# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S67
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Convention Sermon

❹ “Mission on the Wilderness Road

(of America)”

Acts 8:26–40 • Monday Morning
By The Rev. Dr. Tilahun M. Mendedo, President, Concordia College Alabama,
Selma, Ala.
65th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod | July 22, 2013

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to
the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And
he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of
Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He
had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot,
and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over
and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the
prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said
“How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and
sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth.
In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who can describe His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.”
And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip
opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road
they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the
chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out
of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip
found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

C

ongratulations, President Harrison! Thank you for
serving the Lord and His people.

Dear brother, you made a mistake by assigning an African
for an eight-minute sermon. Hold on there, you are not the only
one who is in trouble … the committee who assigned this text
for me also is in trouble. Yes, I am an Ethiopian by birth, but I
am not a eunuch. I have my wife and children in the assembly to
make my case.
The basis of my homily for today is from Acts 8, the story of Philip
and the Ethiopian eunuch. If we look at the story closely, we will
see that it is God’s miracle and the way God works in us. It is the
story of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us and guiding us in our
daily living and witnessing.

General Context
Ethiopian Christians believe Christianity came into Ethiopia by
the conversion of the eunuch (Acts 8:26–40). He was the treasurer
of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, who ruled from AD 42 to 52. The
eunuch once went to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel. While
the eunuch was returning, he met Philip and was baptized by him.
Ethiopian tradition asserts that the eunuch returned home and
evangelized the people. To support this viewpoint, Eusebius, the
fourth-century church historian, singles out Candace’s treasurer
as the first Gentile convert to Christianity. But Eusebius’s considC o n v e n t io n se r m o n s

eration of the eunuch as Gentile contradicts with the Ethiopian
background of Judaism before Christianity. Eusebius’s view has
not cleared yet.
The witness in Acts begins with the “Jerusalem Pentecost” story in
Acts 2. Then, in the section preceding the text today, Acts 8:4–24,
we have the “Samaritan Pentecost.” Imagine! Even the Samaritans
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God is moving on and out. Now
we have as our text Spirit-led Philip as he moves into completely
new territory by baptizing an Ethiopian eunuch. The Church is
moving outward.

Pretext and Context
God’s call—Philip proclaims Christ in Samaria. “Samaria?” he would
have asked. “Why would I go to Samaria?” The mission circle was
extending from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 8:4–24).

Text and Context
Second level: The Lord sent Philip to Gaza, and Philip encountered
an Ethiopian eunuch. God said to Philip, “Find the stranger, who
has a religious mask but is not part of the true family, an Ethiopian
eunuch.” And Philip would have responded, “Lord, did You really
mean it? This guy is black; he has a different look and accent. After
all, he should not be here according to Deut. 23:1, where the Old
2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

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