Sixth Sunday of Easter
In the responsorial psalm for today, Psalm 67, we find the express desire that the nations (the Gentiles) praise the Lord, that they be glad and exult in the Lord. We see a vision of this beginning to happen in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The strife in Acts, which leads to the Council of Jerusalem in this very same chapter (15), is whether or not, and if so then how, Gentiles from the nations can become Christians following Jesus. Must they first become Jews, leaving the nations, through circumcision?
The answer the early Church gave was that no, baptism replaces circumcision as the entrance rite into the new covenant family of God. And thus, the mystery hidden for the ages in God, as articulated, for example, in St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, is that both Jews and Gentiles from among the nations can equally participate in God’s Kingdom, the family of God, through baptism in Christ.
In today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation, we see a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem. Throughout the Book of Revelation we find earthly realities depicted as shadows or images of their heavenly counterparts. The heavenly realities take precedent, and are the goals the earthly images point toward. In this context, we see that when Jews and Gentiles are united, from all nations, in heaven, they worship God in the heavenly Jerusalem, that holy city. The center of the worship is God and the Lamb (Jesus), and thus there is no need of a temple.
In early Jewish literature, there are numerous texts which depict glimpses of heavenly worship. These writers look up to the heavens and they see animal sacrifice, angelic praise, and temple worship, upon which they claim their earthly worship is patterned. When we turn to the Book of Revelation we find the true heavenly worship revealed to us. It’s not exactly animal sacrifices, but rather the one Lamb of God Who has been sacrificed for us. Thus Jesus is the sacrificial offering, but He is also the high priest performing the sacrifice. Jesus is also the temple and altar, the location of the sacrifice. In heaven, therefore, as on earth, the true worship of the people of God is centered upon Jesus.
When we approach the altar at Mass, we should keep in mind that it is through our baptism and participation in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist that we become one with Jesus, and therefore one with each other: Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ at the Eucharistic table. Moreover, the heavenly graces, the streams of salvation, are poured down from heaven to us at every celebration of the Eucharist. Strengthened with such heavenly food, let us go forth and keep Christ’s word (John 14:23), living out the commands of Christ, to love one another as He has loved us.
- Jeff Morrow