Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Acts 28:16–20, 30–31; John 21:20–25
Some endings feel unfinished.
A good book closes, but the heart wants one more chapter.
One more page. One more scene. One more answer.
Today, both Acts and John come to an end.
But neither ends the way we expect.
Paul is in Rome. Under house arrest. Watched. Restricted. Not free to go where he wants.
And yet the final line says he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Without hindrance.
A prisoner, yet the Word is free.
Chains on Paul, but no chains on the Gospel.
Then John ends his Gospel.
Not with every question answered. Not with every detail explained.
He simply says that Jesus did many other things, so many that the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
So Acts ends open.
John ends overflowing.
And we are left with questions.
What happened to Paul? What happened to Peter? What happened to John? What happened after the final page?
We want to know.
We always want to know.
We want the full story. The clear ending. The complete map. The certainty before we walk.
Peter wanted something similar.
He saw the beloved disciple and asked Jesus:
“What about him?”
What will happen to him? What is his path? What is his ending?
Jesus did not satisfy his curiosity.
He gave him one sentence:
“You follow me.”
That is the line that carries everything.
You follow me.
Not:
Know everything first.
Not:
Compare your road with his.
Not:
Control the ending.
You follow me.
That is enough.
Because every disciple has a road.
Peter had his road. John had his road. Paul had his road.
One would be led where he did not wish to go.
One would remain in witness.
One would preach in chains at the heart of the empire.
Different roads.
One Lord.
And now, as Easter reaches its final evening and Pentecost draws near, the question comes to us.
Not:
Do I know how everything will end?
But:
Am I following where Christ is leading me?
Maybe it is a classroom. A family. A workplace. A small parish. A hidden service. A difficult friendship. A quiet suffering no one sees.
But the Gospel can be proclaimed there.
The Kingdom can begin there.
The Spirit can send me there.
The Bible ends some stories without closing them because God is still writing.
Acts does not truly end with Paul in Rome.
It continues wherever someone speaks of Christ with courage.
John does not truly end with the last verse.
It continues wherever someone discovers that Jesus is more than all our books can hold.
So we stand at the edge of Pentecost.
Behind us, the empty tomb.
Before us, the fire of the Spirit.
Around us, an unfinished world.
And Christ says again:
You follow me.
Not when everything is clear.
Now.
Not when all questions are answered.
Now.
Not when the road is safe.
Now.
Follow me.
And when our chapter closes, the Gospel will not end.
The Spirit will raise new witnesses.
The Word will keep running.
The Kingdom will keep coming.
Because in Christ, the end is never the end.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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© 2025 Krakus.
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