20260501 WE HAVE COME HERE TO TELL YOU THE GOOD NEWS
1 May 2026, Friday, 4th Week of Easter
First reading | Acts 13:26-33 |
God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the dead
Paul stood up in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, held up a hand for silence and began to speak:
‘My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on every sabbath. Though they found nothing to justify his death, they condemned him and asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out everything that scripture foretells about him they took him down from the tree and buried him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem: and it is these same companions of his who are now his witnesses before our people.
‘We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the second psalm: You are my son: today I have become your father.’
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 2:6-11 |
You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
‘It is I who have set up my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.’
I will announce the decree of the Lord:
The Lord said to me: ‘You are my Son.
It is I who have begotten you this day.
You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
‘Ask and I shall bequeath you the nations,
put the ends of the earth in your possession.
With a rod of iron you will break them,
shatter them like a potter’s jar.’
You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
Now, O kings, understand,
take warning, rulers of the earth;
serve the Lord with awe
and trembling, pay him your homage.
You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Col3:1 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 14:1-6 |
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still, and trust in me.
There are many rooms in my Father’s house;
if there were not, I should have told you.
I am going now to prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you with me;
so that where I am
you may be too.
You know the way to the place where I am going.’
Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.’
WE HAVE COME HERE TO TELL YOU THE GOOD NEWS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 13:26-33; PS 2:6-11; JOHN 14:1-6]
Many of us live in anxiety. We are worried about our future. We are easily troubled and unsettled when unpleasant events occur in our lives. We seek clarity, meaning, and an assurance that our lives are under control. But where do we find true security and peace? Ultimate peace can only be found in the Lord. When the disciples realised that Jesus was returning to the Father, they were anxious. Today’s Scripture comes not long after Jesus’ earlier prophecy that Peter would deny Him. Peter said, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.” (Jn 13:37f) If Peter, the most fiercely loyal of the apostles, could betray Jesus, what hope remained for the rest of Jesus’ followers? Naturally, they were anxious. How would they continue if Jesus were no longer there to lead them?
So many of us are like Thomas, who said to Jesus: “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Jesus in the Gospel makes it clear that He is the True Shepherd and the Gate. “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (Jn 10:9, 14-16)
So, the Lord assured them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.” They just needed to be confident in walking the way of Truth, and instead of focusing on their own feelings of dejection, they had to fix their gaze on the relationship between Jesus and His Father. The death and resurrection of our Lord stand as the ultimate sign of the Father’s fidelity, proving God to be both loving and faithful.
Jesus is the access to the presence of God. This is what the Lord meant when He said, “there are many rooms in my Father’s house”. Jesus was of course, speaking of His dwelling place. This room is not far away up in heaven but deep in our hearts. While the ‘Father’s house’, originally referred to the Temple in Jerusalem and Jesus’ own body, after His resurrection, the Father is now present wherever the glorified Lord is. Through His death, resurrection, and ascension, we are united with the Father through our union with Christ. In other words, Christ has made His home in us as He promised. How will this happen? Jesus explained further, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (Jn 14:20f)
The ultimate goal for all of us is to return to the Father, the Origin and Source of creation. Throughout His ministry, as reflected in John’s Gospel, Jesus remained conscious that He came from God and He was going back to God. This truth provides the context of today’s Gospel, set during the farewell meal that Jesus had with His disciples. At the outset we read, “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1) And after His resurrection, He told Mary Magdalene, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” (Jn 20:17)
Therefore, without exception, Christians are called to find our destiny at the end of this life with our Father. As St Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.” This life on earth is fleeting; before we know it, we have reached the end of our runway. Some will arrive at death’s door only to realise they haven’t truly lived. They find themselves burdened by the regret of years spent chasing after wealth and status, realising that everything they accumulated; money, reputation, and even their health, must be left behind. For those who do not believe in God, there is no hope beyond this world. Everything simply ends in annihilation.
This is why, like St Paul, we must boldly announce: “all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you.” What is this Good News of salvation? It is the proclamation that Jesus did not die in vain. Though He was put to death for a crime He did not commit, – condemned by the Jews and their leaders of His time – His death was not a defeat. God, in His divine plan, fulfilled the Scriptures by raising Jesus from the dead, definitively confirming His identity as His Son. Jesus, who shares in the life of the Father and His very nature, is the means by which God fulfilled His promises made to Israel. Paul, a witness to the risen Lord, declared: “We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise, but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead.” As the Responsorial Psalm says: “You are my son: today I have become your father.” Paul and those who witnessed the death of Jesus and His resurrection knew for certain that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the Saviour.
The truth is that many in the world today are lost in life. They do not know the way to truth and life. Like the people of Jerusalem, they were ignorant of Jesus’ messiahship and of the Scriptures. “Though they found nothing to justify his death, they condemned him and asked Pilate to have him executed.” This truth does not only refer to Christians but is also non-Christians as well. One of the great ironies of life is that religion can also make us blind to the intent of our faith, which is to know Jesus and to live His life. For many of us, we think that faith in Jesus is about observance of rules and rituals. Even the study of Scriptures and years of serving the Lord can leave us without a real relationship with Him.
This is such a pity and a tragedy. This is why our mission as Christians is not merely about helping our people to find a better life on earth through education, a good career, economic development and technological advancement. These are meant to be a foretaste of the fullness of the Gospel which we are called to offer to our people. Even if we also teach them how to live a moral life, a life of integrity, honesty, charity and generosity, we are short-changing them because we are not offering them the fullness of life in Christ. All these are certainly important as a preparation for the more urgent task of proclaiming the full Gospel, which is nothing less than the Good News about our Lord Jesus Christ. Anything short of proclaiming Jesus explicitly is to do injustice to the Gospel.
For this reason, Peter and Paul never missed the opportunity to proclaim the Risen Lord to their audience, regardless of whether they were Jews or Gentiles. In today’s First Reading, Paul explains why Christ is the fulfilment of their dreams and the promises given to their Fathers. “My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you.” So, too, when we share the Good News about Jesus, we must not think that we need to apologise to our listeners for sharing it. We do it for their good. For those who do not know Christ, we share Christ with them so that they might have the opportunity to come to know Jesus and find fullness of life. We want to give them more than life on earth. We want them to have eternal life because the Lord said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10)
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.
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