Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”
All the earth bows down to You, making music in praise of You, singing in honour of Your Name. Come and see God’s wonders, His deeds awesome for humans.
He has turned the sea into dry land, and the river was crossed on foot. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the story of the courage of Stephen, the first martyr, who welcomed death in Christ when he defended his faith and his belief in Christ against the Pharisees and the Jewish high priests when he was questioned and ridiculed for his faith. Instead of fighting back in anger, he explained in detail the story of mankind from its creation and how God brought about salvation through Christ.
Yet, they rejected still the explanation by Stephen, and despite the fact that Stephen himself was full of the Holy Spirit, which is manifested in his shining face, that looks like an angel, the Pharisees and the chief priests still failed to see the truth that was told to them by Stephen, and which they surely had heard as well, from Jesus Himself in their numerous encounters, especially those designed to trap Him and allow them to arrest Him for blasphemy.
They were blinded in their jealousy and hatred against the Lord, against Christ our Risen Lord and Saviour, that they refused to believe all that had happened and had been told about Him and His works, His resurrection, and His nature as the Messiah. They rejected Him not because His message was wrong, but because of human weakness and them allowing Satan to enter their hearts.
They persecuted Stephen and the disciples just as they had persecuted Christ. Yet, this is where Christian qualities came out best, in that of forgiveness and love. Instead of hating them back and cursing, Stephen, just like Jesus on the cross, forgave them and indeed, asked God not to blame the priests and the Pharisees for their faults, especially for having killed the holy man of God in Stephen himself.
Forgiveness is a very difficult thing to do, particularly if we are deeply immersed in hatred and prejudice against others. It is not easy to forgive, but if we do not forgive, we are merely continuing the vicious cycle of evil, that is perpetuated by hatred, anger, jealousy, and violence, which will continue to make the people blind from the truth of God, and that was exactly what happened to the Jewish priesthood who stoned and killed Stephen, and also brought Jesus to be condemned and death on the cross.
Despite all that, both of them forgave their oppressors and their condemners. They did not want to let Satan to revel in the continuation of that endless cycle of evil. Rather, as Christ had wanted, He wanted love to flourish, and begin a new rejuvenation of the human soul, purified from hatred and sin. In order to do so, even though it may be very difficult, we need to first learn to forgive, and to douse our anger and hatred with the cool spring of love.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today pray, pray that God will grant us a new heart, filled with love and compassion, and mercy for others, and also filled to the brim with forgiveness, that we will forgive those who had caused us pain and suffering, and instead sharing God’s love with them, that neither us nor them will be lost, and we will eventually praise the Lord in our heavenly glory together. May God bless us all, and bless our world with His love and mercy. Amen.
John 6 : 30-35
Then they said, “Show us miraculous signs, that we may see and believe You. What sign do You perform? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says : ‘They were given bread from heaven to eat.’
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they said to Him, “Give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me, shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me, shall never be thirsty.”
Psalm 30 : 3cd-4, 6ab and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab
Be a rock of refuge for me, a fortress for my safety. For You are my rock and my stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.
Into Your hands I commend my spirit, but I put all my trust in the Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in Your love.
Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in Your love. In the shelter of Your presence, You hide them from human wiles.
Acts 7 : 51 – Acts 8 : 1a
But you are a stubborn people, you hardened your hearts and closed your ears. You have always resisted the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did. Was there a prophet whom your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who announced the coming of the Just One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the Law through the angels but did not fulfill it.
When they heard this reproach, they were enraged and they gnashed their teeth against Stephen. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand, so he declared : “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”
But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands and rushed together upon him. They brought him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying : “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he knelt down and said in a loud voice : “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he died.
Saul was there, approving his murder. This was the beginning of a great persecution against the Church in Jerusalem. All, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria.
Lie is the poison which destroys trust in mankind, and lie also prevents us from seeing the truth, and it brings us further away from the truth, that is God, our Lord. That was also how lies brought the people and their leaders further away from the truth of Christ. The Messiah had come to the people, and yet they had rejected Him because of the lies that prevented them from seeing the truth.
To testify in public means we should aim to say only the truth, and truth indeed, even though it may be difficult to do so. But in doing a testimony, a trust had been placed upon us to say the truth about things that we have knowledge of, and to tell lies in a testimony would be a great sin. Since a lie is a betrayal of trust and faith, and therefore an outright rebellion against God’s commandments and laws.
Jesus came to the people of Israel, and presented Himself plainly to them, in plain and clear truths that He had represented and taught to the people. He explained to the people of Israel the true nature of God in heaven, who is His Father, and who loves all the people whom He created, that indeed, in Jesus Himself lie that truth, that God sent His only Son that all those who believe in Him, may be saved and gain eternal life.
Yet many refused to believe in Him and His message, and instead they ‘believed’ Him because of His miracles, and not because of the truth that is in Him. It is in our human nature that we are easily excited and interested by things that excite our visual senses, in which, Christ through His miracles had definitely left a great impact on all these people, that they believe in Him, but in His miracles and what they see, instead of any kind of true faith in the Messiah.
This was also why they abandoned Him when He was arrested and put on trial by the chief priests, and when the priests cried for His death, they too followed suit and cried out for the death of Christ, the very one whom they had ‘believed’ in before, not because of any true faith, or belief and faith in the truth, but in temporary excitement of the visual. We prefer to linger in a world of lies than in a world of truth.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us then strive for truth and also strive to tell the truth to all around us, particularly when it concerns other people. Let us not be children of Satan but rather become children of God, who is truth.
John 6 : 22-29
Next day the people, who had stayed on the other side, realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples; but rather, the disciples had gone away alone. Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking or Jesus.
When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Master, when did You come here?” Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for Me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for He is the One on whom the Father has put His mark.”
Then the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this : that you believe in the One whom God has sent.”
Psalm 118 : 23-24, 26-27, 29-30
Although princes conspire against me, Your servant will observe Your decrees. Your laws are my delight, my counselors who uphold me.
When I explained my ways, You responded; instruct me then in Your precepts. Explain to me all Your ordinances, and I will meditate on Your wondrous deeds.
Keep me away from deceitful paths; be gracious and teach me Your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon Your laws.
Acts 6 : 8-15
Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. As they were unable to face the truth, they bribed some men to say, “We heard him speak against Moses and against God.”
So they stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law; they took him by surprise, seized him and brought him before the Council. Then they produced false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against our Holy Place and the Law. We even heard him say that Jesus the Nazarean will destroy our Holy Place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
And all who sat in the Council fixed their eyes on him, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.
Obey God, and not obey men! Indeed, we should obey God, our Lord first, before we obey men, just as what Peter had said to the chief priests and the Pharisees when he rebuked them for forcing them to abandon their mission to spread the Good News of the Lord. They did not obey men, and instead obeyed the Lord, and suffered in the process, from persecution and prejudice by the priests and many among the Jews.
But it is not to say that we should disobey all men, including our Church hierarchy, beginning with our Pope, down to our priests. No, indeed, we should still obey them, as long as they carry the will of God with them and through their words and actions, reflect the will of God. This is because by obeying those who are in the position of authority, and carrying the will of God, means that we obey God too at the same time.
Do not put our complete trust and obedience in men who are finite and flawed. For mankind is flawed and imperfect, and therefore are bound to make mistakes, which may affect many others, especially if we obey these flawed ideals from our earthly superiors. Place our complete trust and obedience instead in God, and indeed, in His chosen ministers, who are our priests and ordained ministers of the Lord, who had been chosen from among many, to serve Him and His beloved people.
Of course we should not be in open rebellion against our superiors, if we disagree with our earthly superiors. Rather, we should focus on prayer and concrete actions, that should be intended to help our superiors see light in their errors and flaws, and help themselves to improve and become better in the process. Help one another, superior and workers alike, that in doing that, all of us can then truly obey the will of God, and do good works for His sake, and for the sake of all mankind.
God protects us, and He showed us His great love and mercy, especially when we too love Him, and when we seek Him when we were lost. He showed His mercy to Peter, who had betrayed Him when He was under arrest, because of fear of man, and lacking strong faith in God. He showed His love and mercy, forgiving Peter as many times as he had betrayed Him before.
That is why we ought to put our trust in Him, because He can be trusted, and He is faithful to those who love Him. He recognised the faith in Peter, while it was weak and easily shaken by the arrest of Christ, Jesus recognised that in Peter was truly a strong faith like that of a rock, just as He had Himself given Peter the name, Peter, that means literally, the rock. It is His commissioning and forgiveness of Peter at the shore of the lake that day which marked the beginning of the transformation which Peter went through, from the fisher of fish, to a fisher of mankind.
No more would he catch fish for a living, but he would dedicate his life fully in the service of the Lord. To be a fisher of man is to spread the Good News of the Lord to many, so that they can be ‘ensnared’ in the faith, that they too would believe and then gain salvation through the faith in Christ. Peter’s obedience and profession of faith and love in Christ brought about the turning point in the history of our Church, that on that day, St. Peter, who would lead our Church as the first Pope, was truly reborn in faith and in God’s love.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us strive to obey the will of God ever more, through our priests and our ordained ministers who represented God in our world. Pray for them, and pray for ourselves too, that we can follow in the example of Peter in professing our loyalty, sincerity, and love for our God, and presenting to Him a contrite heart full of regret, desiring to return to our God who loves us. Obey men too, as long as they too do the will of God, and when they do not, help them to see the light of God, that they too eventually will obey.
Let us also follow in the footsteps of the apostles who had become the fishers of men, instead of just fishers of fish. Let us go beyond our human limitation of seeking only to fulfill our own earthly needs, and instead, seek to bring the Word and teachings of our Lord to many who have yet to hear them, and who long to know Christ, our Lord.
May God protect us and bless us always with His blessings and grace, that we will always be obedient to Him and follow His examples. Amen.
