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Fifth Sunday of Easter
"The old order has passed away. Behold, I make all things new."
May 19 2019
Acts 14:21-27
After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news to that city
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."
They appointed elders for them in each church and,
with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished.
And when they arrived, they called the church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them as their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away."
The One who sat on the throne said,
"Behold, I make all things new."
When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
"Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
It's not a new commandment, is it?
Not 'new': it's been around forever.
And it is not a 'commandment' because you can't command love. Love flows free or it's nothing.
So what was in the writer's mind when he has Jesus wrap up his whole life and teaching with this new commandment?
I see the long 'discourse' after the final meal they had together as a summary of the writer's deepest insights into the person, the role and the teaching of his hero. Throughout his narrative John has been busy counting off one by one the signs Jesus gave, and illustrating the opposition he met. He spends a lot of time on the conflict that brought Jesus' life to such an awful end. At the time of writing the communities were threatened by the same opposition from the establishment which does not take kindly to being critiqued for it's lack of integrity.
As they persecuted Jesus they were now persecuting his followers, and people under stress are tempted to respond in different ways. There will be calls for discipline and respect; blame will be put on lawless behaviour; some will be accused of consorting with the enemy as sympathisers... and so on. We are very familiar with all these. John insists that the response must be as it has always been since the beginning: to love one another: to treat the other as you want to be treated, as you need to be treated, yourself.
Paul had already said it 30 years earlier, in his letter to the Romans where he lists the four basics of ethical behaviour in the human community and adds with a smile: 'plus any other commandment if you can think of one':
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one loving the other has fulfilled the Law. For, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, in, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does not do evil to its neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law. (Rom 13: 8-10 BLB)
In their turn the other three gospel writers had made it a feature of the Rabbi's teaching, as in Mark 12:31: 'The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” No other commandment is greater than these.'
It has, of course, always been fundamental to the whole bible teaching as you find in Leviticus:
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. (Lev 19:18. NIV)
So when John calls it a new commandment, what is he saying? It might be clearer if it were expanded into something like this:
Now that I will be with you only a little longer, here is something to keep in mind always when you remember me: Not only are all commandments fulfilled when you love one another, as everyone knows, but I want you to see this in a new light. Remember that first teaching on the hillside above the lake in Galilee when I showed you how to fulfill the law by going beyond the letter of law to the heart of its purpose, and to go all out for that good that the law is pointing to or protecting.
The law says you have a right to payback, eye for eye, but I said, love your enemy, do good to the one who hates you... The law says not to do murder, but I said, don't even nurse your anger but make a point of sorting it out... The law says you must no commit adultery, but I said to watch your thoughts and desires... If someone wants to take you coat give him your shirt as well...
You are to overcome the mean and nasty with patience, generosity and kindness.
So you may call this a 'new' commandment if you want to, but it's more a whole new way of seeing relationships and the 'commandments' that govern them. They're only guides, and we do well to pass beyond the need for laws and take to heart the goal which is to do the good and right thing because it is good and right.
Especially towards one another. Look after each other. Keep the competitive spirit in its place; don't let it fire up envious feelings in your heart. Rejoice when things are going well for your neighbours and celebrate with them, and when things are going badly leave your own comfort and help them any way you can.
By this, by your caring, your attention to their needs, your support, people will know you are disciples of mine, and some will want to join your communities. That's how you will make a gentle healing impact on your society and bit by bit on the whole world.
'As I have loved you'. This is really the punch line that is new - found only in John's gospel. The way Jesus 'loved us and gave himself up for us' (Letter to the Ephesians 5:2) is our model and our standard. It is new in many ways. Not only are we called to give up our self, our comfort, our interests, our advantages and ambitions in favour of contributing to the development and happiness of the one we love, there's actually no limit to it. 'Even if it kills me.'
In a way, it's not new at all. Parents do it all the time, and couples too. But in business and politics we seem to think that to pursue our ambition , without regard for others, is the way to go.
* * * * *
Finally, in the second reading we come to the last page in the bible where the One who sits on the throne proclaims: 'Behold, I make all things new.' The method is not to bulldoze the old to rid the world of its trouble-makers, but to slowly enlighten our minds and warm our hearts until all is refreshed and new. The newness is of the spirit, and it is here for us to experience now.
Is there a cosmic dimension to this making new? I love to wonder about things like: Is the light, the stream of photons, fulfilled when it strikes an eye and is "seen"? Or is it meant just to stream on into the endless dark until its energy is spent? Does the array of stars really gain in value when we find comfort in it, or when we look up with wonder to admire it? Or is its purpose just to be without purpose?
All this is about the role of intelligence in evolution within the cosmic dimension. Does our evolving intelligence, our ability to know and to choose, make the cosmos a better place than it was before there was any self-awareness in it? We speak of oneness as the ultimate reality, and we speak of primary forces that drive the whole though they 'reside' at the deepest sub-atomic level, but then we discover love. This odd one out, 'love', seems to be a necessary consequence of intelligence for it is the unique ability we experience to choose the good or the bad as we understand these. It is a choice entirely free. After making allowance for our limitations and conditioning, et cetera, at the end point it's up to my choice, my free decision, whether to be nice or nasty, to be proud or humble, to hate or to love. To want to be one with the other or to choose separateness, distance and aversion.
"May they all be one, Father, as you are in me and I in you: may they be one in us."
I wonder is this the most significant development of all as far as evolution goes? Is the cosmos forever more wonderful at the appearance of this small development? Is the whole cosmos going to be better if, in this moment of conflict, today, I choose to give my 'self' up with gentle kindness, to love?