Fifth Sunday -Easter
May 6, 2007

Acts 14: 21-27 Psalm 145 Revelation 21 : 1-5 John 1: 1, 31-35

“You also should love one another”

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes HE isn’t there anymore. No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more 'just one minute.' Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good‑-bye, or say 'I love you.'

So while we have it,

it's best we love it,

care for it,

fix it when it's broken and

heal it when it's sick.

This is true for marriage ... and old cars .. and children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Life is important, like people we know who are special. And so, we keep them close! And God who is all knowing and all loving knew this, knows this - and that is why God gave us the Commandment: “Love one another.”

2. This is the love that was the command of Jesus as he ate his last supper with his small community of disciples which he had built around himself. This was the command on which this community would build themselves. They were a gathering, in Greek “ecclesia” or in our common parlance: the church.

The love that we read in John’s Gospel is not the all inclusive love that forgives, that loves even our enemy. This was the message from the Sermon on the Mount. Those aspect good as they are, were not pertinent at this moment. The love that Jesus was referring to was a love that would bind this community of believers. They are to be a “Visual aid” for others of the love that Jesus had for the world.

3. This love would be the main tool or method of evangelization as we read the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. There is a lot of action and a lot of movement. Paul and Barnabas move through Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. As a community of love, Paul and Barnabas and their companions evangelize these towns. First they preach the good news. Secondly they support and strengthen those who choose to believe in Jesus. Thirdly, the appoint Elders to oversee (Episcopus) the fledgling community of believers. Finally, they gather these believers together to praise and thank God and enjoy the gifts that God has prepared for them.

4. Because of their faith and their constancy, the believers are promised eternal life. This vision of hope for the future is seen in our second reading from the Book of Revelation. It is the same hope that was given to the People of God in the old Testament through the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. However, at that time the full concept of life after death, everlasting life in union with God was not developed or understood. So their visions of hope in the future lay in the rebuilding of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem.

For us in our time, the Visions of the future is God’s promise of a creation of a new world. Here there will be no more suffering and death. The new world will be illumined by the brightness of God’s presence. It is a message that we hunger for as we read the news of daily deaths and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Iran and Sudan and Sri Lanka.

A very rich and famous man was dying in ritzy area of town. He was surrounded by the best of doctors, by the cream of media reporters, and in despair he was heard to say, “I am leaving home. I am leaving home.”

Meanwhile at the other end and on the wrong side of the tracks, was a poor man dying. He only had the bare essentials. But there was a gleam in his eye as he said with hope, “I am going home. I am going home.”

I have nothing in my pocket

And I don’t feel bad

I have nothing in the bank

And I don’t feel sad.

I got more treasures than a millionaire

All I need is heaven, and he’s taking me there.