20260421 A BALANCED CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES A RADICAL LIFESTYLE
21 April 2026, Tuesday, 3rd Week of Easter
First reading | Acts 7:51-8:1 |
'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit'
Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.’
They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him.
But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and with these words he fell asleep. Saul entirely approved of the killing.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 30(31):3-4,6,8,17,21 |
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or
Alleluia!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mighty stronghold to save me,
for you are my rock, my stronghold.
For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or
Alleluia!
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.
As for me, I trust in the Lord:
let me be glad and rejoice in your love.
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or
Alleluia!
Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your love.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plotting of men.
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Jn10:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my own sheep and my own know me.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn6:35 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the bread of life, says the Lord.
He who comes to me will never be hungry;
he who believes in me will never thirst.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 6:30-35 |
It is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven
The people said to Jesus, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’
‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:
‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry;
he who believes in me will never thirst.’
A BALANCED CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES A RADICAL LIFESTYLE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 7:51 – 8:1; PS 31: 3-4,6,8,17,21; JOHN 6:30-35]
When Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin for causing a disturbance through his preaching, Luke noted that “all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” However, as he carried on with his testimony, that angelic face was no longer merely sweet and gentle, but one of judgment. This does not mean that Stephen became angry or vindictive; on the contrary, he was radiating the love of Christ more clearly than ever. His denunciation of the hypocrisy of the religious leaders sprang not from spite, anger, or pride, but from a place of love. St. Stephen desired for them to repent of their hypocrisy and their stubbornness in rejecting Christ as their Saviour.
To do this, he had to render judgment to awaken their consciences. He spoke boldly: “You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past, they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.”
What Stephen did was in perfect union with the Lord; in fact, he re-enacted what the Lord did during His own passion and trial before the Sanhedrin. Like Jesus, Stephen sought to bring conversion to the religious leaders. Like Jesus, he spoke strong words against hypocrisy (cf. Mt 23:1-36) and lamented over Jerusalem for her hardness of heart toward the Gospel (cf. Mt 23:37-39). Finally, like Jesus during His trial, Stephen, “filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'” (cf. Mt 26:64).
How would we assess Stephen’s evangelical ministry today? Would we label him a “radical”? In our current climate, his style of preaching would likely draw even more anger than it did from the leaders who heard him. Indeed, when they heard him, “they were infuriated and ground their teeth at him. All the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul.”
Today, people who are well-educated and self-important might feel equally insulted and infuriated by messages that are “unpleasant” to their ears. While they may not always retaliate with physical violence, their words can be sharper than any sword. Through social and mass media, they may spread distorted information to discredit the truth. In this way, we too may be “stoned” by the world, just as Stephen was stoned to death for proclaiming the Gospel.
For fear of being persecuted or rejected, we often speak today — in the name of moderation — about a “balanced Christianity.” In truth, we are simply trying to make the Christian faith more acceptable to everyone. For many, this “balanced” Christian life is nothing more than an insipid existence of moderation in all things, designed solely to avoid infuriating or irritating others. We want to be seen as “inclusivists” for whom everything is acceptable and nothing is wrong. In this view, we are called to mind our own business and live as we please, provided we never make others feel that they are not living rightly or that their values are mistaken.
This is a form of hypocrisy no better than that of the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. We cannot expect people to be truly convinced of Christ and the Gospel through such a witness. Those who live a mediocre Christian life choose only their own preferences; they do not follow Christ because of the truth of His claims or because He is the Son of God and our Saviour, but only because they find some of His teachings agreeable or sensible.
Yet, the truth is that “balanced Christianity,” in St. Stephen’s reckoning, has nothing to do with mediocrity and everything to do with radicalism. A balanced Christian life is revolutionary because it calls for total obedience. This means we do not pick and choose what we like to hear or read from the Scriptures; rather, we accept everything as true because it is the Word of God.
St. Stephen took the Scriptures seriously, but always within their proper context. He understood the foundations of the Jewish faith; indeed, he walked his listeners through the history of salvation, beginning with Abraham and continuing through the founding of the Kingdom of Israel by David. However, he demonstrated that we must accept the Scriptures in their entirety rather than stopping at the Old Testament. We must see how salvation history culminates in Christ. St. Stephen challenged them to look beyond Judaism and recognise that God’s saving work is not confined to Israel alone, but is a message for all. Only when we consider the saving work of God in and through Christ can we see the larger picture of His plan for humanity.
This is why we must pray for the wisdom of St. Stephen, who was able to see beyond the narrow confines of his time. A “balanced Christianity” invites us to contextualise the Scriptures for today’s world; however, like St. Stephen, any contextualisation must remain rooted in Scripture as its ultimate source and authority. It is not our place to create “new” truths. What Stephen preached was already implied in the Old Testament; his revolutionary contribution was uncovering what was already explicitly and implicitly taught in the Scriptures.
In our work of evangelisation, we must be ready to speak in a way that helps people live a truly wholesome life. The crisis of humanity today is that it has become one-sided; man often forgets that he is composed of both body and soul. It is not enough to satisfy the body while leaving the soul’s thirst for God unquenched. For this reason, the Word of God speaks directly to the modern world, offering a truly balanced life: a life lived for God and for others, fully in this world yet directed toward the next — a life lived in truth, yet steeped in compassion. A balanced Christianity does not mean living in half-truths; it means living life to the full. St. Stephen identified himself with Christ even unto death, embodying this fullness by forgiving his enemies.
This is what the Lord offers us in today’s Gospel. The people said to Jesus, “What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as Scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” It seems strange that the people would ask this after Jesus had just multiplied the loaves for five thousand. However, many scholars suggest they were likely not asking for more miracles, but were questioning His authority. They wanted to know if He was another Moses — a political liberator sent by God. If so, they intended to make Jesus their king, just as Moses had been a leader and king-like figure to the Hebrews.
However, Jesus wanted them to look beyond their temporal, economic, and political needs; He wanted them to seek the true wisdom that comes from God alone. And so, Jesus answered: “I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Yet, they still did not understand Him; they were still looking for material satisfaction. “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread always.” Jesus, therefore, clarified His meaning further, declaring: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.”
Truly, if we want to find a balanced and holistic life, it is found in Jesus, who is the Bread of Life. As prophesied by Micah, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means the “House of Bread” (cf. Micah 5:2). Jesus, the fulfilment of the prophets, declares: “I am the Bread of Life.” He comes to provide our ultimate sustenance; He does not merely speak the words of God, but is God’s Word in person.
He shows us how to live life to the fullest by giving ourselves completely to the service of God and our fellowmen in humility, compassion, and gentleness. However, to live this balanced life, we must embrace the life proposed to us by our Lord in the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:1-11). This is, without a doubt, a revolutionary way to live!
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
