Homily for April 18, 2018.
“And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in
Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria.”
Acts 8:1.
Our first reading today presents a perfect description of how God works.
It begins by telling us of how a great persecution arose against the church
following the death of Stephen, but ends with this line: “So there was much joy
in that city.” Acts 8:8. God knows how to write straight on crooked lines.
We can completely trust God because so long as we hold on to him, even
our most negative experiences often turn out to be for our own good. Perhaps
Philip would not have known he had the gifts of preaching and healing to work
great signs if he had not fled Jerusalem at the time of the persecution.
Truly, you never know what God has deposited in you until you face hard
times. Like food that has to be cooked before its nutritional value for our
health come out, hardship and crisis help to cook us in the fire so that our
true value comes out. As Denzel Washington once said: “Ease is a greater threat
to progress than hardship.”
In fact, we can say “Thank God for persecution, the church would have
simply remained in just one position.” Thank God for your bad days. Thank God
for your failures. Thank God for your sorrows. Thank God for what appears to be
hardship right now. Why must we be grateful? Because we know God can use
anything, any situation to bring about our ultimate good.
God never promised that if we serve him, everything will be smooth in
our lives. No! The book of Sirach 2:1 says: “My child, when you come to serve
the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.” Jesus also makes us understand that
following him entails carrying a cross, drinking the bitter wine of
persecution:
“You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and
friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for
my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you
will gain your lives.” Luke 21:16-19. In Matthew’s version of this passage,
Jesus adds: “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly,
I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before
the Son of man comes.” Matthew 10:23.
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus continues his conversation with the
crowd who had come to seek him because they wanted bread and he is now telling
them that he himself is the bread they must eat not only to sustain our life on
earth but even to guarantee eternal life for ourselves.
When we juxtapose both our first reading and our Gospel passage today
together, this is the picture we get: Trials and hard times would surely come
our way as long as we continue to serve God, we may even lose our lives due to
such trials but even if we die, Jesus promises to raise us up on the last day.
Like an athlete running with the pole to take the high jump, we must take away
all fear from our lives knowing that when we go up so high to take that jump,
we are not going to land on ordinary ground.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, save me from all forms of discouragement and despair. Keep my
faith alive and strong no matter what life throws at me, may nothing ever spoil
my relationship with you. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Wednesday of the 3rd Week
of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 8:1-8
and John 6:35-40).
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