As we move towards the end of our Easter season, our readings remain on the three parallel tracks they have followed from the beginning. We have Luke’s account of day-to-day life in the early Church; the ecstatic vision of John of Patmos; and John the Evangelist’s reflections on the relationship between Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit and ourselves.
Let’s start today with the vision of Revelations, because today’s passage (Rev 21:10-14, 22-23) directly answers the question we posed last week – what is new? Specifically, what is new about the “new” Jerusalem. Jerusalem remains the central symbol of religious life, the place where the affairs of God and humans intersect. This new Jerusalem is not an exercise in urban redevelopment, but a description of the relationship between God and his people. We hear how there are twelve gates for the twelve tribes of Israel showing how the pathway into this relationship was provided by the experiences of the people of Israel. We hear how the walls are based on twelve Apostles, who provide the starting point for the construction of this relationship. We then jump over a lot more symbolism, some of which is lost on us today, and arrive at the key point which answers the question – what is new? There is no temple. For the Jews a Jerusalem without a temple would be a nonsense – without a temple it would not be Jerusalem. That would be even crazier than Washington without the Capitol, London without Big Ben, or Paris without the Louvre.
But in this new world after Easter there is no need for a temple. God is no longer at a distance, God is directly present with his people, in the middle of them, sharing their individual lives every day.
In Luke’s account (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29), we hear how that presence of God doesn’t mean that our experience of day-to-day life suddenly becomes simple and straightforward, that all problems are resolved, and no-one has to worry about anything. There was still “no little dissension and debate”. There was still a need to find ways to resolve conflicts, fundamental conflicts about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and how one should live as a “Christian”. That world is completely familiar to us.
John provides the explanation for the confidence of the early disciples, despite the fact that life remains complicated and sometimes challenging (Jn 14:23-29). The central message that Jesus gives to his disciples, as he prepared them to continue without his physical presence among them, is about peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you… Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
This peace is what he would give them, and gives us – the fortitude, the strength, the power, to cope with the problems and the challenges of life. This peace is not the peace the world gives, a peace which is temporary, fragile, and has no power to fundamentally change us. This peace is His peace, a peace that comes from passing through death, to total security with God, in a new Jerusalem. In that place, whatever may happen to us, we know we are bound in a relationship of love with someone who cares for us more than we can possibly understand. In that place he is with us whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.