Along the Road

April 10, 2008

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. Acts 8: 30-31

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. John 6:44

Piety

Jesus, meet me on the road to Alexandria and instruct me on how to consistently hold fast to your Word and works in our bustling world. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/041008.shtml

A lot of Jesus' work takes place during encounters that happen on the road to one place or another. Our week began on Sunday with the famous Road to Emmaus story. Now we hear in Acts of the Apostles about another peripatetic encounter…this one by Philip on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (a forty eight mile journey).

Someone who is hungry wants to be fed. When a baby needs something, she (or he) learns to cry out – LOUDLY! The baby has learned that Mom or Dad or another one who loves her will come running to meet her needs. Maybe she is hungry. Maybe she needs a dry diaper. Maybe she just wants to be picked up and held tight. Even before she has language, she has learned to cry out and someone will come running.

Jesus is like our parent. He knows what we need and he comes running to provide it. He knows that we have a spiritual hunger just like the eunuch trying to read and understand the words of the prophet Isaiah. Reading Isaiah is not easy then or now. Our Bibles have ample footnotes. Reading it on the Internet allows us to take advantage of hyperlinks. Then there are the commentaries and libraries and preachers and teachers and even Google to help us look up what we do not understand.

But that is not what the eunuch encounters when he opens the passage. He has just traveled more than 1,500 miles to Jerusalem and is now heading out to Gaza. On his visit, as an outsider, he was probably not even allowed in the temple. So on this part of his journey, he is trying to get some perspective by reading the words of the prophet Isaiah. Now, it is one thing to read a book in the back of a minivan, but I imagine comprehension is even tougher bouncing around in a chariot.

Just like the encounter on the Road to Emmaus, the Lord meets him on the road and hooks up (thanks to Philip) with someone who is drawn to him. And once the person has opened his ears, the Lord jumps right on in thanks to the help of Philip. After the lessons, the eunuch does not even hesitate when he has a chance to be baptized.

(For an interesting interpretation, I want to alert you to one of my favorite blogs…Road 2 Gaza at this link: http://road2gaza.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html. This takes you back to something Johnathan M. Thomas wrote last year about this chapter in Acts. There are actually five parts/posts spanning a few weeks in April and May so if you have the time, read all five or go back when you have the time.)

But pairing the story of the road to Gaza with the continuation of the Bread of Life discourse from John 6, we not only hear Jesus’ teaching, we see a real life example of someone drawn to God. Not only is he drawn in, the eunuch makes a full and unwavering commitment and conversion to the bread for eternal life and the water of eternal life. He provides a marvelous example. Are we prepared to make a strong a commitment?

Action

What are you reading on the road to Gaza? Are you hungry for the word of the Lord? How will you respond when he meets you on the road to Herndon, Washington, or wherever you are going tomorrow?

If the eunuch was on his way back to Ethiopia today, then the conflict in the Darfur region of the Sudan might affect his travels. You can join in the Global Day for Darfur on the National Mall to learn about the life of a Darfuri child and to remind President Bush and all our political leaders that the children of Darfur need the protection of peacekeepers NOW. No child can be left behind. Not just in Dumfries or Dranseville but also in Darfur.

The genocide in Darfur has continued for five years. Darfuri children are reaching school age this year having known nothing but war and displacement. These children - and the millions of civilians affected by five years of brutal violence - cannot wait any longer.

We must help ensure the full and effective deployment of peacekeepers to protect the innocent victims of genocide. Here are the details.

What: Global Day for Darfur: Amnesty International USA's human rights exhibition on the lives and rights of displaced Darfuris
When: Sunday, April 13, from noon to 4 p.m. Speaker program at 1 p.m.
Where: National Mall, between 12th and 14th Streets N.W., Washington D.C.