The World Scatters, Jesus Unites

Homily for Wednesday of the Third Week in Easter

The first sentence of today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles sets the tone for the community that grows over the apostolic Era. The early church knew persecution, and, as a result, it also knew that the world scatters rather than unites.

In John 6, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life… whoever comes to me will never hunger.” In a world that scatters us—through suffering, fear, division, or uncertainty—Jesus is the One who gathers, feeds, and sustains. He promises that nothing and no one given to Him will be lost. Where Acts shows the Church scattered, Jesus shows the heart of God gathering.

We all experience it: families pull apart, plans are disrupted, faith is shaken, and communities are stretched thin. Indeed, the world often feels fragmented.

God does not prevent every scattering; rather God transforms it. The early Church actually grew because of the dispersion of the Jerusalem community. Long before the missionary efforts of St. Paul, many Jewish people accepted what was then known as “the way.” Dispersion can lead to strength. Israel experienced this when it passed through the sea as they were hunted by Pharaoh. Our own lives, in our own times, often deepen through it.

Jesus is the Bread of Life—the One who feeds us when we feel empty, the One who gathers when we feel broken, the One who promises, “I shall lose nothing of what the Father has given me.”

Whatever feels scattered in our lives today, God is already at work in it. It is God who gathers peoples into the community. It is God who feeds us. It is God who brings life out of scattering and persecution.