5th Sunday of Easter

5th Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts 11v1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21v1-6; John 13v31-35.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

A Word: In Acts we hear that Peter was told off by the Jewish followers of Jesus for welcoming, visiting and eating with gentile believers. In reply, Peter told them about a vision he had from God. In this vision Peter was offered all sorts of creatures to kill and eat but, as many of them were forbidden in Judaism, Peter refused to eat them. When this vision occurred a second time it came with a voice that told Peter that nothing that God has made clean is forbidden. After this vision occurred three times, three Gentile men arrived from Caesarea and invited Peter to go with them. Prompted by the Spirit, Peter went with them to a man’s house, where he was told that the man had been visited by an angel. This angel instructed the man to send for Peter because Peter had a message that would save him and his whole family. After this, Peter shared the good news of Jesus and as he did, the holy spirit fell upon them, prompting Peter to recall the prophecy that John baptised with water but they would be baptised with the holy spirit. Having seen this happen to the gentiles, Peter knew that the gentiles were included in God’s plan and Peter’s witness testimony was enough to convince his Jewish Christian hearers that all was in the hands of God.

I believe that this reading tells us that it is God who calls his people back to him and that we as his messengers here on earth are simply sent to open doors for all those that God is calling into his Kingdom. As messengers I believe that we have a special role to fulfil. For as we hear in the gospel of John, before he completed his mission and returned to heaven, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment : to love one another as he has loved them; so others will know they are His disciples. In our time, in this place, this is the commandment we are called to fulfil: to love one another as Jesus loved us; so others will know that we are His disciples.

I also believe that our readings today are a call to see that God’s kingdom is one that begins here on earth and continues into eternity. An eternity that we hear about in the book of Revelation. For in this book, John describes a new heaven, a new earth and a new holy city of Jerusalem that will one day replace all that we know right now. For it is a place in which God will live alongside humanity forever, in a place in which God will make everything new by erasing sorrow, death, crying and mourning.

This is a gift that God wants all of his creation to have because God loves us so much. It is a gift we do not deserve and it is a gift we can do nothing to earn. I believe that this generous and gracious gift of love that God has for his creation is something that the psalmist understood because in Psalm 148 the whole of creation is called to praise God.

Let us Pray: Almighty and eternal God, whose son Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; the one who has opened the gate of everlasting life by overcoming death. Put into our minds the desire to do good, and the grace to fulfil it, so we can follow Jesus by rejoicing in his truth and sharing in his risen life. Amen

Thanks for joining us today.