Readings: Acts 15:1‑2,22‑29 Revelation 21:10‑14,22‑23 John 14:23‑29
As the Easter season moves toward completion, the Church's liturgy prepares for the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and its universal mission in the service of the gospel. This Sunday's readings assure the Church of God's continual presence within her midst as she struggles to be "true" to Jesus' challenge to love as he has. The Church is not called to an introverted life of self serving preservation; her mission is to show forth God's loving presence to all peoples. Despite her necessary struggles in striving to be faithful to the gospel, she is to be marked by peace. Only in this way can we sing today's psalm response: "O God, let all the nations praise you" (Ps 67).
The first reading from Acts recounts the important Council of Jerusalem which settled the crucial question of whether or not the salvation of Gentile converts to Christianity depended upon their being “circumcised according to Mosaic practice.” This controversy bitterly divided the early Church, but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit it was able to reach a decision to expand beyond its Jewish origins and preach the gospel to peoples of all cultures. In their preaching to the Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas had not required circumcision, but other men from Judea insisted on its necessity (see Genesis 17). In their deliberations the apostles and elders, on the basis of Peter's testimony about his baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 15:6‑12; cf. Ch 10), decide not to require that Gentiles be circumcised nor obey the whole Mosaic code. The letter sent “to the brothers of Gentile origin in Antioch” simply asks that they observe the minimal requirements of non‑Jews living among Jews: abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals and from illicit sexual union (see Leviticus 17‑18). Obedience to these prohibitions would insure that the Gentile converts could participate in table fellowship with their Jewish Christian brethren.
The second reading from Revelation continues last Sunday's vision of God's new creation by describing the heavenly Jerusalem as the bride of the Lamb. This is John's vision of the final salvation which awaits God's faithful saints. He deliberately contrasts the new Jerusalem with its antitype the selfish, blood thirsty harlot Babylon (see Revelation 17). Drawing upon imagery found in the writings of the prophets (see Ezekiel 40‑48 and Isaiah 60‑62), John describes a city which radiates the presence of God. Its precious stones "gleam with the splendor of God." The massive walls have twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes and are protected by angels. On the foundation stones are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. God's presence is so complete that there is neither need for a temple nor the light provided by the sun or moon. God and the Lamb are the temple, and their glory provides light for the city.
In the Gospel Jesus' words to his disciples from John's farewell discourse promise God's transforming presence to those who strive to be true to Jesus' command of love. Faced with the prospect of Jesus' imminent departure, the disciples are understandably afraid, but Jesus assures them “Do not be distressed or fearful.” His death and resurrection will be a return to the Father which will be followed by a new, even superior, presence with the disciples in which he and the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, will dwell with them. The Paraclete's role will be to instruct and remind the disciples of all that Jesus told them so that after the resurrection the significance of Jesus' actions and words will be more clear (see John 2:22). Jesus promises that God's indwelling with the disciples after the resurrection will bring them the gift of peace, not the worldly peace of contending political powers, but the peace of those who keep God's command of love.
“‘Peace’ is my farewell gift to you;
my peace is my gift to you;
I do not give it to you as the world gives peace."
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