Friday, April 16, 2021

Not what he planned


After Acts 8:26-40

His journey has been months;
it’s no easy jaunt from Ethiopia
to Judea, plus allowing time
to rest the chariot’s horse. But
something compelled this official,
this treasurer for the queen,
to leave what was known and
comfortable and rewarding and
travel to Jerusalem, to seek
what?

Inspiration for the trip aside, 
what he found on arrival was
not what he expected, a temple
closed to eunuchs and a journey
apparently for naught. He leaves
and takes the road to Gaza, the road
south for the return home, but then
there was this scroll, this account
of the prophet Isaiah. Did the scroll
travel with him to Judea, or,
disappointed with closed doors,
did he purchase it in Jerusalem?
An episode for Unsolved Mysteries,
perhaps.

What is not a mystery is his stopping
along the road, so taken with the scroll,
so taken with what he had to speak
aloud to try to make sense: the slaughter
of the sheep, the silence of the shearer,
the humiliation of man denied acceptance
by his generation and his temple.
A teacher suddenly appears to explain,
the blinders fall, the forgiveness and
acceptance understood.

And the man who came to Jerusalem
to worship discovers a different kind
of worship, one called baptism,
one called life.

Photograph by Matt Howard via Unsplash. Used with permission.

1 comment:

Martha Jane Orlando said...

What a wonderful account of the Ethiopian man, Glynn. His story of salvation should speak to all of us.
Blessings!