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Acts 8:26-40

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

By: The Rev. Cathie P. Young

The happy mood of the day stalled as I spoke my thoughts on a Christian response to end-of-life suffering. It was a celebration lunch with a small group of godly women, and we were just sharing our lives. The subject of a family member’s recent death came up, and the discussion veered to the need for pain relief for the dying. “As much medication as it takes so they don’t suffer,” one said. “What if too much medication speeds the time of death?” I asked. That’s when the celebration halted, things got somber and I was asked, “Isn’t that okay as long as they are doing to die anyway?” It was the luncheon that day that convinced me that even committed Christians need help in understanding God’s Word and His ways pertaining to end-of-life issues. People have always needed help understanding God’s Word and His ways.

In Acts 8 verses 26-40, we read the story of Philip who followed God’s prompting and was led to an Ethiopian eunuch who was trying to comprehend the Scriptures. On his own, the eunuch was fumbling, lost! Evidently the writings of Isaiah didn’t make sense to him. When Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” the eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone helps me?” It was Philip’s careful, patient explanation of the Scriptures that led the Ethiopian eunuch to new life that day!

We too have the words of life to give away to those who don’t understand. End-of-life suffering can present complex issues and decisions, yet we must be led by God’s Word, which lifts up life as sacred from conception to natural, not hastened, death. Like Philip, we are called to carefully and patiently teach the culture and the church the words of life.