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.