B, Easter 5 - Acts 8:26-40; John 15:1-8 "The Church's First Pruning"

Text: Acts 8:26-40

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 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. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Sermon

Philip, along with Stephen, was chosen with five others. They were put in charge of distributing food amongst the Jewish and Grecian widows in the church at Jerusalem. This is not Philip the Apostle but a man, full of wisdom and the Spirit, which the Apostles chose to be an evangelist (Acts 6:1-3). He, with the other six, was commissioned through the laying on of hands and prayer.

Immediately after this, the young church began to be persecuted by the Jews and Stephen was stoned to death. Saul, who later on was filled with wisdom and the Spirit himself, then set out to destroy the church house by house.

Philip flees to Samaria where he finds himself baptising, preaching Christ, and performing miraculous signs by casting out demons and healing the sick. A man first chosen with seven others to take care of widows’ welfare, so the Apostles could devote themselves to the ministry of the word and prayer, now too finds himself looking after the spiritual welfare of others. And because of his ministry and baptisms in Samaria, Peter and John arrived laying their hands on the Samaritans so they received the Holy Spirit.

The persecution in effect opens the way for the Gospel to be carried to the ends of the earth, as Jesus had promised. He reminded his disciples just prior to his ascension, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

So they stayed in Jerusalem, the Spirit came at Pentecost, and the church begins to grow rapidly. Then, one might say, the church gets its first pruning as Stephen is stoned. The calamity that arose in the young church at this time would have shaken it to the core. Was the church to collapse under the weight of persecution? It’s a fair question to ask. But we know that it didn’t.

In fact the opposite happened and the church spread into Samaria, where the Holy Spirit used Philip to prepare the way for what has become know as the Samaritan Pentecost (Acts 8:4-25). And then through St Paul through to us today — the church is spreading to the ends of the earth from our witnessing to the risen Christ.

Stephen was pruned but not as dead wood. In fact his proclamation of the Gospel meant his death, proving him to be anything but dead wood. His proclamation of Christ gained him the title as the church’s first martyr. And from the moment of Stephen’s deadly pruning, a flourish of healthy shoots sprung to life in the church. Many of which are still producing fruit today!

In the Gospel Jesus tells us why there are occasions of pruning and cutting, saying, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a person remains in me and I in them, they will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, they are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-8)

The pruning that went on during these early days of martyrdom and persecution did two things; it spread the true believers and cleansed the church of apostates — those who didn’t trust in Christ. This happens in the church over and over again throughout history. Like an instance during the Second World War in Europe when a Nazi officer burst into a little church brandishing a weapon threatening to shoot everyone. He yelled, “All those who are not really Christians get out because I’m going to shoot you all.” As you could imagine plenty fell over themselves to get out of the place in a hurry, and after they left the Nazi marched up to the pastor, put down his machine gun, took off his helmet and said, “Please baptise me pastor, now I know there are no Nazi spies left in here”. And he was baptised in the assembly of believers.

But what about those who fled the church, were they dead wood, or Jonah’s running to hide, or were they frightened Christians running to protect their families? Perhaps it’s unhealthy to judge the branches of the vine until we see if they produce fruit or not! I would hate to be in that situation, I wouldn’t know what I’d do! In fact just like the persecution in Jerusalem that led to Stephen’s stoning and the subsequent dispersal of believers from the area, was God pushing the believers out and spreading his grace amongst other war torn communities when that Nazi arrived at the church? Maybe in the calamity of the moment God kept some of his true believers behind and caused some to flee with the apostates, only to be fruitful for God elsewhere!

Philip the evangelist finds himself being fruitful elsewhere too — out on a lonely desert road. This wise and Spirit filled fellow first called to feed the widows, flees and now finds himself feeding others the spiritual food of the Gospel. And then sent by the Spirit he meets the Ethiopian eunuch on his way home from Jerusalem.

What good could come from persecution? A fair question by someone under the continual pounding of persecution. However, sometimes this question needs to be answered by those other than the maltreated. Imagine if we could ask the Ethiopian eunuch this question. Here was a man who had everything. He was the head of the queen’s treasury; he was an important official. Yet he didn’t have a Christ centred understanding of the Scriptures — something we all need. The Ethiopian servant was the first of Africa to benefit from the events that led Philip out onto that lonely road. Ironically this eunuch is credited as being a father of the church in Africa! And what would have been if Philip wasn’t sent by the Spirit, if he didn’t preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen, and if he didn’t baptise this eunuch opening his mind to the Holy Scriptures?

We don’t always understand the pruning the Father gives us as individuals and as a church. It seems in this day and age, the pruning shears have fallen upon us heavily. It’s hard to see God’s purpose, in the turmoil and pain of being witness to a constant stream of people fleeing the church, chasing the gods of success and all-consuming consumeristic wealth. But as the tide continues to ebb, God calls us to stand fast in the Spirit and in wisdom. So when the tide turns and makes we are there to lovingly give Jesus Christ — the word of God made flesh, risen from the dead, the true love of God, the true vine —so the newcomers and returnees may be cleansed with God’s word, reaffirmed in their baptismal faith, or be baptised into the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

We may find ourselves on a lonely road at times, and we might not know why the Spirit has allowed this to happen. But we can trust that God is with us and he knows exactly who’s around the corner needing to be brought into God’s forgiving presence, and pruned with his word. So they might go off rejoicing and cleansed in the Lord having had him given to them in his word; they might go off rejoicing and produce a crop that brings glory to God, and peace to the ends of the earth. Amen.