Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Readings for Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter
First Published: Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Gone to Seed
Reflection:
The readings give us a parallel between what happened before Easter and what happened after. When Jesus was doing his physical ministry on earth, that is when he walked among us, the Jews to whom he most closely ministered were expecting something else and could not bring themselves to believe in Jesus. He, after all, did not cast off his mantel of humility and dispel the Roman invader with great power. Thats what they were looking for. Thats why they said; Dont keep us in suspense. Because he did not fit their image of what God would send them, the chose to reject him and even ended up putting him to death.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen had just been martyred and the Sanhedrin had really started to put their foot down in an attempt to crush the Hellenistic Christians (Still not called that as we see in that same reading). The group the Apostles had been assembling were mostly from the Jewish community but there were a growing number that were not Jewish. Remember at this very earliest time, the Christian movement was still considered a part of mainstream Judaism, so brining Greeks into the fold, Greeks like Stephen and his fellow Deacons, was something the Jewish leadership would not tolerate and took action with extreme prejudice. The flock ran, but it was scattering seeds on fertile ground. Where the seeds fell they took root and grew.
The message we find for ourselves today is that like Jesus, who became like a grain of wheat that dies, falls to the earth and rises again, multiplying, we must also become wheat. We are called to bear much fruit and we see in scripture the way that is done. It is paradoxical since it is both simple and difficult. All we need do is be faithful to what Jesus taught in our daily lives. Since the world continues to reject him, we will also encounter rejection (which is always difficult) and therein lies the opportunity for us to bring Christs love to a place where it can convert the hearts of those it touches through us.
This same model repeats itself throughout the history of our faith. The more resistance there is, the more the faith finds fertile ground and grows. It is through us that this takes place. Brothers and sisters in that wheat let us join in becoming bread for the world the body of the risen Christ. Pax
Readings for Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter
First Published: Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Gone to Seed
Reflection:
The readings give us a parallel between what happened before Easter and what happened after. When Jesus was doing his physical ministry on earth, that is when he walked among us, the Jews to whom he most closely ministered were expecting something else and could not bring themselves to believe in Jesus. He, after all, did not cast off his mantel of humility and dispel the Roman invader with great power. Thats what they were looking for. Thats why they said; Dont keep us in suspense. Because he did not fit their image of what God would send them, the chose to reject him and even ended up putting him to death.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen had just been martyred and the Sanhedrin had really started to put their foot down in an attempt to crush the Hellenistic Christians (Still not called that as we see in that same reading). The group the Apostles had been assembling were mostly from the Jewish community but there were a growing number that were not Jewish. Remember at this very earliest time, the Christian movement was still considered a part of mainstream Judaism, so brining Greeks into the fold, Greeks like Stephen and his fellow Deacons, was something the Jewish leadership would not tolerate and took action with extreme prejudice. The flock ran, but it was scattering seeds on fertile ground. Where the seeds fell they took root and grew.
The message we find for ourselves today is that like Jesus, who became like a grain of wheat that dies, falls to the earth and rises again, multiplying, we must also become wheat. We are called to bear much fruit and we see in scripture the way that is done. It is paradoxical since it is both simple and difficult. All we need do is be faithful to what Jesus taught in our daily lives. Since the world continues to reject him, we will also encounter rejection (which is always difficult) and therein lies the opportunity for us to bring Christs love to a place where it can convert the hearts of those it touches through us.
This same model repeats itself throughout the history of our faith. The more resistance there is, the more the faith finds fertile ground and grows. It is through us that this takes place. Brothers and sisters in that wheat let us join in becoming bread for the world the body of the risen Christ. Pax
posted by Deacon Jim | 2:57 AM
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