Friday of the 2nd
Week
of Easter - April 17, 2026
They Simply Placed What
They Had, Into The Hands of God
Acts 5:34-42 | John
6:1-15
Photo created by J. Dacey Jr. using M365 Co-Pilot.
Today’s
Readings
Acts
5:34-42 A
Pharisee named Gamaliel spoke in the council and urged caution about what to do
with the apostles. He said, if this movement is of human origin, it will
destroy itself, but if it comes from God, you will not be able to stop it. They
were persuaded by him. They had the apostles flogged and ordered them to stop
speaking in the name of Jesus, then released them. The apostles left the council
rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of
the name. And every day in the temple and at home, they did not stop teaching
and proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.
John
6:1-15 A
large crowd followed Jesus because they saw the signs he was performing. Jesus
looked up and said to Philip, where can we buy enough food for them to eat?
Philip said that two hundred days' wages would not be enough. Andrew said, "There is
a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are these for
so many?" Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who
were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had
their fill, he told his disciples to gather the fragments so nothing would be
wasted. They filled twelve wicker baskets. The people said, " his is truly the
Prophet who is to come into the world."
Today's
Thread: They left rejoicing. And a little boy changed everything.
The apostles were
beaten, ordered to be silent, and released. And they left rejoicing. Not
relieved. Not traumatized. Rejoicing, because they had been found worthy to
suffer for His name. That is the fruit of a transformed life. And across the
sea, a boy handed over his lunch, five loaves and two fish, embarrassingly small
for a crowd of thousands, and Jesus took it, gave thanks, and fed everyone
until they were filled with twelve baskets of leftover pieces. What looked like
nothing in human hands became everything in His.
Living
It Today:
You may feel like
the boy with five loaves today; what you have seems laughably small for the
need in front of you. Your faith feels thin, your resources feel inadequate,
your voice feels too quiet. Hand it over anyway. Give thanks anyway. The
apostles rejoiced over suffering because they had stopped measuring their lives
by the world's ledger. They were on a completely different accounting system.
So is the boy, and so can you.
Something
to sit with today:
The
boy didn't wait until he had enough. The apostles didn't wait until it was
safe. They simply placed what little they had: a lunch, a witness, a life, into
hands greater than their own, and watched scarcity become abundance, suffering
become joy, and human insufficiency become divine momentum.
Gamaliel's
warning still echoes that what is of God cannot be stopped. Not by a crowd's hunger,
not by a council's threats, not by your own sense of not enough.
What
small, inadequate thing do you have in your hands right now that you haven't
yet placed in His, and what might He do with it if you did?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
