April 18, 2026 – Saturday of the 2nd week of Easter
Acts 6, 1-7; John 6,16-21
H O M I L Y
In this brief text from the Gospel of John, there are several mysterious details that are full of symbolic meaning. The scene happens immediately after the first multiplication of the bread, the narrative of which we read yesterday morning. We are still at the beginning of Jesus’ public life; and his relationship with his disciples is gradually taking shape. After the first multiplication of the bread, when the crowd wants to crown him their king, Jesus withdraws, alone, to the mountain. The disciples are already used to those nights of prayer that Jesus spent once in a while on the mountain. When it is already evening and Jesus has not returned, they know that he will spent the night there in prayer. They then go down to the shore of the lake and ready their boat to go to the city of Capharnaum, on the other side of the lake. John has then one of those small sentences full of mystery. “It was already night and Jesus had not returned to them”. The mention of the night in John usually means also trouble, lack of comprehension, absence of Jesus. The disciples are somewhat lost.