Summary: In the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, we meet a man who occupied a post of high authority in Ethiopia, but who, on account of his status as a eunuch, could not have worshipped in the Jewish Temple or become a part of the Jewish community even if he wanted to with his whole heart. This was a man who knew something about humiliation, and so it is no coincidence that he was drawn to Isaiah 53 and its amazing depiction of a suffering servant who brings redemption - quoting, "in his humiliation justice was denied him" but also, "the righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous." Who can this be? The Ethiopian eunuch knew quite a bit about suffering servants, being one himself. But where, but how, is the redemption? Where, how, is God in this? This is not the normal picture of God. Everyone knows that God redeems through triumph, not through humiliation. Humans often lose but God always wins. But Isaiah 53 speaks of a God who, in and through humiliation and injustice, redeems. The eunuch wants to know and serve this God, and through Philip, he meets him. He learns that his name is Jesus. Psalm 22 parallels Isaiah 53, at least in historic Christian interpretation. We know part of this text at least, because our hearts are pierced with it each Lenten season by encounter with Jesus' cry of dereliction, drawn from Psalm 22:1 - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Read further, and we see that Psalm 22 is yet another text of a human being suffering humiliation at the hands of others - quoting, "But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me."
