Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter


Readings for Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Acts 8:1b-8

This selection describes the first concerted effort to eradicate Christianity. Following the death of St. Stephen, we are told that “…all were scattered” “…except the Apostles.” This is pointed at by many scholars as implying that it was the Hellenists (Greek) Jews only who were scattered (recall that St. Stephen and the other deacons were appointed to minister to that community and that it was St. Stephen, buried in this passage, that had enraged the Sanhedrin.).

As the main force in this persecution, Saul (later St. Paul) clearly sees the threat by Christianity to the Jewish Tradition that has evolved. He leads the persecution of the Church which has the effect of spreading the Good News outside of the Jewish community in Jerusalem as we see St. Philip taking it to Samaria with good results.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Psalm 66 is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. In the first part presented here, the psalmist praises God for His salvation, recalling the exodus from Egypt and the great signs he gave the people.

Gospel John 6:35-40

St. John’s “Bread of Life” discourse continues with the repetition of the great Eucharistic pronouncement – “I am the Bread of Life.” The Lord states that in spite of their lack of belief, his presence with them is part of God’s revelatory plan (“I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”) and that all who come to believe in the Son of God, the Bread of Life, will be welcome (“I will not reject anyone who comes to me”).

The selection concludes with the promise of eternal life for those who believe in Jesus, the Son of God; they will be raised with him in glory on the “last day.”

Reflection:

As we still marvel at the Easter event, scripture from the Acts of Apostles shows us how God’s plan moves ahead in unexpected ways. St. Stephen’s martyrdom at the hands of the Jewish community, enraged because Stephan, a Greek, had the audacity to tell them they did not understand Moses and how he pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, precipitates the first real attempt to blot out Christianity. Headed up by the ultra-conservative Saul, the Hellenistic Christians are scattered and driven out of Jerusalem.

How what took place next must have confounded the evil one, whose influence can be so clearly seen in these events. Instead of destroying the work the Son of God began, this scattering only served to provide the Good News with a broader audience. The Apostles, unmolested probably because, as Hebrews, they did not represent a “foreign” threat, must have cheered when news of Philip’s success in Samaria reached them.

We look next in scripture and see the message these displaced Christians took into the world. From the great “Bread of Life” discourse we hear God’s promise and gift. The scattering Christians told anyone they stayed with, their friends, families, and even strangers about the wonderful promise. Jesus, who came to fulfill all of what God had told them through the Law and the Prophets, had offered himself not just for the Hebrews but for all.

His message was that, through the great love of God for all people, he would accept anyone who came to him and not only accept, but extend to them the same promise he offered to all he had met before he rose from the dead and went back to His Father, Our Father. He said that “…this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

That promise and the example of those early Christians provides us with new zeal to take the message into the world as well. We rededicate ourselves to providing the invitation to any we meet to come to the Lord – he offers his love, he offers his body, the Bread of Life.

Pax

Please Pray for Esther

[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “The Entombment of St Stephen Martyr” by Juan de Juanes, c. 1560

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