Acts 8: Bad News/Good News part 4

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.

Acts 8:30-31 New International Version

As Acts chapter 8 continues more bad news becomes good news. The man in the

chariot is a eunuch (a castrated man), a servant of an Ethiopian queen. It was not

uncommon for such royal servants to be castrated to remove any temptations around

the royal harem and prevent them from being distracted by families of their own. No

matter how good the job, (our man here obviously has a lot of prestige as the queen’s

treasurer), still it’s bad news to have part of your body removed in order to be able to do

that job.

God directs Philip to this eunuch who has been at the temple in Jerusalem to worship.

(While Leviticus 21 says a priest with a defect such as damaged testicles may not make

the offering at the temple, it does not forbid disabled people from worshipping there.)

Philip finds him reading from the bible one of Isaiah’s prophecies about the messiah.

Philip shares with him the good news of Jesus and immediately the eunuch asks to be

baptized. This is good news.

Ethiopia has one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Could this eunuch

have shared his faith with others in the queen’s court? Was this event with Philip the

catalyst for 2000 years of people coming to faith in Africa? We can’t say for sure, but

we do know that God brought the good news of Jesus to a man who could use it. And

he went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39).

What is your situation today? Are you living with bad news, perhaps even the effects of

the damage someone else has done to you? All is not lost. There is good news in

Jesus for you too.

Mark Miller