Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

Focus: The resurrection of Jesus established a new kingdom, a new order. He has made all things new, the old has passed away. The old was guided and established by the “Law”. New was established by the foundation of Love. In the old covenant they were known by obeying the commandments. In the new covenant disciples are known by the love that they show each other.

Function: The aim of discipleship life in the new resurrection order is living out the love that Jesus has asked us to display. Love one another as I have loved you. This is a difficult road. It is far easier to see the greener grass on the other side of the fence and to want it rather than to congratulate our neighbor on the wonderful job that they are doing. We tend to see the speck in our neighbor’s eye rather than to see the log in our own. Judgment, separation, segregation, jealousy always seems the easier road than acknowledgement of their good fortune. It comes down to the task of following in Jesus’ footsteps. This is a difficult task because it the Lord’s commandment and the Lord’s life of action all swim upstream to our self-preservation programming. The Love commandment is the call to live beyond our human preservation program. Jesus calls his disciples everywhere to grab onto the spirit that has been given to us, to live the resurrection life, to reflect what God said to John in that revelations “See all things have been made new. The old has ended.” The challenge of our living Christianity is to find in our personal lives the ways to convey the newness of Christ to those around us. Christ has made all things new. Our job is live like it, and to reflect it.

Acts is the revelation to St. Peter of God’s open door policy. What God has called clean no one can call unclean. In the presentation of the animals in the sheet God overturned the kosher regulations on those animals, but more vitally, he pointed to the openness and acceptability of the Gentiles. It was only through the turn of Israelite history that gentile stopped being the focus that God intended with the call of Abraham to be a “blessing to all the families of the earth.” Those who once targeted have been set aside and now God was pursuing them again through the lives and the ministry of the apostles.

The revelation to St. John is one of the new creation, the new Jerusalem presented as a bride to God. The old has passed away and the new has been reborn. The word of hope resides in the presence of God, “See the home of God is among mortals . . .” This was the wonder and mystery of the incarnation of Christ. God had come to be at home with mortal, and in mortals, and through mortals. In Christ God has come to “dwell with mortals.”

John 13 returns us to the upper room the night in which he was betrayed. Jesus points their attention to the “new kingdom” that was dawning. Everything was moving toward Christ’s glorification, and therefore God’s glorification. His glory would be at the cross. The new kingdom would be known, not through the laws of the old the kingdom – Israel – it would be marked off and known by the love shown through his disciples. Discipleship itself would be known by the love they show. This was the one commandment that Jesus gave, “love one another as I have loved you.” The new kingdom would be known by love.