Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

Acts 8:35

Today one of the readings was from the Book of Acts, as is traditional after Easter, Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). I was struck by how this particular person was chosen by God to hear the gospel proclaimed to him. I was especially struck by how this person, a eunuch with all that includes (or not!), is everything the modern church tries to avoid at all costs. I often wonder if some within the modern church are so concerned with issues related to sex (and the choice of partners) because they are not having any?! (A rare joke!) But more importantly the eunuch is a sign of how God does not want my perfection but my heart.

There is a difference between what a Christian life looks like (morality and service) and who a Christian is (or is becoming). The eunuch, to me, shows us what it means to “abide in Jesus” (as the gospel for today would put it). And, to put a Kierkegaard spin on it, the eunuch is a “single individual”:

The paradox of faith then is this, that the single individual is higher than the universal, that the single individual, to recall a now rather rare theological distinction, determines his relation to the universal by his relation to the absolute, not his relation to the absolute by his relation to the universal.

Fear and Trembling (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy), 61

So my insight for today: proclaim the gospel to all! Do not judge anyone on the choices that they make! It is about Jesus and not my perfection – it is about my heart.