Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary: 276

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,
“Get up and head south on the road
that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”

Saint Philip makes only a brief, but memorable appearance in the Acts of the Apostles. He is a man entirely obedient to the impulses of the Holy Spirit. He reminds me of the comical Jonah of whale’s belly fame. But unlike the Old Testament prophet, he does exactly what he is told the first time.

Why Philip should set out on the desert route to Gaza is not explained. The Spirit says "Go!" and he goes. When the Spirit impels him to “Go and join up with that chariot” – one of many carriages passing that day – he does so.

When the eunuch wants to be baptized in a creek along the road, Phillip recognizes the urgency of the Spirit and complies. Then, afterward, “the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more.”

His name appears only once more in Acts 21, when Saint Paul and his followers stay at “the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven.” Given the story from the eighth chapter, we’re not surprised to hear he has four virgin daughters who are “prophets.” What a house that must have been!

Philip could be a precursor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Their method of “discernment” seems to have been to pray for an obedient spirit continually, night and day, and then let God guide their every impulse. Once, as Francis and Brother Matteo were travelling, they came to a crossroad. “Which way should we go?” the brother asked. Saint Francis directed him to spin around like a little child. When the obedient brother got so dizzy he fell down on one of the four roads, the Saint decided, “That’s the way we should go!”

Having surrendered everything to God, he had no concern about where he should go, where he should eat or what he should wear. God would provide. And if God didn’t provide, that would be okay too. This carefree manner of life befits Apostles.

You and I might not be called to live precisely like that, but we should remember the story. You never know when the Holy Spirit might say, “Smile at this person!” or “Pray for that stranger” or “Drop what you’re doing and listen!”

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”