I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. JN 6:51
ACTS 8:26-40
My Soul's Beloved,
God will speak to us if we are docile, attentive, humble, obedient, and still. The Spirit does not dwell in chaos and noise but in silence, and only if we have quietened and stilled our souls will we hear Him speak. We do not because we prefer the cacophony of the world. We actively seek distractions. We are unable to recollect ourselves and sit quietly in Your Presence. How then, O Lord, will we hear Your instructions as Philip did? We complain that You do not speak to us anymore, but whose fault is that, if not ours, Beloved?
Philip was not only attentive, but he was prepared to do anything you asked, and he was responsible not only for the conversion of the eunuch but also for the Gospel reaching Ethiopia through this instrument that God had chosen. We, too, could be zealous bearers of the Gospel, but we are deaf to the invitation of the Spirit and lose opportunities to spread God's Good News to those who hunger and thirst for the Truth that saves.
The Eunuch was eager to learn, humble enough to know he did not understand and needed someone to interpret the Scriptures to him, unlike so many Christians. They do not wish to know the Truth; if they did, they would encounter You. They prefer to regurgitate the lies they were fed through ignorance, and are supremely content with being ignorant. Only through humility, obedience, and a hunger for Truth will seekers of Truth grasp it.
Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants,
since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?’ He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea.
PSALM 65(66):8-9,16-17,20
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
O peoples, bless our God,
let the voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave life to our souls
and kept our feet from stumbling.
Come and hear, all who fear God.
I will tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud,
with high praise ready on my tongue.
Blessed be God
who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants,
since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?’ He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea.
PSALM 65(66):8-9,16-17,20
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
O peoples, bless our God,
let the voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave life to our souls
and kept our feet from stumbling.
Come and hear, all who fear God.
I will tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud,
with high praise ready on my tongue.
Blessed be God
who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
JOHN 6:44-51
JOHN 6:44-51
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