I shall not turn away. For I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the One who sent me.
And the will of him who sent me is that I lose nothing of what he has given me,
but instead that I raise it up on the last day. This is the will of the Father,
that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall live eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
REFLECTION:
There’s a very interesting juxtaposition between the persecution of the early Christian community in the first reading,
and Jesus’ speaking of himself as the “Bread of Life” in the Gospel. The contrast is quite remarkable,
especially since the reading from Acts begins by telling of Paul’s approval of Stephen’s murder but also relates how
the apostles were met with tremendous success in their preaching of the Good News.
It is sometimes said that “God writes straight with crooked lines.”
It is fascinating to think that the young man Saul who begins his appearance in Scripture as an enemy of
the early Church and one of its most ardent persecutors, will end up preaching the very thing that he
so despised – almost as if the hunger that had fueled his violence and hatred towards Christians,
found satisfaction instead in Jesus the Bread of Life.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020