“Behold, I am making all things new.” That is the solemn and sacred word of the Lamb once slain who lives forever as recorded by Saint John in chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation. All things will be made new in the eternal Kingdom of God, and all who have been a made a new creation in Christ will share forever in the unbounded glory of God the Son, the Risen Lord Jesus who unto the ages of ages governs the entire cosmos as Pantocrator or ruler of all.
In today’s second lesson, Saint John describes the new Jerusalem and the life of the saints to come in the heavenly city, where the Church is eternally gathered to her Lord as a bride is joined to her groom:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people … He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away … Behold, I am making all things new.”
But that glorious vision is of the Kingdom of God which has fully come, a day which has not yet arrived. So between the Day of Resurrection and the Last Day, Christians live in the time in-between, the time of the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Great Tradition.
The Great Commandment was given by Christ at the Last Supper when he instructed us to love one another as he loves us. The Great Commission was given by Christ at his Ascension when he instructed us to preach his Gospel to every nation and baptize all believers into his death and Resurrection. And the Great Tradition was given by Christ when he transformed the Passover of Israel into the Eucharist of the Church and commanded us “Do this in memory of me.”
But fulfilling the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Great Tradition is not easy. In fact, it is quite the opposite, and we must heed the words of the Apostle Paul from our first lesson today: “It is necessary,” Paul writes, “for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”
These words of Paul are recorded in chapter 14 of the Acts of the Apostles which tells us of the missionary preaching of Paul and Barnabas in the region of Anatolia, the western two-thirds of modern Turkey. They traveled widely and visited many cities to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, and by preaching the Word of God they called everyone who would listen to conversion from sin through saving faith in the Son of the living God.
Many people who heard that preaching did receive the Gospel and became disciples of Christ, but many others responded to the Church’s mission with contempt and even with murderous rage, which is why Paul and Barnabas were physically attacked and why Paul was stoned by a mob and left for dead.
But despite that opposition and persecution, the mission went on, and as we read in Acts, Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders … in each church … and commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.” As we saw last week, the Greek word translated here as elder is presbyteros, which can also be rendered in English as priest, and the ministry of priests is essential to the life of the Church.
So, by appointing elders Paul and Barnabas were, as we would say, ordaining priests to continue the Church’s mission in all the local Christian communities, and those priests began the work of proclaiming the dominion of Jesus Christ, a work which continues to this day and will continue until the Last Day, when the Kingdom of God will come finally and fully and the Risen Lord will make all things new.
But in this in-between time, how are we to sustain our faith in the midst of opposition and suffering? How are we to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God without surrendering our Christian joy? How can we press on in fidelity to the Word of God, as did Paul and Barnabas, and still call others to saving faith in Jesus Christ while facing derision and contempt from those who reject the Gospel? Well, we can do these things by heeding the command of Christ the Lord to love one another with his own love, a love stronger than hatred and death.
The words of the Gospel today are taken from Saint John’s account of the very end of the Last Supper, when the Hour of Christ’s passion and death had finally arrived. John tells us that when Judas left the Upper Room to bring the Temple guard to arrest Jesus, the Lord said:
“Now is the Son of Man glorified … 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.”
Friends, that is the Great Commandment of divine love. Receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the obedience of faith and following Christ in the Way of the Cross always requires sacrifice, but being a disciple of Christ is also the very best way to live a rich, full, and authentic human life against the horizon of our own death and in keeping with the whole counsel of God from which we learn our dignity and destiny.
Yes, being a disciple of the Lord Jesus always entails hardship of many kinds, but following Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, also leads us to the freedom of the children of God, to the abundant life of divine love, and to our transformation by God’s grace into the life of the new creation, a life which begins even now by Word and Sacrament.
To be disciples of Jesus Christ we must let go of all our false selves and be converted from sin and selfishness of every kind in order to love others as Christ loves us. If we trust the Lord Jesus more than we trust ourselves and if we allow him to change us by grace through faith, hope, and love, then despite the suffering we must endure, we will lead others to follow Christ. And that is the sacred duty and high privilege of the Church in every generation.
This morning in Rome, Pope Leo XIV celebrated a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica to mark the formal inauguration of his ministry as the Successor of Saint Peter and Pastor of the Universal Church. During that Mass our Holy Father received, among other things, the Fisherman’s Ring as a sign of his authority to teach, sanctify, and govern the Church in the name of Jesus Christ.
By means of the apostolic succession, the Church will be faithful to the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the Great Tradition until Christ’s return in glory at the Last Day. And every person who is baptized into the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus shares in that work now by being a missionary disciple charged with teaching others the liberating truth of Christ’s Gospel.
So, with the Bishop of Rome and under his Petrine authority, let us proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and that in receiving his Gospel with the obedience of faith all people of every race and tongue will find their true freedom as the children of God through the grace of adoption in Christ.
And then, together with everyone who is born again by Baptism into Christ’s holy Church, we will experience here and now the beginning of what will be fully consummated only in the eternal Kingdom of justice, love, and peace, where the Risen Lord will say for evermore: “Behold, I am making all things new.” For
Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
This is the text of my homily for 18 May 2025, the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
Fr Jay Scott Newman