It has been hard not to get caught
up in the hype and false information coming out of the political party old and
new machines as they try and buy our vote. It makes one have to choose what we
would see as the least dishonest of them all Let me tell you that it is not
easy and I find requires the Wisdom of Solomon. Sadly we have been bombarded with
policies that fail to encourage us to live as Jesus lived, to love as our God
would have us love.
For a number of parties we are encouraged to be greedy
and compassionless so that a few can have power and secular wealth. One would hope that this Election here in
Australia would strike a new direction that would see God in the other, see God
in those who are homeless, hunger, suffering and affected by war. See God in
all and bring a willingness to share what we have equitably. One would hope
that a pattern of life would be advocated that helps make all things new for all
creation.
In one of the readings set in
the Three Year Lectionary for this week is a passage from Revelations 21 about
making all things new. This is a familiar and beloved passage, frequently read
at funerals, as a comfort and hope of the day when death—and its sting—will be
no more. For me as for many passages of scripture taken from Revelations I
confess, these words are a stretch. Sometimes they help, other times they fall
flat in the face of an immediate reality that is so personal, so painful, and
so consuming that the promise of death’s end seems at best cold consolation. It
seems impossible.
Perhaps you remember a loved
one’s funeral when the reality of death was right in front of you, and the
promise of resurrection a vague mystery in some far off, quite possibly
imaginary, place. Perhaps you look at the world and see the vast gap between
the pain and injustice we live with, and this crazy vision that someday in some
alternate reality the ruler of time will proclaim that “mourning and crying and
pain will be no more.” Perhaps after our Election in Australia, some might be
in mourning because those they supported lost the election or didn’t get the
power they wanted. Maybe just maybe we have another opportunity to think and act
on inclusiveness rather than trumpet exclusiveness.
I don’t know if this is true.
I do know that I hope it is true. What good is God if God’s dream cannot be
unbelievably bigger than mine? How sad to go through life with only the hope of
things getting a little better? I might settle for 10 percent less suffering,
but God’s dream is far bigger, beginning to end. God called this seer John out
of his ordinary reality and into a vision of a new heaven and a new
earth—that’s exactly what the text says — because the first heaven and first
earth need more than a makeover. Please note: this vision is not disconnected
from our reality. It’s consistent with our proclamation that God does indeed
dwell with us, and it does not pretend that all is well.
God does not wave a magic
wand and make tears disappear. Instead God will wipe away the tears that come
from a torn world. And, God knows, we need to be consoled and healed to enter
this new world. This dream is not for the satisfied. In a real sense it is for
those who are thirsty for the water of new life.
As we reflect on this let us
draw also on the Gospel scripture from John 13. Jesus told his disciples, “I
give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” At first glance, this
commandment does not seem “new.” Moses told the people of God that they are to
love God with all their heart and all their mind and all their strength. Jesus
had already added neighbour and self to this Divine directive. What made it new
this time?
Perhaps it was Jesus
addition, “as I have loved you.” To love as Jesus loves takes the commandment
to a whole other level. It is a love that sees others just as they are and
accepts them without reservation: even those we don’t agree with or who despise
us or betray us or intend us harm. As Jesus’ actions were expressions of love,
it means a depth of compassion that is so profound that the soul is restless
until it has seen the sick healed, the hungry fed, and the imprisoned set free.
Jesus’ complete submission to God’s will empowered him to be available for the
works God accomplished through him.
Living the love of which
Jesus spoke requires deep and sometimes painful letting go of self-will,
self-desire, and self-interest. It means moving through our racism and sexism
and homophobia. It means not fighting and struggling with God anymore about the
people and places and things we cannot change. So this commandment is new,
because it meant the disciples not only needed to know it—they had to live it. Maybe
this love brings out the new world that Revelations talks about. Maybe this is
what we as humans thirst for.
So that challenges us to ask
of ourselves the question of how we are to love one another as Jesus has loved
us. By deepening our relationship with
God so we recognise God in ourselves and as a result, in every other person,
situation, and circumstance. Reflect on that and see how it changes what we do
personally.
Revelation. Not Revelations.
ReplyDeleteApart from that very annoying error (and a surprising one from a priest) this is a good read.