GOD DWELLS WITH US IN LOVE

Revelation 21:1-6; John 13: 31-35

5th Sunday of Easter,  May 18, 2025

Pastor Ritva H Williams

So far this Eastertide our readings from the book of Revelation have introduced us to the all-powerful Risen Christ who paradoxically exercises “lamb power” — self-giving love, forgiveness, solidarity, non-violent resistance and courage in the face of injustice. Lamb power is the source of life and salvation for every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the seas. Lamb power gathers a human multitude beyond number, across all borders and all boundaries.  Today we are treated to John’s vision of where and to what “lamb power” is leading us. 

John sees a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth have apelthon — they have left, they have gone away. The idea here is not that the first heaven and earth have been destroyed or wiped out of existence. It’s more like these first things have moved on. Just as the “first things” of our own existence are left behind as we move on to the next stages of life. A toddler moves on from infancy. High school students move on from middle and elementary school. We all grow and change as each new stage of life emerges. The earlier stages give way to the newer ones without being destroyed.They are all included in who we come. This is how I imagine the new heaven and new earth emerging as the first ones move on. 

John perceives that heaven and earth are changing and evolving and a new thing is emerging — the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of ouranou — the sky a.k.a. heaven. The New Jerusalem represents God’s dwelling which, in the ancient three-tiered view of the cosmos, was not here but up there. As Professor Barbara Rossing writes, 

What is striking in Revelation, in contrast to every other ancient text, is that this heavenly city of Jerusalem does not stay up in heaven but rather comes down from heaven to earth.

There is no rapture in the story of Revelation, no snatching of people off the earth up to heaven … it is God who is Raptured down to earth to take up residence and dwell with us.

The voice from the throne explains that God’s skene — God’s tent is with mortals, that God skenosei — tents with them. Just as God’s tent accompanied the newly liberated Israelites as they camped in the desert after their escape from Egypt, so too God camps with us today wherever we find ourselves, in big houses or small, in apartments or shared accommodations, even under bridges and in homeless encampments.

God offers us is not a one-way ticket out of Dodge, but God joins us here and now in our pain and suffering. God weeps with us and for us, with sympathy and empathy, concern and caring. God offers us healing, protection, deliverance, rescue and restoration to wholeness and holiness. God’s salvation is for life here and now, as well as in the world to come.

God’s closing words in this vision are, “See, I am making all thing new” — present tense, continuous action. Followed by “It is done!” — past tense, completed action. And finally, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. To the thirsty I offer the water of life as a gift.” 

To borrow the words of Professor Anna Bowden:

This fifth Sunday of Easter, John reminds us that we are not heaven bound. Heaven is bound for us. God has come to dwell among God’s people, even in our moments of pain and suffering. So, yes, it might be tempting to destroy it all and rebuild from the ground up, but that is not the work God calls us to do. God calls us to join God in the good work of redemption, the work of radical care. We don’t have to burn it all down. We don’t have to escape to some new world … God is not waiting for us to join God in heaven. God is waiting for us to join God in the good work right here on earth.

To see what that looks like, we turn to our our gospel reading where we meet Jesus at his last supper with his disciples. This scene begins with the notice that Jesus loved his own who were in the world right until the end (13:1b). We see Jesus’ love acted out as he washes the dirty, dusty feet of the disciples, and explains why, saying:  

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you all should do as I have done to you” (13:13-15). 

Loving one another as Christ loves us looks like taking care of the ordinary, everyday needs of the people around us, but there is more …

Throughout the Last Supper, Jesus is troubled. He knows Judas is about to betray him (13:11). Yet Jesus washes his feet and feeds him (13:26).  As soon as Judas has eaten, he goes out into the night to do his dirty work. Jesus tells the remaining disciples in plain language that his time is up. In order to prepare them for a future in which he will not be physically present he gives them the new commandment:

… love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Loving one another as Christ loves us looks like Jesus washing and feeding Judah who betrayed him, Peter who denied him, and the other disciples who abandoned him. Loving one another as Christ loves us looks like caring for all whether we think they deserve it or not. Loving one another as Christ loves us looks like feeding the hungry,  giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, and visiting the imprisoned (Matthew 25:35). Loving one another as Christ loves us means recognizing that every human being we encounter is God-created, God-imaged and God-beloved and treating them with the same respect and dignity we would show Christ.

Way back in 2014, Holy Spirit prompted Bob Streeper to propose these verses as the basis of our welcome statement. The same Spirit led us to affirm that choice and so these verses became the foundation of our mission to know, live and share Christ with one another and with our neighbors in this corner of Cedar Rapids. As we call know from experience, human love is always messy and unpredictable. Christ’s love challenges us by being scandalously inclusive. The good news is that God is camped out here in our neighborhood, accompanying us into new realities that are only just emerging.

Let us pray together this prayer, titled “How You have Loved” by Pastor John van de Laar (sacredise.com )

How deeply you have loved us, Jesus;

how willingly you stepped into our experience,

how completely you empathized with all that we endure.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

 How sacrificially you have loved us, Jesus;

how completely you gave yourself for us,

how courageously you suffered for our sakes.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

 How restoratively you have loved us, Jesus;

how generously you share your life,

how extravagantly you make yourself available to us.

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

 We praise you for your love

which is given so freely and so unconditionally.

And we thank you for believing

that we could learn to offer such love

to each other.

Amen.