easter 5 year b - acts

Acts 8:26-40

²⁶Then an angel of God said to Philip,

     “Get up and go toward the south

          to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

               (This is a wilderness road.)

²⁷So Philip got up and went.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,

     a court official of the Candace,

          queen of the Ethiopians,

     in charge of her entire treasury.

          They had come to Jerusalem to worship

               ²⁸and were returning home;

                    seated in their chariot,

                         they were reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip,

     “Go over to this chariot and join it.”

          ³⁰So Philip ran up to it

          and heard them reading the prophet Isaiah.

Philip asked,

     “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹They replied,

     “How can I,

          unless someone guides me?”

     And invited Philip to get in and sit beside them.

          ³²Now the passage of the scripture that they were reading was this:

               “Like a sheep led to the slaughter,

               and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

                    so the one does not open their mouth.

               ³³In humiliation justice was denied them.

                   Who can describe that generation?

                         For that life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip,

     “About whom, may I ask you,

          does the prophet say this,

               about themself or about someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip began to speak,

     and starting with this scripture,

          he proclaimed to them the good news about Jesus.

     ³⁶As they were going along the road,

          they came to some water;

               and the eunuch said,

                    “Look, here is water!

                         What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 

                    ³⁸They commanded the chariot to stop,

               and both of them, Philip and the eunuch,

                    went down into the water,

                         and Philip baptized them.

                    ³⁹When they came up out of the water,

                         the Spirit of God snatched Philip away;

                    the eunuch saw him no more,

                         and went on their way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus,

     and as he was passing through the region,

          he proclaimed the good news to all the towns

               until he came to Caesarea.

Queeries for the text:
What is the road from Jerusalem to Gaza like now?
Is the Ethiopian eunuch nonbinary?
Are there more genderqueer people in the bible than we acknowledge?
What does a powerful, Black, queer/trans person in the bible mean for us today? 
What is a Candace?
Is the Ethiopian Eunuch one of the first missionaries?
Do we ever really understand what we are reading?
What prevents people from knowing God's love? How do we prevent people from experiencing God's grace?
Would Philip have suggested baptism if the Ethiopian eunuch had not?
How far is it from Azotus to Caesarea?

What are your queeries?


Updated to add: This is the visual I used for my reflection on Simeon/Dawit/Kia, the Ethiopian eunuch: