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“Widening
the Margins”
Isaiah 56:1-8 & Acts 8:26-40
Preached on June 19 2005
by
Rev. Dr. Virginia B.Smith
At The Presbyterian Church in Morristown
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Let us pray: God of all wisdom, give us ears to
hear and hearts to understand that we may not
refuse your calling or ignore your voice. May we all
be taught by you through your powerful Word.
Make our every thought be captive to obeying
Christ to the glory of your name. Amen.
During this interim period that I will be with you as
you seek a fulltime associate pastor, there is much
you are going to learn about me. But I want to tell
you right up front one fact about me that is very
important to know. I LOVE MUSIC—all different
kinds of music, and one of my favorite singers is
Michael Crawford. I often listen to his CD entitled
“On Eagle’s Wings” as I travel in the car.
On this CD is a song that is especially meaningful
for me. It’s called “Not Far From Here,” and I
want
to share a little of it with you. Don’t worry. I’m not
going to sing it. I do enjoy singing, but I only sing
solos in the car and in the shower!
“Somebody’s down to their last dime.
Somebody’s running out of time.
Not too far from here.
Somebody needs a little hope.
Not too far from here.
And I may not know their name,
But I’m praying just the same,
That you’ll use me, Lord, to wipe
away a tear,
‘Cause somebody’s crying not too far from here.
Now I’m letting down my guard,
And I’m opening my heart,
Help me speak your love to
ev’ry needful ear.
Someone is waiting,
Not too far from here.”
I couldn’t think of a better way to begin my sermon
today—a sermon dealing with God’s way of
widening the margins, of pushing us out of our
comfort zones, so we can bring the love and
compassion and caring of Jesus Christ to those
who need to be embraced by it.
“Not too far from here—It may be a stranger’s face
and
so I’m asking for your grace to use me, Lord, to wipe
away the tear. Somebody’s hurting, not to far from
here.”
A few months ago, when I was home convalescing
from knee surgery, I had time to watch some
daytime TV. I must admit that I really did some
serious damage watching QVC and the Home
Shopping Network! But I also saw a show one day
that features a host who invites children to write her
and tell about a particularly difficult aspect in their
lives.
The first child interviewed was a girl about 11 or 12
years old who had received severe facial scarring
at the age of two when she tipped over onto her
face a pot of melted butter that was left on the
stove. In addition to the severe facial scaring, she
also lost an eye. The anguish the entire family
experienced, especially her grandmother who was
watching the toddler that day, was incredible.
The girl told how she has been excluded and
ridiculed, all through no fault of her own. I could
hear the pain in her voice when she said, “Some
people stare at me so hard that they run into
things.” She was a person who lived outside the
margins of life with others keeping her there
because of her physical deformities.
But not everybody outside the margins of life has
scarring that is so obvious. There are people who
are outside the margins who are kept there
because of their race, economic status, sexuality,
religion, appearance, learning disabilities, and
many others that with time we could all name.
The Ethiopian eunuch in our reading from Acts was
a person living outside the margins. Yes, he was in
a place of power as the personal attendant of the
queen; however, because he was a eunuch, he
was explicitly excluded from worship. This
prohibition, this marginalization, is made very clear
in Deuteronomy 23:1.
Yet the ostracized one demonstrates a willingness
to believe and is baptized. But this could only
happen if someone besides the eunuch was
listening to God and was willing to “widen the
margins” of thinking and reassess the emotionallycharged
prejudices and preconceived notions of
who is acceptable to God and who isn’t. In our
New Testament story today, that person was Philip
who was himself a gentile, an outsider, a person for
whom the margins had been widened.
I really like Philip! His relationship with God is
strong. He is open to going where God is leading
him. Philip had already preached in Samaria, a
country inhabited by people considered to be
heretics by the Jews.
It is so interesting how Philip came to be in
Samaria. He was literally driven there because of
the persecution against the church in Jerusalem.
This persecution was led by none other than Saul,
who becomes Paul, the man whom God
transformed and who became Christ’s missionary
to the Gentiles.
Stephen, one of the seven chosen to go out and
preach the word of God and the good news of
Jesus Christ, gave a powerful speech that we have
recorded in Acts 7. It ends with these fightin’
words.
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and
ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as
your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did
your ancestors not persecute?”
Then we read that Saul, to become Paul, “approved
of their killing Stephen.” But this doesn’t stop
Philip. This doesn’t intimidate Philip. No way!
Instead he is open to God, he Iistens to God, and
he goes outside the margins to share the good
news of Jesus Christ with people considered by
others to be beyond saving!
But God doesn’t stop there. God uses Philip once
again to go outside the margins. A messenger of
the Lord comes to Philip and tells him to head
south to Gaza along a wilderness road; and, joy of
joys, there is no hesitation on Philip’s part. Only
the angel speaks. Philip says nothing. He just
goes. He is compliant. He is obedient.
You see, God knew something that Philip couldn’t
have known. There was someone coming on that
road who needed some guidance in hearing and
interpreting the Word of God—the Ethiopian
eunuch. And in doing so, Philip was fulfilling the
prophecy we read today in Isaiah.
“For thus says the Lord: to the eunuchs who keep my
Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and
hold fast to my covenant, I will give, in my house and
within my walls, a monument and a name better than
sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.”
The eunuch invited Philip to join him in his carriage,
and they had a Bible study together. Both were
open to one another. The eunuch was open to
hearing more. Philip was open to God’s leading
and, starting with the Scriptures, shared the good
news of Jesus.
When Philip had finished, the eunuch said to him,
“What is to hinder me from being baptized?” Now if
Philip hadn’t been open to God’s leading, he
probably would have been trapped by his own
prejudices and given this reply, “Oh, your being a
eunuch will hinder you from being baptized. That’s
what the Scriptures say.” But instead Philip acted.
They both got out of the carriage and went down
into the water where Philip baptized him. At that
point, Philip was immediately snatched away by the
Spirit, and the eunuch went away rejoicing. What a
glorious story!
However, staying within the margins is usually what
we prefer. When I was a little girl—and this might
be true for you, as well, when you were a child—I
was taught to stay in the margins of my coloring
books. I would use a dark line to very carefully
trace the outline and then shade in the rest. It was
a great exercise to develop my small muscles, and
it looked really neat and tidy. But, when applied to
life, staying in the margins keeps us from hearing
God—from paying attention to where God’s Spirit is
leading us.
My brothers and sisters, God is sending us out, as
God sent Philip, to run beside someone else’s life,
to wait and see if they invite us into their lives and
give us the opportunity to share the hope that is in
us. But remember—and here’s the catch—as with
Philip, God is sending us to the people whom God
picks. Our responsibility is to be in a deepening
relationship with God so that we are open, aware,
alert, and obedient.
Let me ask you a challenging question. Do we limit
God’s activity by specifying whom we believe is
acceptable to God rather than letting God lead us
to see that everyone is God’s child and created in
God’s image?
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch vividly
portrays for us that the stage is now set for the
Gospel to go out to the gentiles, go out to those
considered to be unacceptable—people outside the
margins. As followers of Jesus Christ, God calls us
to widen the margins, to go to those not too far from
here.
For what purpose? Clearly it’s because God has
shown us in the life of Jesus Christ that when it
comes to people, all humanity created in God’s
image, GOD HAS NO MARGINS!
AMEN |
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