Saturday of Week 2 of Easter – Gospel

Commentary on John 6:16-21

We have today an epilogue to the story of the multiplication of the loaves for the 5,000. Jesus had fled to the mountains to avoid the misdirected enthusiasm of the crowd.  Before that (according to Mark’s version of this story), Jesus had packed the disciples off into their boats.  Very possibly they were much more ready to receive the adulation of the crowd.  They must have been quite excited to have been so closely linked with the sensational act which Jesus had just done and which had stirred up the excitement of the crowd.

The story that follows is much more than a mere account of a storm at sea.  There is a good deal of symbolism:

It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

They might have been feeling quite disgruntled at being sent off so unceremoniously when things seemed to be going so well for their Master—and of course, them.  Life without Jesus is a kind of darkness.

As they crossed:

The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

The strong wind and the rough sea can also be seen as a symbol of the storms that can surround the Church and any Christian community.  The boat with the little group inside represents a Christian community surrounded by a hostile sea which can be very threatening at times. It still happens.

Suddenly they see:

…Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat…

Their first reaction is fear, until they hear his comforting words:

It is I; do not be afraid.

“It is I” is not mere self-identification, like “It’s only me.” Here it is translated “I AM” (Greek ego eimi), reminiscent of the words spoken by God to Moses from the burning bush. It is a phrase regularly on the lips of Jesus in John’s Gospel, and it identifies Jesus as one with God.

The words “do not be afraid” occur regularly from the lips of Jesus and in other parts of the Scriptures as well.  With Jesus close by, there is no need to be afraid.  As the First Letter of John tells us:

…perfect love [Greek, agape] casts out fear… (1 John 4:18)

The Apostles wanted to take Jesus into the boat with them, but all of a sudden they found they had reached the shore and safety—some see a miracle in this.  On the other hand, in their fear the shore seemed far away.  With Jesus close by they find themselves there in no time.  The storm was over, their fears having evaporated with the presence of Jesus.  The peace that only Jesus can give has come.

We, too, can have the same experience.

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Saturday of Week 2 of Easter – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 6:1-7

As the new community grew, so did its need to develop new structures.  With its growth came a more complex membership.  It is likely that some time had elapsed between today’s passage and those we were reading during the past week.

For the first time, the word ‘disciples’ is used to describe those who had become believers in Christ; up to this, it had only been applied to those who had actually been with Jesus during his public ministry.

The issue in today’s reading is that the Greek-speaking Jewish members began complaining that their needs were being neglected by the Hebrew-speaking Palestinian members, from which the founding core came.

At this stage of its development, the Church was still entirely Jewish in its membership.  However, they were divided into two distinct groups:

• The Hebraic Jews, who spoke the Aramaic and/or Hebrew languages of Palestine and kept strictly to Jewish culture and customs.
• The Greek speakers (or Hellenists), who were “overseas Jews”, scattered over the Mediterranean lands. They had often largely become culturally and linguistically Greek (in the same way, for instance, overseas communities become assimilated in the US or Western Europe). They would have had their own synagogues (which Paul used to visit on his missionary journeys) where the Bible would be read in Greek.  Not surprisingly, it was from this group that the main missionary initiatives would come, e.g. the Jews from Antioch rather than those from Jerusalem.

However, it is possible that the Hellenists were not Jews from the diaspora, but Palestinian Jews who only spoke Greek. The Hebrews were Palestinian Jews who spoke Aramaic/Hebrew, but may also have known some Greek. Both belonged to the Jerusalem Jewish Christian community.

In either case, it is possible that the Greek speakers were to some extent looked down on by Aramaic/Hebrew speakers. Even at this early stage in the life of the Church, we can see the ugly head of ethnic-cultural divisions surfacing.

From its very beginnings, the Church has consisted of flawed human beings. It should never cause us any surprise and it does not weaken the central message of the Good News.

In general, however, the purpose of the passage seems to be to introduce Stephen as a prominent figure in the community.  We will meet him again in the readings of Monday and Tuesday next week.

In particular, the Hellenists complained about the neglect of the widows in their group.  Widows were among the most pitiable groups of people in Jewish society at that time.  They were not necessarily old, but they had lost their husbands, and remarriage for nearly all of them was out of the question.  In the absence of any kind of social welfare, their only means of support was the charity of their community.

The Apostles felt that this kind of material responsibility was not really theirs.  In the beginning, the Apostles were responsible for church life in general, which included both the ministry of the word (evangelising) and the care of the needy in the community.  As the community grew, this clearly became more and more difficult a responsibility for such a small number of leaders.  It was time for delegation and applying the principle of subsidiarity!

So it was suggested that the Greek-speaking community choose carefully selected people from among themselves to take care of these needs.  This met with general approval and seven men were chosen.  Not surprisingly all of them have Greek names and all, except for one, Nicholas of Antioch, who was a convert, were born Jews.  It is significant that a proselyte was included in the number, and that Luke points out his place of origin as Antioch, the city to which the gospel was soon to be taken and which was to become the “headquarters” for the forthcoming gentile missionary effort.

It is also worth noting that it was the community who chose the seven men, but it was the Apostles who ‘ordained’ them by prayer and a laying on of hands.  These are the first recorded ‘ministers’ appointed in the Christian community and the pattern of their formal initiation will become the norm: the Apostles prayed and laid their hands on them—as we see in Acts and the letters of Paul.  This still is done in the conferring of ministries today. At this stage they are not actually called ‘deacons’, but the word diakonia, meaning ‘service’ is used twice in the passage.

Finally, as was mentioned, we will be hearing more about Stephen next week and, later on, Philip also.

In the meantime, the number of Christians continued to increase enormously.  Now, even some of the priests, probably Sadducees, were being converted to faith in the Risen Jesus.  They were prepared to give up the temple sacrifices and rituals around which their lives up to now had been centred, and replace them with a new liturgical celebration centred on the community Eucharist, celebrated wherever Christians gathered together.

Given the limited human and material resources of the early community, it is amazing how its message was wholeheartedly accepted by so many.  The finger of God was certainly there.

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