Got time to Guide? (Ex. 15:8-18; Acts 8:26-40)
There is a traditional tale that tells of a person who had been wandering about in a forest for several days. Yes, I said several days, not hours. Clearly, the person had very much lost their way. The bubble of hope in this person’s heart had long since popped, until, that is, it finally started to bloom again with great joy when someone was seen approaching from a distance. “Now I shall surely be instructed how to find my way out!” came an inner exclamation of relief.
Upon nearing each other enough to talk, the wanderer begged the other, saying, “Will you please instruct me on the way out of the forest? I have been wandering about in here for several days.” The reply arrived with quick, exasperated precision – “Oh, I do not know the way out either, for I, too have been wandering about in here for many days.” The bubble of hope and joy floated toward a tree and quickly popped upon impact with the bark. The stranger continued speaking, however, saying, “While I cannot fully instruct you on the way out, I can indeed tell you not to go the way that I have gone, for I know that it is not the way.” Punctuating this wisdom, the fellow wanderer extended an invitation with the words, “Now come, let us search for the way out together.”
This pleasant parable packs a pleasant, poignant punch. It offers a lesson about how people need to come together when a safe and sure way has been lost. I see another, more subtle lesson here as well. This is a lesson that lifts up a difference between teaching and guiding.
What other words do you think of when you hear the word “teaching?” I have words like “lesson,” “instruction,” and “education” floating in my mental soup. I also have images of some favorite teachers of mine along the way – Mrs. Searles in third grade with her kind but crooked smile; Mrs. Fleming the year after who was the first to teach me Haiku poetry; my irreverent sociological research professor in college; the professor of pastoral theology in grad school whom I plan to thank whenever I get around to writing a book. As I think of all the teachers in my life, there are, of course, some who were not in academic positions. These are the people who taught me life skills and lessons. I consider them, along with the greats I just mentioned, to be my mentors. I’m not sure, though, I’ve ever considered any of these folks as “guides.”
What words come together in your mental soup when you hear the word “guide?” I think of such words as “practical wisdom,” and “completely devoted.” A guide is, it seems to me, someone who knows how to instruct in the way of facts and logic, but who also draws from and gladly offers a depth of practical, real-life experience. Consider, for example, that we call certain people “trail guides” and not “trail teachers.” We need such folks not only be able to navigate a map and identify vegetation and animal habitats, but also to warn us of hazards and delights they have encountered in their own walks … you know, those little gems offered to enrich our own walking, and, perhaps, our own future guiding of others.
In our traditional tale, the wanderer initially wanted instruction, knowledge in how to find the way out. What was received instead was someone willing to share their experiences and to be a companion for the journey ahead. Combined, they became guides for one another, sharing knowledge and experience that kept the bubble of hope away from pointy branches.
“Do you understand what you are reading?” asked a Greek convert to Christianity living in Jerusalem (by the name of Philip) to an Ethiopian high court official he happened upon after a little holy prompting. This was not the Philip of the original twelve disciples, but someone who had been given the responsibility of caring for a food pantry in Jerusalem during the days when the Pharisee Paul, before his blessed conversion, had been violently persecuting every Christian he could find. The royal representative from the court of Candace, a city in Ethiopia, had been returning home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Seated in a royal carriage that had paused for a rest on the journey, this Ethiopian official had been reading from the prophet Isaiah when Philip wandered up and took notice. Then came the question about whether or not the prophecy about a lamb who had unjustly been led to slaughter was understood. The Ethiopian replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
Interesting, isn’t it? He did not ask Philip to teach him the meaning of the passage. He wisely requested to be guided. The ancient word that the Gospel writer Luke uses here for “guide” literally means “to lead the way.” Having experienced his own conversion to Christ, the sacrificial lamb of whom Isaiah prophesied, Philip was in an excellent position to fill the requested role of guide. And so he did, leading the truth-seeking Ethiopian out to the baptismal waters.
Very, very significant here is that Luke, the author of Acts, mentions that the Ethiopian was a eunich. This was not to introduce some random, strange element about the unique personhood of the official into the story. It was instead to emphasize that this fresh convert, despite his high official standing, was an outsider even in his home court. Culturally speaking, he was not regarded by his society as a “normal” person. How special, then, was the Good News of Jesus Christ! The Lamb had volunteered himself to be slain in order to level all layers of social strata, to unite everyone as brothers and sisters – eunuchs and “normally gendered” folks; Greeks and Ethiopians; Jews and Gentiles; and on through a diverse list that stretches wider than the universe. And what good news that Philip understood his Christian responsibility to guide every sort of person toward this Lamb and this holy unity. It would not have been enough to hand the Ethiopian eunich a Bible commentary and a few learned words and then leave him be to decipher the meaning of an ancient prophecy. He knew he had to be a companion sharing experiences of Christ in his life – of his own wrestling with Scripture, his own conversion, his call to ministry with the food pantry, and so on.
We greatly value those people in our lives who truly guide us to be the kind of community Christ would have us to be. We can be taught about the Way of love and unity, but we all sure as heaven know we really need to be guided – especially when we are lost and wandering, trying to find a way out.
In a book titled, Memories of God, a seminary professor tells of one her most painfully lost and wandering moments. This is someone, mind you, extremely well versed in the Bible and in theology. But all of her study combined didn’t come close to the way her mother had always been her best guide. That’s why the phone call tossed her into deep woods. She received it from her brother one evening. “Hey, Sis,” he had said, “I’m calling about mom … she’s in the hospital. I think they’re going to do bypass surgery on Monday. She needs you to come on up.”
Hearing the news, the little girl with the seminary professor’s credentials felt lost. It took some inner wandering, but she worked through enough anger, fear and rescheduling nightmare to make the journey up north from the south. She found her mother in the bed, looking exhausted, waiting on the scheduling of the surgery. She was walled around by her daughter, sons, sisters, and half of her grandchildren. They talked, writes Professor Roberta Bondi, “on and on about nothing” until her mama decided it was time to send everyone home. On the one hand, she explained that this was because she needed to sleep. On the other hand, however, she added a few words born from the heart of a true and wise life-guide. She said, “You children visit one another.” She was ready to face the night, the needed rest, and the coming surgery; and part of this readiness was to guide her family into making sure they would be with one another come what may.
Jesus did the same. As the time of his death neared, he asked the beloved disciple to take care of his mother. He also exhorted the disciples to gather in Galilee and wait for Good News. Jesus didn’t teach salvation so much as guide others toward it by example.
This morning, around this baptismal font and beautiful child, we have not gathered to be taught a lesson on the meaning of baptism. My place is indeed to teach, but more so, like Philip, it is to guide others toward new life in Christ. By responding with a glad “yes” to this baptism request (which happens to be the third one for myself and the Martin family, a new record!), I stand as a guide on a journey for which I will not always know the way out, but I will know where I’ve been and I know I will be a companion in Christ in the days to come. More importantly, though, we – immediate family and church family – hve all pledged to God that we will honor Christ’s gift of cleansing from sin by being good and faithful guides. Our pledge of love and unity as a family of faith is what will reveal the Way for Cole, as it continues to do so for his big sister Kaileigh and big brother Teddy.
Who have been your most significant, steadfast guides in the faith? I trust today you just might be affirming your mothers! Hopefully, a pastor or two as well!
All in all, as you go forth from this beautiful sanctuary to be guides and to thank your guides, I invite you to take to heart the lyrics from one of my favorite songs by the now defunct Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline. It was the last song of the last record they recorded, and it summed everything up with a word about God’s ever guiding presence – “God came down to walk beside me … God came down to send friends to guide me … God came down to remind me … this is what it feels like, to be loved.” Amen.
