Acts 6:8-15 / John 6:22-29
Life has many surprises. Of course we wish that all surprises are pleasant and that they are happy surprises.
But the fact of life is that there is a corresponding amount of unpleasant surprises and they can also be unhappy ones.
In the 1st reading, the deacon Stephen might have surprised the people with his wisdom as well as the miracles and great signs he worked among the people. Certainly, it was a pleasant surprise.
But his enemies conspired against him and then they took him by surprise and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
Does it surprise us that such a good and grace-filled man would have such evil done to him?
Not surprising actually because history has many instances of evil being returned for goodness, and that rule about doing to others what you want others to do to you somehow does not apply.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus had miraculously fed the five thousand people. More than just being pleasantly surprised, they are now trailing Him.
And when they found Him, Jesus had another surprise teaching for them. He told them that if they want to do the works that God wants, they must believe in Him.
As for us, if we really believe in Jesus, then we must be prepared to suffer like Him in order to rise like Him.
That shouldn't come as a surprise for us.