In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear how the early church continues its mission despite persecutions. Philip is one of the seven who was appointed with Stephen and the others to a ministry of service. With the martyrdom of Stephen, all were driven from Jerusalem except the apostles: “On that day, there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” (Acts 8:1). God used this scattering as an opportunity to spread the Gospel to the rest of Judea and Samaria as Jesus commanded them (Acts 1:8).
Philip goes first to Samaria and then meets an Ethiopian eunuch as we hear in today’s reading from Acts. Both the Samaritan and the eunuch might have been considered as an outsider and even an outcast from a Jewish perspective. Jesus’ mission was to all people, no one was excluded as we heard in yesterday’s Gospel: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” (John 6:40).
We hear the same message in Eucharistic Prayer IV for Various Needs, “He always showed compassion for children and for the poor, for the sick and for sinners, and he became a neighbor to the oppressed and the afflicted.” Isaiah the prophet preached the same message that outcasts such as a foreigner or a eunuch are not excluded but welcomed by God:
“The foreigner joined to the Lord should not say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people’; Nor should the eunuch say, ‘See, I am a dry tree.’ For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose what pleases me, and who hold fast to my covenant, I will give them, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name Better than sons and daughters; an eternal name, which shall not be cut off, will I give them.” (Isaiah 56:3-5)
Following the teaching of Isaiah and especially Jesus Philip runs up to this eunuch and interprets the Scripture texts he was reading and then “proclaimed Jesus to him.” This eunuch is baptized and becomes a disciple of Jesus.
As disciples of Jesus, you and I are called upon to welcome all people, no one is an outcast in God’s eyes, no one is excluded!
Image: “01 Jesus teaching from a Boat (Sermon by the Sea) (color)” by fz1844 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.