Paul watched the coats of the men stoning Stephen.


Tuesday, 4/21/15

The day after Jesus fed them, those five thousand followed him around the lake, catching up with him in Capernaum.

Along the way they had been discussing how Moses had once said that God would raise up a prophet like himself to whom  the people would need to listen. They were saying that Jesus could be the prophet like Moses, because  Moses gave them bread from heaven, and Jesus was like him in giving them miraculous bread.

The more cautious ones in the crowd were saying that they needed further confirmation of Jesus being that promised prophet. So, they asked him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe?

That question launched Jesus into his long sermon about himself as the bread of life.

We should spend a few  minutes picturing the first reading's account of the crowd around Stephen, stoning him to death. 

We should take time to fully picture the scene: asking how fiercely the stones were flung, asking which ones of them cost him his life. We should also note how Saul, later Paul, watched the jackets of the stone throwers.

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