Acts 8:1-8 / John 6:35-40
We don't usually like it when mistakes happen or an unexpected turn of events leave us fretting away and wondering what is going to happen next.
But from history and from the experience of our lives, we may see that many discoveries and movements have their origins from apparent accidents and mistakes and unexpected events, rather than from carefully planned programs and processes.
Such was the case with the discovery of penicillin. Such was the case with the independence of Singapore. Such was the case with the early Church in its first missionary movement.
As we heard in the 1st reading, had the Christians not been persecuted in Jerusalem, they would not have gone to Samaria, at least not at such an early stage, to preach the good news about Jesus.
And the Good News needs to be spread because people need to know that besides the material world, there is also the spiritual world.
Besides material needs, there are also the spiritual needs. Besides physical hunger, there is also a spiritual hunger which only God can satisfy.
Jesus came to do the will of His Father and that is to be the bread of life and to fill the spiritual hunger of people in the world.
So when things don't go our way, that is when God wants to show us His way.
And when God makes the Good News happen, may we see and be filled with its joy, and in turn share that rejoicing with others.