Waters of Unity

In the first twenty years after the resurrection of Jesus, thousands of people expressed their faith in him through the water-ritual of baptism. Baptism is laced with connotations of cleansing, forgiveness, repentance, resurrection and new life.

One early story of baptism adds another dimension that speaks especially into our fragmented globalized world.  Acts 8 tells about an African government official who had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was now travelling home by chariot, reading the prophecy of Isaiah. By coincidence he met a Christian named Philip who just happened to be on the same road. He offered Philip a ride and asked him about the text he was trying to decipher.

This official was intelligent and educated, responsible for the royal treasury for Candace, queen of Ethiopia, but he was having trouble grasping Isaiah’s theology, especially his description of a “suffering servant”. Philip explained the puzzling text by telling him the good news about Jesus.

When they passed by some water, the Ethiopian asked about baptism. Obviously, Philip’s explanation about Jesus convinced his companion to embrace Jesus. So they stopped the chariot; Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. The two men never met again, but the official continued home with great joy.

Luke tells this story to illustrate the spread of the Gospel – to show how eagerly people from every nation responded to Jesus and how naturally his message penetrated even the halls of power of the Mediterranean world.

But there's more to this story than we might think. First, Luke calls this official a 'eunuch' which means he had been castrated, a common practice in those times for male officials working in close contact with women, such as the Queen. Jewish ritual law barred castrated men from entry into public worship. But in this story, the eunuch’s baptism is a sign of his complete acceptance into the family of Christ.

Secondly, he’s a Gentile and probably black-skinned. But none of this mattered to Philip who introduced him to Jesus. Clearly it didn't matter to Jesus – and the inclusion of the story in the narrative of Acts shows how significant this ethnic-blindness was for the growing church around the Mediterranen.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul describes baptism as a wide circle of acceptance, saying 'all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; you are all one in Christ Jesus; you are all children of God because if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs of God’s covenant promise.' Galatians 3:26-29

Baptism is a ritual of inclusion in Jesus that neutralizes every societal distinction that elevates people above one another - race, class, gender, wealth, education, achievements - everything. The picture of "Philip and the eunuch going down together into the water” v. 38 is a portrait of the radical unifying work of Jesus and the power of reconciliation that permeated the community of Jesus' followers.

Rome boasted that Caesar and the Pax Romana were the unifying force of the empire. But the militarism that enforced this ‘peace’ crumpled before the power of the Cross of Jesus and the waters of baptism that energized and united the fledgling communities of the Suffering Servant.

The grace and inclusiveness of the Jesus Way are desperately needed in our fractured and fragmented world today, offering reconciliation and dignity for all.  But the waters of unity also have a narrow aspect, calling us to stand with One who was servant to all, and to embrace his death as our life-line and his resurrection as the dynamic by which we live.

Image Sources:
Chariot Scene - unknown
Baptism - Abel du Pujol
Multi-ethnic group - Yale Christian Fellowship