4th Sunday of Luke

Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

²⁷He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. ²⁸He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

³⁰Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth. ³³In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

³⁵Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus. ³⁶As they went on the way, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”

^{37 38}He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

“The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. ⁶Some seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷Some fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸Some fell into the good ground and grew and produced one hundred times as much fruit.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

⁹Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

¹¹“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹²Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. ¹⁴What fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.