Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C
The texts selected for Easter 5 in The Revised Common Lectionary are indicative of a transition from emphasis on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as a saving action for a limited number of his followers to sharing the message of salvation within a much broader arena. The Johannine Jesus in John 13:31-35 requires that his followers must love one another after he departs from them, just as he has loved them. Within a vivid literary drama in Acts 11:1-18 Peter in ecstasy in a vision is shown and convinced that the saving action of God in Christ must be shared as a gift from God to people beyond the community of initial followers of Jesus. It must be shared not merely with people who have a “clean” Jewish background, but also with non-Jewish background people whom Peter had previously considered to be impure and unclean. In the vision of the new heaven and new earth after the oppressive Roman Empire and all wicked people have been removed, it is acclaimed in Revelation 21:1-6 that God will live among God’s people in a situation in which there will no longer be any pain, mourning, weeping, and death. During a much earlier period, this had also been the ideal situation depicted by the writer of Psalm 148, a messianic age in which all the angels of heaven, all of the creatures and elements of God’s creation, and all people, men and women, young and old will praise the name of the Lord.
John 13:31-35
Analysis of these five verses indicates that its three units (vv. 31-32, 33, 34-35) are rather disparate elements juxtaposed. Raymond E. Brown, however, in his The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible 29a, p. 609), noted that we can “trace the logic that led to the union of these disparate elements.” Brown stated that “Jesus’ glorification (vv. 31-32), which is the goal of ‘the hour,’ is an appropriate opening theme for the great Discourse explaining the hour. This glorification involves his return to his Father and, therefore, his departure from his disciples (v. 33). The command to love (vv. 34-35) is Jesus’ way of ensuring the continuance of his spirit among his disciples.”
The literary genre here is that of a dying father instructing his children. This text has close parallels in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which is a Jewish document with Christian interpolations or a Christian work dependent on Jewish sources. For example, in the Testament of Gad 4:1-2, we read, “Now, my children, let each one of you love his brother,” and in the Testament of Reuben 4:5, “My children, observe all that I have commanded you.” For other examples, see Brown, The Gospel According to John (AB 29a, p. 611).
What we have, specifically, in John 13:31-35, and in many other Newer Testament texts, is theological reflection over 1) the tragedy of Jesus’ crucifixion, 2) the absence of Jesus from his followers, and Jesus’ message and example of love.
Acts 11:1-18
It is interesting to note that Peter, who is described by Paul in Galatians 2:1-10 as reluctant to agree to Paul’s request that non-Jewish followers of Jesus should not be required to be circumcised if male and should not have to follow Jewish dietary restrictions, is here depicted as using his own experiences to convince other apostles and believers in Judea that God has given to people of other religious traditions and ethnic backgrounds repentance and access to life.
Revelation 21:1-6
This vision of peace in the presence of God is wondrous for us and for all people. It was especially glorious for the people of the Johannine community who were suffering such intense persecution by zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion. Even though most of us are not being subjected to the kind of persecution faced by the Johannine followers of Jesus within the Roman province of Asia during the last seven years of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, many of us are faced with intense pain and anxiety because of terminal illnesses, as well as economic losses and uncertainties.
Psalm 148
All of God’s creation, in heaven above, on the earth, and the sun, the moon, and the flickering stars, people of all ages and genders are called upon in this psalm to give praise to the Lord God. As we draw nearer to the conclusion of our Easter Season this year with Psalm 148 and the Newer Testament texts selected for us for our use this coming Sunday, what justification do so many of us have for restricting leadership in the Church to males and to those who have majority power positions and orientations?
