When
the Apostle Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch on the road from
Jerusalem to Gaza, he comes across a man reading the prophesy of Isaiah: a
financial expert, highly-trusted, and well-educated, a man of power and influence.
He’s looking for something, he’s been worshipping God in Jerusalem. Philip asks
him if he can understand what he is reading. He replies that he cannot, unless
someone shows him the way. ‘Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.’ (Acts 8:35
ESV). Isaiah’s prophesy is fulfilled in Jesus and this is the proclamation of
the Church: we proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified.
We
read scripture so that we can understand it, and see in its words how it
discloses the truth of the Word made flesh, who suffered and died for our sake.
Isaiah prophesies Our Lord’s Passion and Death, and thus it makes sense, it can
be understood, and the more we come to understand, the more we come to know
just how much God loves us. The Scriptures, the entire of the Law and the
Prophets point to Jesus Christ, they find their meaning and fulfilment in Him,
who is the Word of God made flesh. Just like the story of the sacrifice of Isaac
by Abraham points to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, where God gives his
only Son for love of us, it is prefigured by the ram in the thicket, which
points to that moment where John the Baptist can cry out ‘Behold the lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world!’
Having
been nourished by the Word of God, our unnamed Ethiopian desires baptism: so that he may be ‘in Christ’ rooted and
grafted, close to him, filled with His Spirit, so that he may bear much fruit.
When
we are close to Christ, washed clean by our baptism, nourished by Word and
Sacrament, we can truly be Christ’s disciples, living in Him, living for Him,
proclaiming Him, and bearing much fruit, so that the world may believe and give
glory to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit
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