Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 8:1b–8; Psalm 66; John 6:35–40
A great persecution fell upon the Church in Jerusalem.
What seemed like defeat became a beginning.
The disciples were scattered, but the Gospel was not scattered. The believers were driven out, but the Word ran ahead of them.
So Philip went down to Samaria, and there, in a place once divided, Christ was proclaimed.
The city listened. Unclean spirits fled. The broken were healed. And there was great joy in that city.
See how God works:
what violence tries to silence, grace turns into a song.
What enemies mean for destruction, God bends toward proclamation.
The Church was pushed out of Jerusalem, but only so that the name of Jesus might cross new borders.
This too is one of God’s mighty deeds.
For to open the sea is wondrous. But to open the human heart is more wondrous still.
To lead a people through water is great. But to lead them from unbelief to faith, from bondage to Christ, from death to life— this is a greater exodus.
And so the psalm sings:
“Come and see the works of God.”
Israel sang these words remembering the sea made dry, the waters parted, the people passing through, Pharaoh left behind.
It was the great memory of freedom.
Yet the old deliverance was pointing beyond itself.
Egypt was more than Egypt. Pharaoh was more than Pharaoh. The sea was more than the sea.
For beneath the story lay a deeper story:
Egypt is the land of sin. Pharaoh is the cruel tyrant of evil. Moses is a shadow. Christ is the true deliverer.
And the sea— the sea is baptism.
There the old man is drowned. There the enemy loses his claim. There a new people rise and begin their journey in freedom.
By His cross, Christ has broken the dominion of sin. By His rising, He has opened the road of life. By baptism, this victory enters us.
So the Christian can also sing: “Come and see the works of God.”
For now the mighty deeds are greater still:
the devil cast down, sin washed away, death robbed of its last word, and a human being made new in Christ.
And in the Gospel, the Lord speaks again:
“I am the bread of life.”
Israel had manna in the wilderness, bread for the journey, bread that sustained life for a day.
But now the Father gives not bread that delays death, but bread that defeats it.
Christ is the true bread from heaven.
He feeds not only the body, but the heart. He gives not only strength, but eternal life.
This is the Father’s will: that those who see the Son and believe in Him should not perish, but be raised up on the last day.
So the Church proclaims God’s tremendous deeds:
the sea opened, the tomb opened, the sinner washed, the hungry fed, the scattered gathered, and the dead raised.
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.
Content License
© 2025 Krakus.
Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial).