Rejection

Apr. 17: Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

The world rejects Christians, but Christ doesn’t reject the world. He welcomes everyone, which should be a lesson to us all.

Reading 1

Acts 8:1b-8

There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. There was great joy in that city.

Once again, we see God bringing good out of evil. After the execution of Stephen, the early Christians flee persecution. The scattering leads to the spreading of the Gospel all over the world. Samaritans were rejected by Jewish society, but welcomed by Christians like Philip, and thus found the joy of the gospel.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a

R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, "How tremendous are your deeds!"
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
"Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!"
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

God transforms the world, and we should sing praise for that transformation. It won’t always be as obvious as parting the Red Sea; sometimes the transformation comes at a cost, as with Stephen’s life. But since His might rules forever, we can trust the transformation will work out in the end.

Alleluia

See Jn 6:40

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

This is the ultimate Good News Jesus wanted His followers to spread.

Gospel

Jn 6:35-40

Jesus said to the crowds, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day."

There’s been much online discussion lately of various celebrities converting to (or re-discovering) Catholicism.¹ Now, my time working in Hollywood has made me very cynical about famous people. If a celebrity announced that the sky was blue, I’d go outside and check.

But of course, it’s not my place to judge such things. We never know what’s truly in someone’s heart, like God does. If someone truly comes to Jesus and believes in Him, Jesus won’t reject them. Even when the world rejects us, doubts our faith and sincerity, Jesus won’t. He’ll raise us on the last day, as He promised.

1. Trent Horn did a great video recently—