“On Our Way Rejoicing!”

“On Our Way Rejoicing!”(Act 8:26-39)
In a small African village a Christian missionary tried so often to convert an old African. The man was not interested; despite all the convincing. Then one day the missionary read the genealogy of Jesus in the man’s hearing. The man said, now that I know that this Jesus had ancestors too I accept to be baptized.
In as much as Jesus is the one who calls us, our prior knowledge and understanding of things is what influences our decision to follow. We cannot begin to take in new ideas, except in terms of ideas we already have. It is in this sense that African Traditional religions is understood as preparatory ground for the gospel.
Our focus today is on the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip came to the side of his chariot when the man was reading the section of the “Suffering Servant” from prophet Isaiah. The Ethiopian identified himself with the main character of the passage. He, the Ethiopian was like a lamb when they castrated him and made him a eunuch. He could not defend himself. He was humiliated and deprived of justice. Castration was like taking his life short and as such, there wasn’t any hope of speaking of his descendants.
When he asked Philip who the prophet was talking about, he was hoping that he himself was the one.
He was so much like the person being spoken about by Isaiah.
And when Philip told him it was about Jesus, the risen Lord, he saw himself very much like Jesus.
In a way both the eunuch and Jesus have impacted the world even though they both died childless. The eunuch may not have been a great influence like Jesus, but at least we know that he was the first African Christian and the father of nonmissionary African Christianity. I spent some time in Ethiopia, visited some Christian churches and could see the difference between a Christianity straight from the very beginning of New Testament Christianity and that of Western and America influences.
Here lies the difference: When some sub Saharan Africans see Christianity as a western construct, a tool of subjugation, Ethiopian and to some extent Egyptian Christians cannot share in that narrative.
Back to our text, when Philip interpreted the text to the Ethiopian, he happily asked to be baptized.
After his baptism, the Ethiopian “went on his way rejoicing.” Yes; our baptism is rebirth, renewal and a rite of passage. When we become new creatures through baptism, we should go on our way rejoicing, praising God for rejuvenating us through the death and resurrection of his Son, our Lord.
Prayer: Holy Spirit lead us to spread the good news as we go on our way rejoicing of our rebirth. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.