Wednesday of Week 3 of Easter – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 8:1-8

There is an old saying that “it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good”. We can see an example of this in today’s reading. The first half of today’s reading sets the stage for what is going to follow. First, it is linked to what has just been described in the preceding verses, the martyrdom of Stephen, followed by widespread persecution of Christians. This, in turn, will lead up to the unexpected conversion of the chief persecutor, Saul.

The martyrdom of Stephen was followed immediately by a savage persecution of the infant Christian community. A Pharisee named Saul was among the most dedicated attackers (in the name of God, of course), dragging people from their homes and tossing them into jail. It was the beginning of a phenomenon that has been the lot of Christians in many parts of the world ever since, right down to our own day. Even now, there are Christians in jail for no other reason than that they openly profess faith in Christ.

While the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, many Christians began to scatter to the countryside of Judea (the province in which Jerusalem was situated) and the neighbouring province of Samaria, just to the north. This was to inaugurate the second stage of the Church’s expansion. The third stage would begin with the establishment of Christian communities in Antioch in Syria.

The persecution seems to have mainly targeted the Hellenist Christians, and it was this group, scattered by persecution, which gave the church its first missionaries. We are immediately introduced to one of them—Philip. This was the beginning of the great missionary outreach of the Church which has not yet come to an end in our own time.

The Apostles would have been Aramaic-speaking Jews and, by staying behind in Jerusalem, they gave encouragement to those in prison, and would be a centre of appeal to those scattered. The Church in Jerusalem now effectively went underground—and not by any means for the last time.

However, we can now see that the persecution in Jerusalem was a blessing in disguise. While the persecution scattered Christians, they were now bringing their message to new areas. Eventually—often as the result of persecution—they would carry it to the very ends of the Roman world.

Among the fugitives was the deacon Philip. He was one of the Seven who, with Stephen, had been chosen for special ‘service’. He is now a full-blown evangelist, who preached the good news about the Messiah-Christ, healed the sick and drove out evil spirits. The result was that “there was great joy in that city”. Probably the reference is not to the town of Samaria, a Hellenistic city (at this time called Sebaste), but to the whole province. And those who were being evangelised were ‘Samaritans’ in the Jewish sense of the word. These were those related by blood and religion to, but cut off from, Israel’s Jewish community, and deemed to be living in heresy (recall the scene between Jesus and the Samaritan woman beginning in John 4:9).

Again and again it has been demonstrated that when the Church is persecuted—when people want to wipe it out—the Church finds new vitality and the courage to stand up for what it believes. It is when we are taken for granted and even worse, ignored, that we are in the greatest danger. It is then that we are in real peril of being marginalised because we are no longer the “salt of the earth” or a “city on a hill”. Sadly, that is what is happening in many prosperous parts of the world today. Is it happening to the society in which we are living?

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Wednesday of Week 3 of Easter – Gospel

Commentary on John 6:35-40

Again in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners very clearly that he is the Bread of Life. All those who partake of this Bread will never again be either hungry or thirsty. The whole life of Jesus—his actions and words and his relationships with those around him—are a rich source on which we can draw.

In a sense, of course, we will always hunger and thirst for this full life, but by approaching and imbibing him and his spirit, our hunger and thirst are ever being satisfied, even while we continue to hunger and thirst for more. There will never be a time when we will want to stop eating and drinking from this Source; when we do, we will stop living.

Jesus reproves his listeners for their lack of faith in him.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

The question is: how much of Jesus did they really see? How deep was their perception of who he truly was and is?

That may be our problem too. Without a deep trust and total commitment to Christ and all he stands for, we may find that we do not have full access to that Bread of Life which we need so much. The search for the fullness of Christ is one that we will never complete in this life. We only hope that we never stop searching. There will never be a day on this earth when we will be able to say: “I know Christ fully.” Not even the whole Church can make that claim.

Yet Jesus intensely wants to share that Bread, that nourishment with us.

This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life…

Let us open our hearts today so that Jesus can fill them with his life-giving love. For he says:

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away…

Jesus has a mission. In a phrase repeated six times in this chapter, he says:

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

And what is the will of the Father?

…that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

This verse summarises the whole chapter. God wants everyone to be with him “on the last day”. On our part, we have to learn how to “see the Son” and “believe in him,” so that one day we can say with St Paul:

…it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.
(Gal 2:20)

When that happens, we will know that we have truly been filled with the Bread that is Christ.

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