Fifth Sunday of Easter: The Kainos Commandment

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 11:1-18 (NRSV)

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, `Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, `By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time the voice answered from heaven, `What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, `Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, `John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

Psalm 148 (BCP, p.805).


Revelation  21:1-6 (NRSV)

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life."

John 13:31-35 (NRSV)

At the last supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you 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."

Blog Reflection

I have recently begun to read Walking In Valleys of Darkness: A Benedictine Journey Through Troubled Times, by Fr. Albert Holtz, OSB.  In the book, Holtz writes about two Greek words for the English word new.  One word is neos.  This word refers to "recent, young."  The other Greek word for new is kainos which means "unheard of, unknown."

The "new" commandment referred to in Saint John's Gospel today is the word kainos, not the word neos.  It is suggested that it is a commandment that is unheard of or unknown.  If that is the case, what should be the response of Christians to this kainos commandment?

All of our readings today speak to us of what is new or kainos.  That which is unknown is becoming clearer as the kainos Jerusalem comes down out of heaven in the Book of Revelation.  All things such as the tears we cry, the pain we feel and what we know will be changed into the kainos Kingdom.  While we do not read the word new or kainos in Peter's experience in the Acts of the Apostles, it is quite clear that Peter had a kainos experience on that roof top.  It changed his outlook to the people God was calling him to go to.

If there is one thing that we all find difficult to cope with is change.  We all say we want a kainos Church and society in which injustice and oppression are no longer the status quo.  However, when faced with the minute kainos changes towards making that happen, even the most open minded of persons can become quite reluctant.

I once had a conversation with a very progressive minded individual about the issue of housing for minorities.  The subject was about how the individuals and families of certain races are often left with the worst choices in terms of housing with no one to assist them with knowing their rights.  When the occasion comes to talking with their landlords to take care of maintenance requests and pest control, their requests seem to fall on deaf ears.  As the conversation continued, the person I was talking with said, "Whenever you have Latinos or Hispanics living in apartment buildings, there will always be that kind of problem."

The debate over equal protections for LGBT people, in particular transgender people and what gender uses what bathroom has really been getting more intense.  These issues are the result of people not being open to kainos understandings of gender roles and what they mean.  Yet, the problem of "classes" of people being denied basic human rights protection is not so kainos.  It happened in Nazi Germany and in the United States of America during the Civil Rights movement influenced by individuals such as Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Jesus tells His disciples and us today that He is giving us a new (kainos) commandment.  That we are to love one another as He has loved us.  The love that Jesus speaks of sees past gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religion and every label we can come up with; to love the human person totally and completely without distinction.  The kainos commandment is the love of God for all humankind by which Jesus gave His life for all of us on the Cross and rose from the dead.  He is calling each of us to break kainos ground and to see beyond what is on the surface, to live into our Baptismal Vows of respecting the dignity of every human being; to love with the same love.  This is why our Book of Common Prayer, invites us to answer the questions in our Baptismal Covenant with "We will, with God's help."  Jesus invites us to face our human limitations honestly and be open to the Holy Spirit leading us into the kainos way in which Jesus showed us of loving others as God loves all of us.

In the Incarnate Word, God showed humankind that all of us can be loved, and all of us can love if we only put our faith and trust in God's love in the Person of Jesus Christ.  God knows what we are capable of when we love openly and totally, looking towards Jesus as that "way, truth and life" by which God brings healing and reconciliation to our broken and wounded world.  When we are open to receiving and sharing that love, we show forth the Risen Jesus who says "Peace be with you" even to those who have abandoned Him at his most desperate of moments.  The Risen Christ welcomes the stranger, gives sight to the blind and gives a voice to those who are unable to speak for themselves.  We are empowered to live into Saint Benedict's admonition to "receive all guests as Christ Himself." (The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 53).

I think it is past time for Christians to make the kainos commandment of Jesus to love others as He has loved us better known than to leave it as unknown.   What do you think?

How is God calling you to live into the kainos commandment to love others as Jesus has loved you?

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant
us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way,
the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer, p.225).


O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.818).