Beyond the Bread: The Work of Faith

Voice over by Angeline Chue Chue

Acts 6:8-15, Psalm: 118, Jn 6:22-29

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Two scenes unfold before us today, seemingly separate yet intimately connected. One shows a man filled with grace and power, bearing witness to the Risen Lord even as false accusations swirl around him. The other shows a crowd searching for Jesus, seeking Him for the wrong reasons. Both teach us what it truly means to believe.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we meet Stephen, a man “filled with grace and power.” He is one of the seven chosen to serve tables, yet his ministry has overflowed into preaching and wonder-working. Certain members of the synagogue rise to debate him, “but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.” Unable to refute the truth, they resort to lies. They secretly instigate men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words.” Stephen’s face, we are told, appears “like the face of an angel.” He has become a living icon of the Risen Christ, bearing witness not with calculation, but with the quiet radiance of one who has truly encountered the Lord.

In the Gospel of John, the crowd that Jesus fed with five loaves and two fish searches for Him. They find Him across the sea, and Jesus confronts their motivation: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” They seek Him for the bread that perishes, not for the eternal life He offers. Their search is not yet faith; it is appetite. Jesus redirects them: “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” When they ask what they must do, He gives the simplest, most profound answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Here is the contrast. Stephen, a man of “the work” Jesus describes, is so consumed with believing in the One sent that his face shines with angelic radiance. The crowd, still caught in the logic of consumption, misses the miracle for the meal. Stephen has moved beyond seeking signs; he has become a sign. His work is not performance, but witness born from intimacy with the Risen Lord.

Pope Benedict XVI reflected, “The Eucharist is not merely a meal; it is the presence of the Risen Lord who gives Himself to us.”

For us today, the question is urgent: Why do we seek Jesus? Do we come to Him for what He can give—comfort, healing, solutions to problems—or do we come to Him for Himself? Do we seek the bread, or the Bread of Life? The difference is everything. Stephen sought the Giver, not the gift, and his face reflected the glory of the One he loved.

This Easter season, let us examine the motives of our seeking. Let us not settle for the bread that perishes. Let us do the work of God: to believe in the One He sent. And in that believing, may our faces, like Stephen’s, reflect the quiet radiance of souls who have found the true food that endures to eternal life. Amen.

May God bless you all!