5th Sunday of Easter-Cycle C-2016
FIRST READING Acts of the Apostles 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.
SECOND READING Revelation 21:1-5a
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.”
GOSPEL John 13:31-33a, 34-35
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.”
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
Today the Acts of the Apostles, in our first reading, tells us bluntly: It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
We have to wonder about this statement today when everyone wants everything to be easy and without hardship. We have to ponder how to speak about the kingdom of God in a way which draws people to embrace the kingdom and yet does not make the kingdom of God sound easy. For the early followers of Jesus, learning to have faith in Jesus as God was an incredible experience. Today our hearts are usually much more hardened and we do not easily believe that Jesus is God or that Jesus actually can and does touch our lives.
The second reading today, from the Book of Revelation, tells us: 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.
In our hearts we can understand how astonishing it is that God wants to be present with us. Not only with us, but with the whole human race! God wants to be our God and wants us to be His people. For so many today, God simply does not exist or if He exists, He has no interest in our daily lives. So many of us have lost a sense of awe and wonder about the presence of God.
The Gospel today, from Saint John, reminds us: This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
We might ask ourselves today: are others attracted to follow Jesus today because we who are His followers love one another? Are we seen more as an institution today rather than a group of people, following the Lord and caring for one another? How do we live that love that Jesus has for his followers? How do we love one another? If this love for another is the sign that we follow Jesus, how do we live such love more and more completely and profoundly?
As we consider the three readings today and ask the Lord Jesus to form us by these readings, we can see that the hardships that we endure are the hardships of striving to love ane another. It is not easy to love even one other person, much less a whole group of people. Loving everyone seems practically impossible. Yet this is the hardship that we must accept in order to follow the Lord.
We can also understand that we others see us striving to be faithful in love and accepting the hardships of loving one another, they can also understand that God is with us and that we are truly seeking to live as His people.
Christ is risen, alleluia! Because of that, because Jesus died for us and rose for us, we have the power and strength to remain faithful in love and service of one another. Let us ask the Spirit to strengthen us in the Easter joy so that our love and service of one another truly is witness of God’s love. Alleluia.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip