3rd Week of Easter – Wednesday A

Imagine the creator of all things. He is assuming a human nature and walking in our midst so that in today’s gospel, he will talk about how he is the source of life, that he is God the Creator, and that we belong to him. Right.

Listen to what Jesus says. "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me." (Jn 6:35-38)

So here we have our Lord Jesus, who is, as we say in the creed, God from God, light from light, true God from true God. And he has come in the flesh. This is why Saint John says, "the spirit of the Antichrist are those who do not believe that God has come in the flesh." (1 Jn 4:2-3) Right?

Because it is so beyond anything that they can grasp, their pride won’t allow it. That’s why the Jews were so adamantly against Christ for some of the things he was saying.

And this gospel today also raised the alarm bells for those who were steeped in the Judaic tradition of there being but one God, which is true. But when Jesus was trying to shed light on what that means, that there is one God but there are three persons in this one God, because it’s so mysterious, it’s so beyond what we can explain, it’s so beyond what we can truly grasp, they thought he was speaking heresy.

And so our Lord is struggling here with trying to break through their pride, which is what he does with us. We, to my brothers and sisters, unfortunately, are steeped in pride. If we examine our sins well, if we examine what happened before we fell into the sin, we will see that there is always some element of pride in our downfall, and our Lord is trying to continually break through our pride and to help us to trust in him and to believe wholeheartedly.

Now, he didn’t promise that everything would be smooth sailing afterwards. That is that we embrace him, we try to live for him, we serve him in our neighbour, we love our neighbour as ourselves. Okay, we reach out to the poor and we pray as incessantly as we can. That doesn’t mean that we would not be persecuted.

In the first reading from the eighth chapter of Acts today, we hear that and I quote, "... there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church, entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment. (Acts 8:1-3)

Again, this is Saint Paul in his unconverted, prideful, steeped in the letter of the law, avoiding the spirit of the law, not understanding and grasping the heart of the law. Saul. Saul, as we know, will later, and we’ll see this throughout the coming days, he will actually experience the risen Christ in tangible form on his way to Damascus to round up the Christians there and persecute them. God breaks through his pride and his arrogance. He who thought that God would never choose a carpenter to do his bidding, and to speak in his name, and to pronounce his word with eloquence and truth and strength. He thought he was capable of doing this. Paul. Saul, not Jesus. This. This false prophet in his estimation.

And we’ll see that on the road to Damascus, he has this incredible life-changing experience where this burst of light blinds him instantly. And we’re getting the prelude to all of this in the life of Saul by examining how he caused this commotion, this havoc in Jerusalem, because he began to pursue those who believed and trusted in Christ’s word. That, and I quote "... everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day." (Jn 6:40)

My dear brothers and sisters, this is also the beginning of the Eucharistic discourse, where Christ will make clear that his flesh is true food, his blood is true drink, that we actually need to consume him tangibly. But we also remember what that means, what that entails, what that ratifies, what that should affect in our lives.

And so as we go on with our Easter walk of faith, believing in the risen Christ, clinging to him, loving him, appreciating everything that he accomplishes for us every day for his continual assistance and accompaniment, we keep in our minds and in our hearts his beloved assurance when he said, "Do not be afraid. I will be with you every day, even until the end of time." (Mt 28:20) Amen.