27 May 2014
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Today’s first reading describes how Paul and his companion Silas were beaten and then thrown into prison for preaching the Good News of God’s salvific work in Christ. This text provides a biblical proof for the commonly held maxim that no good deed goes unpunished. Stories like these seem to echo the psalmist who asks in psalm 73 as to why the wicked prosper and do so with great progress.
Why the dryer eats socks, why it rains on vacation, and a countless other disruptions to our desired goals seem to point to a world that has no direction. Frustration and exacerbation would result if we didn’t stop and recall that we do know right from wrong, that we can more often than not discern what is best, and that our frustration comes in not being able to accomplish all the good we want to do.
This awareness of what is good and true, and the ability to move towards that that truth indicates an order to the world of which we sometimes see on occasion. Our faith teaches us that God has re-ordered the world that at times chooses sin. This re-ordering of the world done by Christ and continuing by means of the Holy Spirit creates a new order in the world. Paul understood this and thought it worth proclaiming, in spite of the difficulties.