The Easter Community - Ready to Give

WORD 2day - Friday, Second week in Eastertide

April 12, 2024 - Acts 5: 34-42; John 6: 1-15

One of the characteristic marks of the Easter community highlighted by the Word today, is their capacity and their insistence on giving - giving not just to others and giving not just what they have, but giving to the Lord and giving themselves totally. Nothing did they want to keep to themselves - they sold everything and gave, we heard these days in the Word; but more than that, they did not keep even themselves to themselves! They were ready even to give their lives to the Lord, that is why they were glad and grateful when they could suffer bodily for Christ's sake. 

The Word begins with highlighting the 5 loaves that the boy was ready to give, out of which came an abundance of Grace - giving what one has. It continues with presenting Jesus as the model who was ready to give himself - he is infact setting up the prelude to a long, profound and crucial discourse on the bread that comes down from heaven! The allusion then is to the apostles who were ready to give of themselves totally to the project of their Master and Guide, Jesus the Lord. And finally, becoming the Easter Community, they realise this call, in their readiness to suffer for Christ's name and even give praise to the Lord for the sufferings they endure. A Giving that begins with giving from what one has and grows into giving of oneself to the Lord!

Today, we all over the world, have received the Christian faith and live and express it, thanks to this Easter Community which was ready to give, not just the news that they had received from the Son of God, but their very selves, their lives and all that they were, for the sake of the Reign that was announced by their beloved Rabbuni. Giving - giving to God all that we are, and anything that is expected of us, for the sake of the project that God has - the Reign of God, the fullness of life for all - that is the sign that we are growing into true Easter communities.