Acts 8: The Marginalized

Continuing thoughts about Acts 8 - the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Consider for a moment the Eunuch. He has a thirst to learn about God. He has traveled all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem - a pilgrimage, but because he is a eunuch (and a gentile) he cannot enter the Temple. I don't know if he knew that or not when he decided to make the journey, but perhaps he was stopped from entering, or perhaps he traveled, knowing he would not be able to enter. Either way, imagine how marginalized he felt.

Do he meets Philip on the road, and Philip tells him about what he is reading. He is so convicted, that he says n verse 36, "'Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?'"  Apparently, nothing is. Philip baptizes him, right away.

The beauty of this to me is that this marginalized, unaccepted person is accepted. He is baptized. He is allowed to come before God, and God says, "You are mine. I love you and claim you." There is nothing that stops this from happening.

What do we do? Do we enforce rules like the ones that kept the Ethiopian out of the Temple? Or do we respond the way Philip did? Extending the grace of God to whoever will accept it?