Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/67

Contributor - Anonymous

Title - When Do We Have a Good Vacation ?

Topic - Meditation

ACTS 8 : 26-40

We are in the midst of summer and for many of us this means vacation. A whole year one has worked hard and so everybody looks forward to days of relaxation. Plans are being made long before. Where shall we go this year? Shall it be the East or the West or the U.S.A. or Europe? Who wants to stay home while there is so much to be seen in the world around us. The Ethiopian minister of which our passage speaks has also made plans. No this year it will not be Egypt to see the Pyramids or the sphinx, neither will it be the sunny beaches of warm Italy to relax and to get a good sun-tint (we may assume that he had one already), but he goes on a very long and tiresome trip to Jerusalem. But why to Jerusalem? Perhaps to do some business for his queen, so that he get his trip paid for? No - but to pray. That's why he takes a vacation for. At home he had heard of the God of Israel and perhaps stories had reached him telling all about the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, stories perhaps originated from the queen of Sheba who had seen all of the riches of Solomon and who said: "Only a little part was shown to me."

With great expectation the Ethiopian minister had started his journey, but what a great disillusion. He the minister of the rich queen Candace was not allowed to enter the temple. The Law said that a non-Jew was not to go beyond the heathen court. I wonder what our reaction would have been if we were to experience something of this nature, but I have a suspicion that we would have turned back quickly and say: "Please never again do I want to hear a word about Israel or the temple again." A church that closes its doors to you doesn't deserve any attention.

We sometimes stay away from church already because the church service is a little different (too much liturgy) than we are used to, or we don't go because the one day the wind blows to hard, the next time it rains or it's too cold and the third time because there was such a nice television program on. 0 yes we find all kinds of excuses, but the Ethiopian eunuch who had all kinds of reasons never to go again imagine a church that tells you: "no further than the hall" so that you can only see from a distance what goes on inside, yet he accepted. At least his actions show that he was not so discouraged that he still bought a little souvenir (you can't tell anybody that you have been in a certain country unless you show them the evidence). But no it was not a piece of stone from the Abrahamic period which he bought, neither a pair of beautiful sandals, made in Jerusalem (or in Japan) but a Bible (and we can be sure that they really made him pay for it) a scroll of Isaiah. And on the lonely road from Jerusalem to Gaza he read: Isaiah 53: "and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all". Words of comfort, but why were n't they given to him in Jerusalem? He continues to read and the question comes: "is this the Man who comes to bring comfort even to a man who can never become a father of a child?" Does the prophet speak about himself or of another? And then that voice that asks: "do you understand what you are reading?" Without any reinforcements Philip opened the Bible (the O.T.) for this man as the great liberating message of Christ. The eunuch returned home again. His vacation has come to an end,. the temple in Jerusalem can remain closed to him, he does not need to go back to pray in Jerusalem, for the Word of God's love in Jesus Christ and the sign of Baptism (so often neglected in our circles) accompany him.

They also accompany us, but do we realize it?

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