Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Fake news is not new. Enemies of the Faith have been inventing tales about Christians even before anyone used the word “Christian.” At His trial, false witnesses invented accusations against Jesus, and in fact said the same thing of Jesus that they later accused Stephen of doing. Enemies of Christ never can win over the public by telling the truth, can they? So they accused Jesus and Stephen of blasphemy and of plotting to destroy the Jewish Temple. They constantly avoided asking God first, as the psalmist says, "Make me understand."
It’s very likely that Jesus, telling the true story of His relationship with the Father, was thought to blaspheme because He was claiming to be one with God. Stephen probably called Jesus the Son of God in his preaching. He learned from Jesus that after the Resurrection, His followers would pray not only in certain places like the Temple, but, like He told the Samaritan woman, “in Spirit and in Truth.” (Jn 4:24) So anybody who had second or third-hand information about his preaching might infer that, then, there would be no Temple to pray in. It’s not a great leap from there to the destruction of the Temple. And, of course, Matthew records that Jesus predicted it would be destroyed, with not a stone on stone left of it. That happened when the Romans put down the rebellion of the Jews about forty years later.
It was just a couple of days ago that we heard an earlier passage about the ordination of Stephen and six other ministers, ones we call deacons today. They were set aside, Peter said, to “wait on tables,” or assist at the communal meals and Eucharist. But in the tales of Stephen and Philip written in the Acts, we see that they did a lot more than that, and did signs and wonders–miracles–to back up their preaching. That tends to stir up envy among their opponents. But in what looks like a trial, we are told that Stephen’s face looked like that of an angel.
It’s easy to interpret that statement wrongly, especially if you’ve been brought up with cute pictures of cherubs as the only angels you image in your mind. But an angel for the Jews was an awesome creature. I mean St Michael and his angelic host–the good guys–actually drove the strongest angel, Satan, and his minions out of heaven. So Stephen took on an awesome appearance in the contest. Please read the whole story in the Acts of the Apostles.
When Jesus multiplied the loaves–a miracle recorded in every one of the Gospels–He ran the risk of focusing the public attention on the most basic of their needs being filled. And that’s exactly what happened. People followed Jesus to His home base of Capernaum because they saw His Messianic mission as that of a really powerful purveyor of free food. They didn’t see the sign that the multiplying loaves represented. Jesus’s temporary filling their tummies was supposed to be a sign that faith in Him, and the sacramental life He called them to, would feed them eternally, and sustain them to everlasting life. They missed the point, and that is what for the next few days we will see explained as we continue the all-important sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. Jesus is going to tell us about the food that endures–that never runs out. It’s food that our faith unlocks the key to.
