Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C. 'As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.'
Submitted by FatherSean on Sat, 05/01/2010 - 08:11.
The Last Supper, El Greco, c.1568
Readings
New American Bible (Philippines, USA)
Gospel (NAB) Jn 13: 31-33a, 34-35
When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself,
and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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The New Jerusalem, Coming Down Out of Heaven From God
Biblical Reflection for 5th Sunday of Easter C
By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB
TORONTO, APRIL 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- In light of today's second reading from the book of Revelation (21:1-5a), I wish to offer some reflections on the Holy City of Jerusalem and its important place in Christian spirituality.
There is a wonderful rabbinic saying from the Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 49b) that reveals heaven, earth and Jerusalem as the essential components of the Hebrew soul. The rabbis say: "As the world was being created, God gave out 10 portions of joy to the world and nine were given to Jerusalem; 10 portions of beauty God gave to the world and nine were for Jerusalem; 10 portions of suffering God gave to the world and nine were for Jerusalem."
Jerusalem is the city where the joys, aspirations and pains of humanity converge. It is the city where dreams are dreamt and either realized or shattered. A well-known medieval map shows Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple at the center of the world, the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia fanning out from the center like gigantic petals. It is a vision of world redemption arising from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the heart of the world and the center of history.
The history of salvation revealed in the Bible is situated between two visions which form the beginning and the end of the human drama: The vision of paradise lost in the book of Genesis and the vision of the new Jerusalem which descends from God in the book of Revelation. We come from God, and we return to him. These two visions are the two beacons which shed their light on everything that comes between them concerning the history and fate of humankind made up of human suffering and joy.
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In the Gospel for this Sunday we have what seems to me to be a very stark contrast in terms of discipleship. The passage begins ominously with the words 'When Judas had gone out'. It is the night before his Passion and Jesus has just foretold what Judas is about to do. Judas will go and betray Jesus into the hands of his enemies for a few pieces of silver.
In some ways though this should not surprise us or the other disciples of Jesus. He has form, as they say. We read earlier in John's Gospel that Judas complained about Mary wasting money anointing Jesus's feet with expensive nard. John makes the withering comment: 'He said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it'.
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