The readings for the fifth Sunday of Easter are taken from Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; and John 14:1-14. The readings that follow Easter remind us of what to expect in the wake of EasterTIDE.
Acts records the need for faithful servants to manage the immediate, physical needs of the church, so that the Apostles could remain devoted to the Word. Among those faithful servants was Stephen, whose steadfast witness to the truth made short his path in this world. Peter describes these Christians in Acts as living stones being built together and who proclaim the saving work of Christ.
Peter describes us as living stones, like Christ. The builders who rejected Christ, the cornerstone of all creation and redemption, also rejected Stephen’s witness in Acts. Like Stephen, we are a royal priesthood that bears witness to Jesus, who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
John records the ministry of the cornerstone, the source of the marvelous light. Jesus assures us of our future: He has prepared a place for us, and He will come to take us to Himself (as He did with Stephen). There is no one else to know nor anything else to know because Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He assures that whatever we ask according to His Word and Will, He will do.