The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
May 19, 2019
Year C: The Fifth
Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
A New Earth Built By Love
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Recently
I read a very interesting magazine article about… the Moon.
Specifically,
the article was about the big plans that some countries, some companies, and some
entrepreneurs have for the Moon.
In
recent years scientists come to understand that the Moon is full of very
valuable minerals – and it even has water.
So, several
countries have recently sent unmanned spacecraft to the Moon – with more on the
way.
Scientists are
thinking about using the Moon as a launch pad to explore farther into the Solar
System - the Moon’s low gravity would
make launching space ships much easier and cheaper than it is to launch them
from Earth.
Some very clever people want to start digging
on the Moon, mining some valuable resources that are starting to run low here
on Earth – where mining also does a whole lot of devastating environmental
damage.
In
fact, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, believes that in the decades ahead we
will be able to move most of our heavy industry from Earth to the Moon,
allowing us to heal the damage we’ve done to our planet, to give us a chance at
a new Earth.
Now,
who am I to argue with the man who started out by selling books on the Internet
and is now worth something like $153 billion?
But,
I have to say that even if we’re able to mine on the moon – even if we’re able
to move much of our industry to the moon – even if we have the knowhow and the
will to do all of that amazing stuff, what’s most likely to happen is that
along with the high tech we will bring our human conflicts and competition and
hatred and fear – we will simply bring all of that old human baggage from Earth
to the Moon.
After
all, our country is already creating a new military branch: Space Force.
And,
you know that other countries are thinking along the same lines.
The
hard truth is that more and better technology will not give us a new Earth.
Only
love can do that.
Love
was at the heart of the life and mission of Jesus – and in today’s Gospel
lesson, as Jesus says goodbye to his disciples he commands them – and commands
us today - to 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.”
Over
all the long years since Jesus gave us his “love commandment,” we Christians
have sure struggled to obey it – and we have had to learn over and over again
just how big God’s love is – we’ve had to learn over and over again that God
loves every single one of us and that, with God’s help, we are commanded to
love every single one of us, too.
We
heard some of that learning – some of that stretching – in today’s first lesson
from the Acts of the Apostles.
The
earliest church was very small – just a relative handful of Jewish men and
women who believed that Jesus was the Jewish messiah.
But,
very quickly, Peter and the other members of this early “Jesus Movement” were
challenged to share God’s love beyond their little group – they were stretched
to love and welcome people who were not Jews – to recognize that we are
commanded to love all people, no matter the language they speak or the food
they eat or even what they believe or don’t believe.
It
was a long time ago that Jesus commanded us to love one another – and after all
this time we’ve made some progress but I think we can all agree that we still
have a long way to go.
It’s
easy to get discouraged when we hear about a woman in Texas who was arrested
for following the example of the Good Samaritan, lending a hand to three desperate
people who waved her down on the side of the road – two men and a very ill
woman who turned out to be undocumented but desperately in need of help.
It’s
easy to get discouraged when once again we hear the calls for war – calls that
always seem to come from men who have sacrificed nothing of their own but are
always quite willing to sacrifice the lives of others.
It’s
easy to get discouraged by the everyday desperation, meanness, and cruelty we
experience here in our own neighborhood, where, for our own safety, some of us
avoid certain streets and corners – our own neighborhood, where two of our
parishioners have been robbed in the last couple of months, where four solar
powered lights that Vanessa placed right outside the rectory to brighten the
stairs were stolen… the very first night.
But,
despite all of these and many more very real reasons for discouragement, Jesus
still commands us to love one another.
This
morning I have the privilege of baptizing yet another beautiful baby – and we
all have the honor and joy of welcoming the newest Christian into our
community.
Today
is very much about the indissoluble bond – the unbreakable bond – that God will
make with Marcus in the water of baptism.
No
matter what Marcus does or doesn’t do in his life, God will never let go of
him, never, ever.
Today
is about God and Marcus but today is also about God and us.
As
we welcome Marcus into our community, we are reminded that the way of Jesus is
the way of love.
We
are reminded that we are expected to pray and break bread together – that we
are to resist evil and ask forgiveness when we mess up – that we are to share
Jesus through our word and example – that we are to love our neighbor as our
self – that we are to respect every single person.
No
matter how many times we hear them or say them, these big promises of Baptism remain
challenging.
No
doubt, they’ll be challenging for Marcus, too.
But,
he’ll have us.
And,
we have each other.
And,
most of all, we have God’s help.
And,
together, we will surely struggle to obey Jesus’ command to love one another –
and we’ll have to learn over and over again just how big God’s love is – that
God loves the strangers by the side of the road – and God loves the woman who
helped them – and God loves the officers who arrested her for helping them –
that God loves the leaders who are quick to start a war – that God loves the
guys hanging out on the corner – that God loves the people who hurt us – and God
even loves the people who steal our solar-powered lights – just as surely as
God loves us.
God
loves absolutely everyone.
But,
if we try – really try - to obey the love commandment, slowly and with God’s
help we really will create a new Earth – a new earth built not by technology,
but a new Earth built by love.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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