Face to Face with the Other
Rev Brynn Craffey
Considering that the events in Acts 8:26-40 take place on the road going down from Jerusalem to Gaza, I feel compelled as a priest, American citizen, and human being to make a strong statement here against the genocide occurring in modern Gaza even as I write this, and to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and official recognition by the United States of the Palestinian state.
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Acts 8:26-40, celebrating an extraordinary encounter between the early evangelist St. Philip and an Ethiopian pilgrim, opens with “an angel of the Lord” ordering Philip to, “Get up and go toward the south” on the road from Jerusalem to the ancient community of Gaza, communicating to us from the get-go that whatever is coming in this narrative, it will be divinely ordained.
Not only this, but the author finds it imperative to clarify that Philip’s route will be along “a wilderness road.” While Acts is originally written in Greek, its anonymous author—believed to be the same as the Gospel of Luke—demonstrates throughout a considerable knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish customs and institutions. It is likely, therefore, that he knows the Hebrew word for “wilderness” מִדבָּר) ) contains the same root as the verb, “speaks” (מדבר). In the Bible, wilderness is a preferred destination for prophets—and Jesus—seeking divine revelation, as well as spiritual renewal. The strong implication here, then, is that Philip’s mission will involve both. Moreover, wilderness also exists outside the boundaries of “civilized society,” hinting that what follows may be unexpected and unconventional.
And indeed, it is, beginning with the introduction of the second main character, unnamed and identified only through a set of characteristics that define them as an outsider. First, as a eunuch they are a member of what today we might call a gender-queer minority, distinct from the female/male binary into which societies are largely divided. Second, as an Ethiopian they are a foreigner in Palestine, and likely recognizable as such through skin color, language, attire, and customs. Thirdly, they are described as an official of the Ethiopian royal court; this, along with traveling by chariot and reading from a personally owned scroll signifies they are wealthy, cosmopolitan, literate, and of high status, all of which contrasts with the region’s indigenous population of mostly impoverished, illiterate, country-dwellers, subject to brutal Roman occupation. And finally, they are returning home from Jerusalem, not on official business, but after worshiping in the holy city, which distinguishes them as a spiritual seeker and likely a Jewish convert.
When Philip encounters them, they are reading from Isaiah 53:7-9, interpreted by many Christians as predicting Jesus’ martyrdom. Led by the Spirit, Philip accepts an invitation to “sit beside” the pilgrim in their chariot and help interpret the passage; in the process he shares, “the good news about Jesus.” By the time the pair arrive at a source of water in the wilderness, the pilgrim expresses an enthusiastic desire to be baptized, which Philip accomplishes without hesitation. No doctrinal declarations or tests are needed, as Philip understands that what is unfolding is divinely-ordained. As soon as they emerge from the water, the Spirit “snatches Philip away,” and the newly baptized Ethiopian eunuch continues “on his [sic] way, rejoicing.”
The source of water is obscure—is it a well? A stream? No matter: sources of water in the Palestine wilderness are islands of life amid the desert, with long histories of spiritual significance pre-dating both Judaism and Christianity. Wells in the Bible are often sites of spiritually significant encounters; think, Jacob and Rachel by the well, and Jesus and the Samaritan woman, among others. Water—especially “free-flowing” or “natural” water—remains ritually important to this day in Judaism (the mikvah) and Christianity (Baptism). It symbolizes the Holy Spirit, salvation, true knowledge of God, and the void before creation—to name but a few metaphors. Modern movements for climate justice and Indigenous sovereignty and reconciliation/repentance embrace the truth that, “Water is life.” (Mní Wičóni)
All these elements and more make the story of the unnamed Ethiopian an inspiring one, especially for LGBTQ2S+ Christians and those who identify as gender-queer or nonbinary. Before delving into this further, though, let’s note that an analogy between eunuchs and modern gender-queer and trans-identified people largely breaks down when, as is common in ancient times, castration occurs without consent. I have no desire to impugn nor exclude from faith or community affirmation anyone, including modern individuals who find themselves non-consensually castrated due to medical or other reasons, but I also want to push back against those who are maliciously spreading disinformation regarding alleged lack of consent on the part of nonbinary, trans, and LGBTQ2S+-identified persons, primarily youth. Additionally, the well-defined category of a eunuch does not belie the ancient existence of less visible and/or erased categories of gender-bending individuals who might also closely correspond to our modern understanding of queer, trans, or nonbinary identities.
This said, the story of the Ethiopian pilgrim, whose bodily modification through castration and accompanying shift in gender roles pose absolutely no barrier to their immediate baptism and reception into the early church stands as an unequivocal affirmation of divine approval of persons outside the conventional male/female gender binary.
Furthermore, this is not Isaiah’s only such passage! A second (56:4-5) reads:
4To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5I 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.
These passages (and others) refute the oft-cited “clobber passages” frequently deployed against gender-queer and trans people, such as Leviticus 21:20, which lists deformities, including castration, that disqualify a man from serving as a priest; and Deuteronomy 23:1, which prohibits any man “who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting” from entering the Israelite assembly.
Contradictory texts like these, which are not uncommon within the diverse collection of ancient writings that comprise our Bible, require believers to employ interpretative lenses to reach personal theological conclusions. Like everyone, my own lens is deeply informed by my identity—in this case, as a queer-identified trans priest, whose “queerness” goes far beyond the respective gender of the persons I may find affectionately and sexually attractive. Among other things, my queerness incorporates radical, anti-normative, and outsider orientations that challenge all assumptions underlying human relations and social organization. Like Christianity itself, it imagines reorganizing societal power relationships in pursuit of justice and fairness for all persons, human and other-than-human, and in the process, incorporates feminist, anti-colonialist, and anti-racist approaches to ancient texts authored by smart, theologically sophisticated people, skillful in their intentions and objectives, but who are grounded in personal, historical, and spiritual perspectives that may or may not align with mine.
To summarize, then, Acts 8:26-40 opens with a promise of divinely-ordained revelation and spiritual renewal, which it delivers in a finale featuring the baptism of a person who epitomizes an outsider in Philip’s world: foreign-born, a person of color, member of a gender-queer minority, and non-Roman subject in an occupied land who—despite personal wealth and exalted status—readily invites a stranger on a wilderness road to sit beside them in spiritual study. The action culminates with the outsider-now-fellow-believer returning home to found what we presently know is one of the oldest, continuously practicing Christian communities in the world. And all these brilliant outcomes are conveyed to us in a breathless, exuberant rush of words that in itself expresses joy!
Really, could we find a biblical passage that would more profoundly promote both queer and radical Christian sensibilities than this one?! The overall message I hear encourages us to remain open and affirming to strangers and foreigners we encounter along life’s wild and unpredictable journeys, irrespective of sexual-orientation, gender identity, cultural or national origin, poverty, wealth, or educational achievements. I also hear a call to distrust and deconstruct artificial divisions promulgated on race, faith, income inequality, nationality, and uncompromising creeds, be they based on disinformation, politics, or exclusionary religious beliefs. And like our protagonists, Acts 8:26-40 encourages us to accomplish all this in an exuberant spirit of love and joy.
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Selected readings
Levine, Amy-Jill & Marc Zvi Brettler, eds., Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
Loorz, Victoria, Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021)
Martin, Dale B., Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006).
Page, Mx. Chris, Other Wise Christian: a guidebook for transgender liberation (OtherWise Engaged Publishing, 2019).
Sabia-Tanis, Justin, Trans-Gender Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith (Eugene: WIPF & Stock, 2003).