Acts 7-8

Reading for Friday November 15, 2019
Acts 7-8

Acts 8: 27-36
And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,  Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:  In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.  And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?  Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.  And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

At this time, there wasn't the Bible.  There were only assorted Old Testament scriptures.  The Ethiopian wanted to learn about God, but needed somebody to teach him.  For the most part the disciples were not seeking to convert pagans as much as they were sharing the good news that the long-awaited messiah had come.  Jews knew the Old Testament.  As we evangelize today, we cannot convert atheists, but we can guide those who are seeking a teacher.  We can pray for the Holy Spirit to come to those who are not seeking God, and return to them when they are seeking guidance.