Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51
Dc. Larry Brockman
So, “They shall all be taught by God”. That’s the scripture that Jesus quotes today. That means that God is teaching you and I and everybody else all the time! Yes, it is God who is our primary teacher because God loves and cares for all of us.
And you know what? There are many ways that God teaches us constantly: through His creation; through the people He places in our lives; through inspiration when we pray; through the scriptures and the catechism; through wonderful experiences in our families and lives; in books and other media; through the lessons we learn in life; and even, and I would say especially, through the mistakes we make. The question is not whether God is teaching us all the time, but whether we are hearing His teaching and responding to Him.
What does it take to listen and respond to the Lord? First, we need to hunger for the teaching. We can’t just expect to absorb God’s lessons for us by going about our lives in an ordinary way committed to the duties and activities of the world; oblivious to the cues God is placing in our lives. Rather, we need to be constantly searching for God and his will for us as we live our lives.
Second, we have to be open to change when we hear the message. Sometimes we hear a message, and begin to think about it, but then we get caught up in the humdrum of our world, and our opportunity to change and respond to God is lost.
The story of Philip and the Eunuch is a great example of how someone listened to God and responded. The Eunuch, a foreigner who was a Jewish sympathizer, was reading Isaiah while riding his chariot. This man was going about his business, important business for the Empress Candace of Ethiopia. But he was also seeking God as he went along, that’s why he was reading Isaiah. Second, he was open to change. After having heard Philip explain how Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s scripture, the Eunuch doesn’t just thank him and continue on with his business. Rather, he stops his chariot, and asks Philip to baptize him.
The Eunuch is a symbol for all of the Gentiles. The Jews were the first to be offered Salvation by Jesus. Most of them rejected it at the time because they weren’t listening or didn’t believe. But this foreigner hungered for God, so much so that he was feeding off the scriptures as he went about his business. And so, God opened the way through Philip for him to learn what the word was really all about. Then, rather than pass by his opportunity to change; he stopped in his tracks and asked to be Baptized right then and there.
Jesus goes on to talk about how each of us can be nourished with the bread of life. Yes, the Eucharist gives us access to the Lord and His graces, so that we are in the right frame of mind for God’s lessons. The Eucharist is a great way to hunger for God’s teaching and be ready for it.
So believe, receive the Eucharist, and hunger for God’s teaching, however it comes and whenever it comes for to you.
