idea…like lungs…breathing in and breathing out
Hold on to that image…
I am hoping it will help us connect
our first reading from the Book of Acts…
and the Gospel
Our reading from John's Gospel doesn’t make us work very hard to find a theme
It is easy to pick out key words
Because they are repeated so often
Abiding…Vine…Branches…abiding…fruitfulness
Did I say abiding?
Remember at the beginning of John’s Gospel?
The would-be disciples ask that question: Where do you abide?
And Jesus says: Come and See.
Well they did
All through the Gospel they follow and listen and learn
But now
His public ministry time is over
Now it is time to focus
He has gathered them together
And for several chapters he offers them a ‘farewell discourse’
Jesus is on his way to the cross
His intimate gang of followers need preparing
Jesus is making them into a community
It began in the upper room with the washing of the feet
It is an intimate setting
He prepares them for life on the other side of the cross
He prepares them with promises
Promises of Presence…the Holy Spirit will come
And be your advocate and guide
Promises of caretaking---don’t let your hearts be troubled
In my fathers house there are many abiding places
And today
Promises of connectedness
Promises, promises and more promises
He is saying Goodbye
And they need these promises
These promises will sustain them
John’s Gospel is peppered with I AM statements
I am the bread of life
I am the light of the world
I am the gate
Last week…I am the good shepherd
And today
The last one
I am the VINE…YOU'ALL are the branches
I returned this past Tuesday from a kind of ‘farewell tour’
With my 85 year old father
He wanted to take this trip while he was still felt strong enough
He longed to see some old friends and re-visit some places
Places that were connected, for him, to a deep sense of home and history
And in the backdrop of our trek were hills upon hills of grapevines
At the base
Close to the earth
Were the gnarly old masses of twisted wood
The older, the gnarlier
And from that Vine,
The branches (with the help of skilled vine-growers)
Carefully trained and twisting around rows and rows of perfectly lined training wires
I Am The Vine
…the last I AM statement
…Biblically speaking last is always important
It is the richest
It is the most intimate
It is the most relational
The vine and the branches share the same ‘life’
It is like an IV…only it moves in the opposite direction
…the nutrients and minerals gathered by the vine and its roots
Are sent up and out to feed and nourish the unfolding life
…literally unfolding life
of the branches
In Jesus’ Farewell discourse…
these several chapters that tell of how Jesus prepares his motley crew
for life on the other side of the cross…
THIS…is the opening up of the Bellows
The Breathing in
Jesus says:
“Hear these promises
Take them into yourselves
Take comfort
You have everything you need”
What about this fantastic story about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch from the Acts of the Apostles!
These last weeks we have been hearing this story of the success of the newborn church
The Theme of Acts…set in the first chapter…verse 8
The resurrected Jesus is appearing to the apostles, he promises the Holy Spirit, and says:
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth”
That is how the story unfolds…Jerusalem, Judea…and now
Philip is coming off his great success with the Samaritains
So what is next?
…to the ends of the earth!
The Angel says to Philip
I see you’ve been having such great success here with the Samaritains
How about you change direction and take this desert road, this wilderness road
…sounds like a demotion;)
And then this fantastic story
The Ethiopian Eunuch has traveled a VERY long way
Ethiopia to Jerusalem
Months it would have taken
He isn’t on business
The text is clear…He came to worship
So he isn’t a gentile
The story is about the return
But we can know that his identity as a Eunuch would have meant that temple worship was off limits to him
There are very clear rules governing whose allowed in the Temple for Worship
But he bought a scroll…very expensive…
Which meant that he could read.
This is a very sophisticated man indeed.
I think we ought to chuckle at this tale a bit
He’s riding in his bumpy chariot…reading from the prophet Isaiah.
Not a little book but a cumbersome scroll
Philip is commanded to get close
I am picturing this...
He must have been running alongside
And huffing and puffing he says:
Do you understand what you are reading?
The Isaiah text refers to the suffering servant
It is about rejection
The Eunuch is coming from rejection
Philip relates the Christian story
Which is also a story about rejection
But rejection isn’t the end of the story
The stone the builders rejected
Becomes the cornerstone!!!
Philip tells the whole story the Easter Story
And the Eunuch follows the logic
Well then! If this is indeed true
There is room for me!
What is to prevent me from being Baptized?
And the answer is: NOTHING!
Not even the fact that we are in a desert place!
Because alas…water appears just at the right time!
I love this story!
This is a story
About what it looks like
To go ...To take the Gospel to
‘the ends of the earth’
The Bellows close
Philip is forced out
Out of his comfortable success in Samaria
Forced to run alongside
All the while telling the story and inviting the hearer
Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles is ‘Breathing Out’
Here we are
It is Sunday
This is our upper room
We come to remember who we are
To remember the promises of God in Christ
We come in order to remain…to abide
To stay attached to the vine
And very specifically we do that when we celebrate Eucharist
Because eating is intimate
Eating physically gets into our bloodstream and nourishes us
It is our IV
We come here...this is where
The Bellows open
We breathe in deeply
We are filled
Our reading from the Gospel of John is like coming here,
coming to know who we are…as a community
the YOU in the reading is plural
You’all are the branches
You’all abide
We are a community based on promises…
Our faith and our experience bring us to know
That the promises are true!
Resurrection, in fact, happens!
And then the Bellows close
We Breathe Out
To love and serve the Lord…
we go out to follow in Philip’s footsteps…
This is our pattern
Our rhythm
And I will admit it
Sometimes I just want to hold my breath
Because…well…
I like it here
And
Philip makes my palms sweat
We have
Each of us has
Our own contexts
What does it look like, for me, to take the Gospel to the ‘ends of the earth’?
Where are the 'ends of the earth' that rub up against my life?
These are good questions for us this week
And maybe we can call upon Philip
To abide with us
as we ask and listen and invite and tell
Thanks be to God
