5 th Easter 2013
What’s new? Has anyone asked you that question lately? And, if so, how did you respond? With a look of bewilderment and disbelief? Would you have echoed the disciples on the road to Emmaus, responding to the stranger, “Are you the only person who does not know what has happened in Boston since Marathon day?”
What’s new? Nothing new. Everything old. Senseless violence, cruelty, hatred and the human face of evil.
Same old. Same old. Nothing new there.
But here, in this place on this fifth Sunday of Easter we have come to hear “Good News” for that’s what
“Gospel” is. Good News. In the midst of the bad-old is the good-new.
What’s new? This is the question at the heart of our liturgy today. What was new for those early Jewish disciples of Jesus, like Paul and Barnabas, who were energized by their travels from place to place, speaking the good news of Jesus, was that a door was opening to the Gentiles. Belief in the Good News of
God in Jesus was not going to be for a single people but was going to be for all, for Jew and Gentile alike.
What was so new for these early Jewish-Christians was that they had to revision the world, revision God’s design, revision themselves.
What’s new? What was new for the author of the book of revelations was that in the midst of persecution, suffering, struggles with the forces of evil in the world, there was a new way of seeing God’s saving love in the world. Behold I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
And this place was God’s dwelling place. In

revelations, John is simply blown away by the vision that
God’s desire for the world would ultimately triumph.
That there would be no more tears, no more brokenness, no more violence. And the vision of God’s ultimate victory gave him hope for the Now. The Now was New in the vision of this “revision of heaven and earth.”
What’s new? What was new for the disciples gathered around Jesus “on the night he was betrayed”? “I give you a new commandment.” Love one another.
Nothing new here. At the heart of the law is the commandment to love God and neighbor. They would have known that. A new commandment? Love one another as I have loved you.
John’s community, living 60 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, would have gotten the “new” part. As
Jesus has loved, so must we love. Loving to the point of laying down one’s life as he did. The very unconditional love that God was offering to the world in Jesus must be the sign of a disciple’s life. Love each other as I have loved you.
What’s new? I’m hoping that what is “new” for the 56 young people who were confirmed here on Friday night is a new sense of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Through those gifts of the Spirit they received they have the chance to Re-new and Re-vision their participation in the life of the Church. You remember those gifts, don’t you? Wisdom, Understanding,
Knowledge, Counsel, Piety, Fear of the Lord, and
Courage. Especially Courage.
One of the unusual things about the service was that the Bishop asked me to preach. Usually the confirming

bishop doesn’t want to give up the opportunity to address the young people he is confirming but because a number of the families were Spanishspeaking he gave me the opportunity to preach. The
Gospel passage I chose was similar to the one we just heard. It is part of John’s version of the Last Supper,
Jesus’ farewell discourse. No greater love is there than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. I spoke of the heroism, “the laying down of one’s life not only for friends but for strangers,” that we had all witnessed in those who had responded immediately in so many ways to the victims of the bombings. They had not thought of themselves. Whether they were ordinary spectators, police, physicians, marathon volunteers.
They immediately went to the aid of those who had been hurt without thinking about the risk to themselves.
We continue to be witnesses of the heroism of the victims who face incredible challenges in the healing process. Mostly we have been witnesses of the extraordinary power of love which is ultimately more powerful than hate.
I wanted those who were confirmed to know the power of love within them that would give them the courage to live heroic lives of selfless service, as Jesus himself has modeled for us.
If you would like to put human faces to my words today, I invite you to go to our parish website and view the reflection on this Gospel passage that members of our community building group put together. It’s very powerful. It reminds us that we are a community of brothers and sisters bound together in love for one another as Christ has loved us.