Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
(Acts 5:27-33; John 3:31-36)
The words of today’s gospel are given without any indication
of who spoke them. They sound much like
those that Jesus said to Nicodemus. If we
check the citation, however, we find that John the Baptist is speaking them to
his disciples. John is echoing what
Jesus said in the gospel earlier this week and what the prologue tells us of the
Word of God.
Jesus reveals to us the will of God. He is not concerned with the things most of
us bother with. He does not speak of
sports champions or beauty queens, how to make a million or how to get your
children into a top-tier school. Rather he
speaks of selfless love willing to make sacrifices for the good of all. Peter and the apostles exhibit this love in
today’s reading from Acts. They defy the
Sanhedrin’s orders, not to rebel against authority but to carry out God’s
command. They risk punishment, even
death, so that God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ may be made known.
We too should spread the word. But at the same time let us reflect on it and
live according to it. No doubt, this
means changes in what we think, say, and do.
As the Baptist implies in the gospel, doing so will give us eternal
life.
