Sixth Sunday of Easter

Year A

[Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17;

Psalm 66 (65): 1-7, 16, 20;

I Peter 3: 15-18;

John 14: 15-21]

Last Sunday we saw how the diaconate ordination unfolded in the first century, as the apostles added seven men from among the Greek-speaking brethren to the group of deacons in Jerusalem. These deacons were in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the first Christian community. They had a special responsibility for the management of the material resources. Today, just a week later, we are already with Philip, one of the seven, in Samaria, that is, outside Jewish territory.

Soon after the installation of the Greek brethren in the diaconate, things took a very fast and unexpected turn. As Luke explains to us in the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen, one of the seven, was stoned to death and a violent persecution began against the Church in Jerusalem. The persecution was particularly aimed against the Greek-speaking brethren. The Hebrew speaking brethren were not much disturbed by the Jews who thought they could still reason with them: they had kept to the old traditions. The Hellenists were becoming dangerously progressive. So, all the disciples, with the exception of the apostles, were scattered outside of Jerusalem. Philip, who was one of the seven, fled to Samaria, but instead of going into hiding, he began to proclaim the Good News among the people of that region.

Not only did Philip preach the gospel, but he also confirmed his preaching by signs and wonders: he delivered those who were possessed of evil spirits, he healed the sick and brought joy to the whole of the city; then he baptized those who accepted his message and they became “disciples”. Like the Jews, the Samaritans too lived in the expectation of a Messiah (1), and after hearing what Philip had to say, they acknowledged Jesus the Nazarene, who died and rose again, as the Messiah sent by the God of Israel.

But let us not forget that it is Jesus himself who had already prepared the ground for the spread of the Good News among the Samaritans. He had spoken to the Samaritan woman; he had remained in her village for two days; he had recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan; he had praised the gratefulness of the Samaritan leper whom he had healed. The seed that Philip scatters falls into soil already tilled by Jesus.

Philip has thus taken the Good News to people whom the pious Jews of Jerusalem considered to be half pagans. Because of a religious schism that dated back to centuries, the Jews who remained faithful to the Temple of Jerusalem considered the Samaritans as heretics. But today, because of the faith and the courage of Philip, the gospel crosses over a first border and spreads into Samaria. This is the beginning of a series of steps that the disciples will take for the gospel to cross many more borders and be proclaimed to all the nations up to the ends of the earth (2).

Another feature of this text is the continuation of the mission between the twelve and Philip. Philip remains in contact with those who had imposed their hands on him and entrusted the ministry to him. And so Peter and John arrive from the mother Church in Jerusalem and note how well the Samaritans have received the gospel of Christ. They then impose their hands on the Samaritans and they too receive the gift of the Spirit (3).

The presence of the risen Christ is actualized among the Samaritans as Jesus had promised. The apostles were troubled as to how they would face life in the absence of their Master. In today’s gospel, he tells them, “I will not leave you orphans. I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.” (John 14: 16-18). In the Old Testament God is presented as the advocate of the widows and the orphans. As Jesus seals the New Covenant, he reconfirms that promise of the Old Testament by affirming to his disciples that they will never be left alone.

When Jesus was on the earth, he rushed to the defence of his disciples whenever they faced danger or criticism (Matthew 12: 1-8; John 18: 8 etc. See I John 2: 1). Now that he goes away, he promises them another advocate, the Holy Spirit, to defend them in his place, and continue his work on earth. Thanks to the Spirit, God will ever be the “God with us” promised by the prophets (See Isaiah 7: 14).  The Spirit will act through them and give them the strength to bear witness through their words and actions. And so, Philip has crossed the borders of Judea and gone into Samaria. What is the border for you to cross? Amen.

(1)The Samaritans accepted only the first five books of the Bible. The expectation of a new Moses announced in Deuteronomy 18: 18 was very much alive in their midst (See John 4: 25-26).

(2)Philip franchit une première étape en apportant l’évangile aux Samaritains. La prochaine étape viendra quand Pierre ira donner le baptême à la maisonnée du centurion Corneille à Césarée (Actes 10). Parallèlement, l’Esprit demandera à l’Église à ce qu’on mette à côté Paul et Barnabé pour une mission spéciale à laquelle il les a appelés (Actes 13 :2). Ce sera leur envoi à l’île de Chypre. Une troisième étape sera accomplie lorsqu’on dira à Paul, dans une vision : «Traverse la mer pour venir en Macédoine à notre secours» (Actes 16 : 9), et la Bonne Nouvelle franchira la frontière de l’Asie pour entrer en Europe. La prochaine grande étape sera sans doute le moment où l’Église de Jérusalem acceptera que Pierre aille s’installer à Rome en cédant ainsi son titre de Caput Ecclesiae à la Ville impériale.

Philip takes the first step of spreading the gospel in Samaria. Others will do the same in Antioch, Cyprus etc. The next step will be when Peter will baptize the household of the centurion Corneille at Caesarea (Acts 10). At the same time the Spirit will ask the Church to set aside Paul and Barnabas for a special mission that he wants to confide to them (Acts 13:2). And that will be their travel into the Mediterranean for the island of Cyprus. The third step will come when Paul will be told in a vision, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16: 9), and the Good News will enter into the European continent for the first time. Undoubtedly the next great step will be when the Church of Jerusalem will accept that Peter leave Jerusalem and go and install in Rome, thus giving away its privilege of “Caput Ecclesiae” to the Imperial City.

(3)The Church will refer to this passage of the imposition of the hands by the apostles in Samaria to uphold confirmation as a sacrament distinct from baptism. But a little further in Acts 10: 44-48, we read that at Caesarea, the Spirit fell on the pagans before even they received their baptism.

(See Tiburtius Fernandez, Homilies for Year A, Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A, © St. Paul’s Publications, Bandra, Mumbai, India, 2022, pp. 108-111).