During the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, instead of a reading from Hebrew Scripture (the Old Testament), we hear passages from the Book of Revelation. This last book of the New Testament was written in the early 100s of the Christian Era (A.D.), and it is highly symbolic. One Scripture scholar says it is written in a sort of secret code only Christians would understand for the young Church, undergoing Roman persecutions. This book gave them hope by describing a new reality — and don’t we also need that hope!
This Sunday we’ll hear some familiar words from Revelation that Handel used in his musical composition Messiah: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing. The slain Jesus is risen, and the “voices of many angels … and the living creatures and the elders … countless in number” proclaim this new truth. Next week it will be “a great multitude … from every nation, race, people and tongue” standing before God’s throne. They will hunger or thirst no more as the Lamb leads them to springs of life-giving water.
On the 5th Sunday after Easter, we hear, “I, John (the author of Revelation), saw a new heaven and a new earth … [and] the holy city, a new Jerusalem.” Remember that the city of Jerusalem had been demolished by the Romans in the lifetimes of these 1st century Christians!
On the 6th Sunday, this new Jerusalem “gleamed with the splendor of God … I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.” These lines helped Jewish converts understand that their worship did not depend on their great temple, destroyed by the Romans.
During these weeks after Easter, as we hear these readings from the Book of Revelation, let your imaginations loose on these powerful images of newness being proclaimed! It is not only that Jesus is risen from the dead, but that his risen self is with us, shepherding us. This new good news reveals new possibilities for the human race: Now nations can unite instead of warring with one another. They can build a new heaven and new earth. They can live in heavenly cities where worship of God prevails, instead of murder and mayhem. The proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection is a powerful message of hope, not only for what comes after death but even more for this world now, right where we find ourselves.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia; A Double Rainbow image by Gerald England
The post May 4, Third Sunday of Easter, New: a Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.