"Telling a Bible Story" in Homiletics

The following story was told by the author in Homiletics class last week. Since I tell most of the story in second-person, it is worth remembering that I was speaking to a classroom full of young men preparing to enter the pastoral ministry. Despite that, I think it applies well to all Christians; so, since I recently put up a couple of posts about baptism, this also seemed appropriate. -- Brian

"In the eighth chapter of Acts, Luke records that an Ethiopian eunuch, who was also a worshipper of Yahweh, was riding in his chariot on the south road into the desert. He had come to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and was now returning to his home.

"He didn't know he was about to experience a Spirit-scheduled appointment with the Gospel of Jesus Christ at this very place and time. To be honest, if we were reading this story from Acts for the first time, we wouldn't know it either. Because we would be getting the story as Luke gave it to us, we would know that a man named Philip has been sent by the angel of the Lord to this very place at this very time. So we might guess that something is about to happen, but even Philip doesn't know why he has been sent to this road south of Jerusalem when this chariot is riding on it.

"What time is it, by the way? We do not know for sure, but we do know some things: Jesus' resurrection and the ascension have already passed. Pentecost has come and gone, and the apostles are diligently about the work of prayer and proclaiming the good news. Many thousands have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, and Philip is one of a group of seven men that have been selected by the apostles to administer the distribution of food to the widows. One of the other men from this group of seven, named Stephen, has been martyred for proclaiming Christ to the Sanhedrin, and a severe persecution has caused the believers to scatter out of Jerusalem.

"But Jesus has said to the apostles 'you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth' and he wasn't ready to leave the Ethiopians without a witness to the Gospel! So imagine you are Philip. You've been driven out of Jerusalem into Samaria after Stephen, your brother in the faith, has been stoned to death for proclaiming 'Jesus is the Christ'. What do you think you are doing? Hiding?!? You are out preaching the Word!

"And you have been led to this south-bound road and you are told by the Spirit to join this chariot. Remember: You are clueless as to what will happen next! As you walk up to this chariot, you hear its occupant reading from the book of Isaiah:

"'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 vhumiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.'

"A short time ago, these verses sounded very different to you. You might have been thinking of Isaiah, or you may have been thinking of the temple sacrifices, but you were certainly not thinking of your Lord and Savior, Jesus. Things are different for you now; this man has just read about the Messiah and he might not know who he is! So you ask the man in the chariot: 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

"He replies, 'No. I'm a really smart guy; I've got the training to prove it. I've learned to read and write, and I'm such a good money-manager that I am in charge of a queen's treasury. But I still find the prophets really difficult to understand unless someone helps me interpret.'

"Although we weren't sure before, now we all know why you are here! The Spirit has given you a gift that this man does not have, and the Spirit is going to use you to give that gift to this man. So you start out right where this man is; you work from this passage in Isaiah and explain the good news of the lamb of God in Christ Jesus, whose blood was shed for him, for you and for all people.

"Just imagine how the angels in heaven are rejoicing along with you when this Ethiopian says to you, 'Amazing! And you say all this is mine through baptism? There's water right here! Stop the chariot right now! I believe! Why shouldn't I be baptized?'

"That is why you were brought to this time and place."