What if? Eunuchs with kids…

You ever read a Bible story, and find yourself asking tons of questions? Mine focus on the why’s and the how’s —

• Why did Jesus turn water to wine if alcoholism would run rampant 2000 years later?
• Did Onan die of masturbation and withdrawal, or did he die because he didn’t want to follow God’s rules about having kids for his dead brother with his dead brother’s widow, thus continuing the bloodline?
• Was Jairus’ daughter really dead or was she in some kind of coma induced by blood chemistry issues?

One of my favorite what if’s centers around a story in Acts 8.

Philip the apostle meets an angel who is playing GPS. After setting out on the journey, Philip finds himself in the presence of an Ethiopian eunuch whose job could likely be described as secretary of the treasury for Ethiopia. EE (Ethiopian eunuch with no name) was pulled off with his chariot (first recorded rest stop?) reading Scripture from Isaiah 53.

Philip asks a question, always a good way to start a conversation. EE responds that he doesn’t understand. Philip explains the passage being read as referring to Jesus as messiah. EE converts and is baptized. As EE leaves the water, the Holy Spirit transports Philip instantly to another location.

My what if centers around the rules for eunuchs. Eunuchs were despised in Jewish culture; they could not join in corporate worship per Deuteronomy 23:1. Although Jewish men were to be circumcised, they were not to be wounded in any other way.

I suspect Philip interacted with the man because of a passage later in Isaiah 56:1–8. In this beautiful passage, the Lord promises to give the foreigners who love the Lord a place on the holy mountain worshiping Him and sacrificing to Him. Eunuchs were so loved that they would be remembered by name even without children.

What if Philip had a conversation with the eunuch about that passage after the eunuch’s baptism?

Would that conversation have given true God-fearing Christians a love for foreigners and immigrants that would result in creative solutions to the problems with Syria and the Middle East? Would we stop judging non-Christian faiths on the acts of a few radicals and build long-term relationships that might give rise to opportunities to encourage relationship with Christ?

Would those truly following Christ stop evaluating couples on how many physical kids they birth or adopt and start encouraging them to mentor the children of others, in effect creating a spiritual bloodline that influences society for the better? Would we find better ways to console those suffering miscarriage or enduring the loss of a child, then develop powerful methods to pull them out of sorrow, depression, and loss and place them in positions of positive action for the good of society?

Questions, questions, questions… I wish I had better answers.