The crowds following Jesus make a request. They ask Jesus to give them the true bread of heaven. Yet, instead of handing them something physical, Jesus takes them beyond their expectations. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life" (Jn 6:35). The crowds are actually hungry for a person — Jesus Himself. Belief in Jesus satisfies deeply, it leads to eternal life, "…whoever sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life" (Jn 6:40).

God often takes us beyond our expectations. In the first reading, the Church is being persecuted severely. Stephen is killed; other Christians are seized and locked up in prison. Understandably, many Christians fled Jerusalem for the Judean countryside and Samaria. Unexpectedly, this persecution became an opportunity for Christians to share the Good News with people outside Jerusalem. Christians discovered that people in other parts of the Roman Empire were hungry to hear about Jesus and to receive eternal life. Persecution is a painful and evil thing. Yet God brings about something good even from this evil. God takes us beyond our expectations. Is there a challenge in my life that I desire to move beyond?