SPEAKER_00: In the first reading today, a severe persecution breaks out.
SPEAKER_00: The church is scattered.
SPEAKER_00: People are dragged from their homes.
SPEAKER_00: Stephen has just been killed.
SPEAKER_00: And if you were there, you would probably say, This is a disaster.
SPEAKER_00: This is the end of this.
SPEAKER_00: This movement is going nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: It's over.
SPEAKER_00: But look closely.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have been scattered went about preaching the word, the first reading tells us.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't hide.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't say, hey, let's wait until things calm down.
SPEAKER_00: No, they went.
SPEAKER_00: And not just anywhere, they went to Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: That matters because Samaria is not a friendly territory.
SPEAKER_00: This is, this is, they're going to tension, to division.
SPEAKER_00: There's history here.
SPEAKER_00: These are not their people.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, this is where the gospel goes.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Healings, deliverance, conversions.
SPEAKER_00: And the reading ends with a line that should surprise us.
SPEAKER_00: There was great joy in that city.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a second.
SPEAKER_00: Persecution in Jerusalem leads to joy in Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: Who would have thought?
SPEAKER_00: Because what looked like destruction was actually mission.
SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the deepest truths of Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: God will use what breaks you to send you.
SPEAKER_00: What you thought was a setback becomes the very thing that moves the gospel forward if you let it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we go to the gospel, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever comes to me will never hunger.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says something even more important.
SPEAKER_00: I will not reject anyone who comes to me.
SPEAKER_00: Not anyone.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that in light of the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: The church is scattered, people are displaced, they're no longer where they expected to be.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, wherever they go, Christ is already there.
SPEAKER_00: Waiting, receiving, working.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Your life may not be where you thought it would be.
SPEAKER_00: Things may not have turned out the way you planned.
SPEAKER_00: There are many parts of your story that feel like loss, confusion, even failure.
SPEAKER_00: But God has not lost you.
SPEAKER_00: And he will not.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus says it clearly, I should not lose anything of what he gave me.
SPEAKER_00: Not one person, not one story, not one life.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel scattered right now, but you are not forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel displaced, but you are not rejected.
SPEAKER_00: You may even feel like things are falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: But God is still at work and he has a plan.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the very thing you are trying to avoid is a place where God wants you to use you the most.
SPEAKER_00: Philip didn't plan to go to Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: He was pushed there.
SPEAKER_00: And yet that's where the mission exploded.
SPEAKER_00: That's where the people were healed.
SPEAKER_00: That's where joy breaks out.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe the question today is not, what is this happening to me?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this happening to me?
SPEAKER_00: But what is God trying to do through this?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is that you're going through.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you stay close to Christ, if you come to Him, if you believe in Him, and if you receive Him, then even in the middle of uncertainty, your life can still bear fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe, just maybe, the place you never wanted to be becomes the place where God does His greatest work.
SPEAKER_00: Because nothing is wasted in the hands of God.
SPEAKER_00: Not your struggles, not your tears and trials, not your setbacks, not even the worst of grief.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Him, trust Him, and let Him take what feels scattered and turn it into something that brings about life.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.