First Reading - Acts 6:1-7
Gospel - John 6:16-21
The first reading tells us about an important decision of the apostles to choose seven deacons to settle the matter of partially in destribution of food to the Greek widows. The expectation of the Hellenists (Greek Christians) was that the apostles would directly be involved in the work of distribution of food in order to avoid partiality but the apostles clarified that their preference would be prayer and preaching. Therefore, they prefered not to relegate their priorities for material concerns. All the same, they did not overlook the matter and assigned the deacons to see to the distribution of food. The choice of the apostles for their spiritual concerns prevailed over the temporal affairs.
The gospel passage presents historical events of the troublesome time of early Christians due to persecutions and life-threatening situations. The journey of the apostles on the boat symbolically depicts the journey of the Christians who met difficult times caused by persecutions as symbolised by the striking of storms against the boat. To cap it all, there seemed the absence of Jesus. However, the terrifying scene is worsened for the apostles by the sudden appearance of a man walking on the lake like a ghost. Jesus reminds his terrified disciples about his identity as "It's I" or he is "I Am" ("I Am" was the name revealed to Moses by God - Exodus 3:14) who is the controller of everything, hence they need not be afraid of anything. This was an assurance for the early Christians as well, those who were undergoing persecutions, to trust in Jesus that he is God and is journeying with them and everything would come to pass in him.
Dear friends, there are many times when our priorities are wrongly made, consequently we suffer or regret later. The apostles, in the first reading, sets an example for us that our spiritual concerns should always remain our priorities of life; prayer, spritual excercises, and our evangelization works. When we relegate our spiritual concerns for material gains or temporal things, we may feel the absence of Jesus and fail to recognise him in our lives like the apostles, because that will make us spiritually weak. Our priorities for spiritual concerns will always help us even through the toughest times of our lives to hear a voice from Jesus - "It is I. Do not be afraid." This voice is filled with assurance of hope and confidence that God is with us.
The gospel passage also reminds us that there is no toughest situation with Jesus but with him the toughest will always become easy for us. The disciples were terrified by the sight of the storm and added to it, by the sight of the ghost-like man. Inspite of all, they allowed Jesus into the boat and immediately they reached their destination. We need to give place to Jesus into our lives and we can conquer all tough situations of our lives, for with God everything is possible.
May we be able to allow Jesus in our lives.
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