Nougat 1

Siblings

I confess I have read Matthew 24 before and never quite realized how many different signs need to be in alignment. I see it as God’s gift of Time for all to come to repentance. Today’s Holy Nougat says that. Chew leisurely.

“This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all the nations. Then the end will come.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬ ‭CEB‬‬

For ALL to come to Repentance

If we don’t know, we can’t do – right? For even if we are in alignment, we can’t replicate the activity, rather we can’t fully explain what we did because we don’t know what we did. This might not apply to everything in our lives, but I think it’s most apt for living the salvation we receive in Jesus Christ.

That’s why when the Ethiopian eunuch was in his carriage, he read but didn’t fully understand. I suspect that he was doing something right, if only because he was diligently searching the Scriptures. I agree with my sister-friend and colleague, Dr Sarojini Nadar that he sought to find his story in God’s Word. And when, by God’s Spirit, Philip met him on The Gaza Strip, and Philip broke the Word with him, the unnamed eunuch found the Bread of Life. (Okay, I might’ve misquoted her premise a bit, but the essence remains).

What’s interesting about the Acts 8:26ff (ie ’and onwards’) pericope (ie text segment) is that there is a sense in which the eunuch represents the whole world. Yes indeed! Whether we take it from Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, or this End Times explanation, we recognize and hopefully accept that the whole world refers to those not yet walking in belief of God’s salvific grace.

He was also a foreigner, an Ethiopian to be more ‘precise’ and as a eunuch, he was neuter. One could definitely identify him among persons with disabilities or even among the minority groups. But he was also among the most powerful people in his country. He was the Royal Treasurer for the Queen (Mother). In this one man we see the potential for salvation reaching to the racial, physical, national, spiritual other – a heathen perhaps – and yet he also represented the powerful and influential.

Philip’s choice to obey God’s Spirit and minister to the Ethiopian eunuch, not only resulted in the birth of one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, but it also invites us to discern where our ’outermost part of the earth’ is for our ministry. It’s mind-boggling to think that God’s Spirit moved Philip a bit further than home, yet still in his own territory to minister to one whom others would have thought unworthy. Not ours to judge, only for our witness.

Ironically, we may feel that it’s okay to be a bit delinquent in sharing the Gospel beyond our comfort zone and our borders since when the entire world has heard the Good News, the End is no longer ‘in sight’, but ‘here’. But siblings, would we really like to know that when the End comes, we had NOTHING To Do with the salvation of anyone else?

In Joy

In Frustration

In Pain

In Sickness

In Excitement

In Distress

In Good

In Bad

In Wellness

In Danger

At Work

At Play

At Study

At Home

Under Duress

– Even if it’s only a ‘Hallelujah!’, or if it’s in dangerous places like Gaza Strip, may we be caught sharing the message of God’s grace with our world, so that ALL have the opportunity to come to repentance, until The End.

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May all we seek be found in Christ