Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

According to today’s first reading, the persecution of the church in Jerusalem, immediately following on from the killing of Stephen, had two very different consequences. Saul or Paul, who witnessed the death of Stephen, was encouraged to finally finish off this new and dangerous movement within Judaism and ‘worked for the total destruction of the church’. On the other hand, the believers who fled the persecution in Jerusalem took the opportunity to preach the gospel in places where it had never been preached before. Philip, in particular, proclaimed the gospel in a Samaritan town and met with a welcoming response. The church whose members were originally Jews was now receiving Samaritans. The traditional animosity between Jews and Samaritans was collapsing through a shared faith in Jesus, the risen Lord. In a time of great danger and loss for the early church, the Lord was working powerfully for the spread of the gospel. A time of loss for the church in Jerusalem was a time of growth elsewhere, in Samaria. We are being reminded that times of loss for the church can also be times of growth. When there is a loss in one place, there can be growth in another. Even in the place where there is loss, there can be growth. As you read on in the Acts of the Apostles, the church in Jerusalem continues to be significant. According to today’s gospel reading, the will of God the Father is that ‘whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life’. God is always at work to bring his will, his purpose, to pass, which is that people come to believe in his Son. The Lord continues to work even in the most unpromising of circumstances. This gives us the confidence to continue proclaiming the gospel by our lives in season and out of season.