Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter
The word for today is “new”.
A simple count of the keywords in the readings for this Sunday reveals the following: Love appears four times. Glorified appears five times. The winner, appearing six times, is “new”. A new Jerusalem. A new heaven. A new earth. A new commandment. In the center of the readings the one seated on the throne says, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5) I think the scriptures are trying to tell us something.
Do you feel ‘new’? Do you feel renewed? Did you wake up this morning and say, “Behold, I am a new creation!” Or is that something that belongs in the past?
If you’re not sure how to answer these questions, how about this: what word best describes you right now? New or old. Energized or bored. Awake or asleep. At peace or anxious. Free or trapped. Stuck in a rut, or blazing a new trial. Dying to live that next moment or living to die.
I have a feeling that for most, we’re a mix of all these things, yet we hope. Deep down there might be the unanswered question: Is this all there is to life? If God is making all things new, did he leave me behind? Beyond the questions there is something deep-seated appeal to this phrase, “Behold, I make all things new.” We long to be made new.
What does it mean to be made new? First, to be made new is something that happens in the present. To become something new is not something that happened in the past, or some future event that occurs after we die. The one seated on the throne said, “I make all things new.” Not I made all things new, or I will make all things news. But I make all things new. Right here, right now.
Second, the one seated on the throne also said, “I make all things new.” Not I make some things new. “I make the best or the worst or the old things new.” But the one seated on the throne said, “I make ALL things new.”
Third, the most important thing God is making new is you. There is a vacation bible school song that has stayed with me. The refrain goes:
Behold, behold,
I make all things
new starting with you,
says God the living God.
If God is making ‘all things new’ why don’t we feel it? What’s keeping you from allowing God to do something new in you? There are a few ways to answer that question.
Sometimes we get stuck, because deep down we believe that God really can’t do anything about our situation. We don’t believe God can really do anything about the sins of our past, or is going to take care of our needs in the future. We doubt that God really loves us. In this case, we need to be made new with a new trust, a new sense of forgiveness, and a new faith.
Saint Paul found all three. He had some serious baggage. After the resurrection, he was a well-known persecutor of the new followers of Christ. But after his newfound ‘newness’, encountering the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he joined Barnabus and they evangelized the world, risking not only their reputations but their lives. (see Acts 14:21-27) On this incredible journey, they met new people, traveled to new places, faced new dangers, brought people a new message, planted new churches. They even circled back and re-newed these new converts before returning to Antioch. They were able to do these things with a new faith, a new sense forgiveness, and a new awareness of God’s plan in their life. We can do the same.
The gospel also points us toward a couple of other ways to answer that question: If the one seated on the throne makes all things new, why don’t I feel it?
The gospel passage begins with a somber tone. “When Judas had left them.” (Jn 13:31-35) Judas was one of the twelve. He ultimately betrayed Jesus. As soon as this traitor left them, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” Glorified means, “made glorious, adorned with lustre, clothed with splendor.” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). In short, “made new”.
There are two ways to read this, one literal and the other metaphorical. Both have something to say about being made new.
Metaphorically, there might be a traitor in your midst. Maybe you’re not experiencing that newness because the traitor is whispering, “God doesn’t love you, care about you, or forgive you.’ Or maybe the traitor is whispering other seeds of doubt, the seeds of ‘not enough’. You don’t have enough time to be new. You’re not young enough, smart enough, brave enough, strong enough, or loved enough…. to let God make something new of you. With all of the whisperings of ‘not enough’ we are unable to hear the voice saying, “Behold.” Notice in the reading, once the traitor left, the Son of Man was glorified, i.e. made new. One way to be made new might be to silence the ‘traitor’ in your mind.
In the literal sense, the departure of Judas launched God’s plan of salvation. It started with his betrayal, then his arrest, false conviction, torture and execution. It was through the suffering of Jesus that God made all things new. The saving, renewing mercy that flows from the suffering of Jesus on the cross. This is why the very next words out of Jesus’ mouth are, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” Even with all the powers of the world arrayed against Jesus, God still prevailed. Jesus was raised, glorified, made new. Sin and death have no power over us.
Our resistance to becoming that new creation might stem from our unwillingness to see even suffering as part of God’s plan. The fact is there is going to be suffering. We live in a broken world, we are constantly assaulted by the evil one, and our sinful flesh is weak. Even with all this headwind, God is still making something new of our fallen world and our broken lives. The one on the throne might just be inviting you to a new patience, a new understanding, a new acceptance, or a new level of trust.
After Judas left, Jesus gave a new commandment. Love. One word. How hard is that? To be made new means we need to bring to the world a new kind of love. Jesus provided the example. It’s a love based on forgiveness. It’s a love based on being beloved by God. It’s a love that says, “The deceiver has no power over us.” It’s a love rooted in washing the dirty feet of another person and giving our life over to people who have offended us. It is through this love we become new, and participate in God’s work of making all things new.
May you answer God’s invitation with a new joy, a new patience, a new trust, a new courage, a new acceptance, and a new love.