Introduction

Since Easter we have been reflecting on the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus as well as some of his teaching given before he died.  In these appearances there is a common theme – Jesus appears, he is not recognised at first, but after some action he is recognised.  So at the tomb Mary thinks he is a gardener until he speaks her name and she realises that it is her Lord with whom she is speaking.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognise the Risen Lord until he broke bread with them, on the sea shore the disciples see a man cooking breakfast but don’t recognise him at first.  The only exception is the Easter evening appearance in St John’s Gospel (where Thomas wasn’t present) and they seem to recognise him straight away.   It seems that the Risen Lord is the same yet different – recognisable but subtly different.  Jesus had been made alive, glorified and taken beyond death’s power.

We’re used to seeing startling transformations in our church community.  The woman who finally accepts her sexuality and lives with joy and freedom, the man who stops lying about who he really is and finds love and companionship with other men leaving behind the guilt and confusion.  The trans person finally accepting who they are and not hating themselves anymore.  In all these transformations the person has been made new, they are different, and sometimes are not recognised but they are, in many ways, the same.  They have been renewed, the past is grafted into the present, they’ve not been swept away.  There is continuity as well as discontinuity.

Paul grapples with the same mysterious idea when he writes about resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 – he knows that at the end of time we will be resurrected and have our bodies transformed into spiritual bodies just as a seed is transformed into plant.  Resurrection is about transformation, not discontinuity.

The Reading

This same idea is seen in our reading today when the writer of the Apocalypse has a powerful vision of the new heaven and the new earth which will come at the end of time.  The reading is one of the most famous passages in the book and is used at funerals a lot because of the startling line that there will be no more tears and the promise that all things are made new.

The reading extends that same mysterious promise of renewal to all of creation which will be caught up into Jesus' resurrection, into the victorious life of the slaughtered Lamb.

There is, on the one hand, continuity here; the passage says that everything will be made new, not that everything will be replaced by new and different things. God is faithful, and creation is not being abandoned, discarded, or allowed to go to hell.  Yet there is discontinuity, because "the former things" will be gone. This makes us wonder which "former things" will go?  Surely not everything in a strict sense: Jesus’ victory over death, the faithful witness of God's people, the mercy of the One on the throne have not disappeared.

What will pass away are those evils which had occupied much of the earlier part of the Book of Revelation – the blasphemy of human arrogance, the rebellion against God, the empire's violent oppression, the power of the beast and Babylon to deceive the nations, the faithless compromise of the churches, all that had brought woe and wrath upon the world –  is all gone. And it is gone for good. If you are not familiar with the book of Revelation – and it’s one of the hardest books in the Bible to get to grips with – I should explain that after some messages to various churches the book deals with a cosmic battle between good and evil.  It was written during one of the first persecutions of Christians and there is much coded condemnation of the Roman Empire.  The writer foretells the rise of an anti-Christ who will deceive people and lead them astray – “the beast” and “Babylon” are codes for the Roman Empire and its deadly cruel power.

For those who enjoy a good day at the beach the comment in the opening sentence that there is no more sea may not seem like good news.   However, in the book of Revelation, the sea is a metaphor for the source and the operational base for the evil forces lined up against God and God's people. It is from the sea that the beast, the personification of the empire's deadly reach, had come.   

The climax of the reading is the New Jerusalem descending from God.  This is the final hope that the writer has in his vision of the end.  It’s not about us going to “heaven” when we die but that “heaven” comes to us.  John uses the image of a “new Jerusalem” to mean the place where we dwell with God.  This is not a rebuilt Jerusalem with all its conflict and division but a metaphor for the world that is to come.  Jewish people believed that God dwelt, especially, in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem, in the New Jerusalem there will be no Temple but God will dwell with us.  The terms “heaven” or the “New Jerusalem” are simply metaphors for dwelling with God.

We are told that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes – it’s one of the most moving images in Scripture.  The connection to the former things passing away is crucial – the promise is not just that God will wipe away the current tears from our eyes but will reach back through time and wipe away all the pain and tears that have ever been shed.

And So…..

The reading is about renewal.  We’ve seen ideas about continuity and discontinuity, about pain and tears being things of the past and God dwelling in the midst of us.  The writer clearly had the idea of the renewal of the resurrection in mind as he wrote with the same ideas of change and glory being present.

There is much interest in renewal at the moment as political parties clamour for our votes for the, rather poisoned, chalice of leading the country for the next few years.  All promise change and renewal.

The earth itself cries out for renewal as we continue to exploit and pollute it.  We recycle our rubbish, turn off our lights, try and use less petrol but still realise that we’re not making the changes we need if the earth is to be renewed.

We watch as the Church tries to renew itself by reaching out and trying to be relevant but always seemingly being held back by more conservative forces.  In MCC Manchester we have to balance the idea of continuity and renewal.  We continue to hold fast to the faith that has been passed down to us remaining faithful to the apostles’ teaching as summed up in the Creeds, to the Fellowship and to the worship of our Risen Lord.  But we realise that the Lord’s announcement that he is making all things new is also relevant to us.

We too are being made new.  St Paul says that we are new creations but our experience shows that there is much about our “old” life that still clings to us.  We are a mixture of continuity with the old and discontinuity as we turn our lives around.  There is always this tension it the Christian life.  We seek to be renewed but we struggle to let go of our old patterns of behaviour.  

The reading shows us God’s vision, or dream, for the end of time when this struggle will no longer exist and when all will be right.  In the meantime we live in the here and now.  We can help this process of renewal in our own lives in a number of ways:

    * Our regular prayer life where we seek not so much as to change God’s mind but to adjust ourselves to God’s will.
    * Our increasing understanding of our own faith and tradition as we seek to see how the Biblical and Church writers have related their faith to their everyday lives showing us how we can do the same.
    * Our practical help for others who are disadvantaged, depressed or in need of help.  We are a generous church and we’ve given so much money this year – to the Haiti appeal, for the Smarties fundraiser for the Unit and for our church.  We’ve given of our time, our talents and our money and we do so much in our jobs and spare time.

All these things help to renew us, help God to fashion us into his own image so that we become the people He dreams of, fit for the New Jerusalem which is to come, where there will be no more pain, no more tears and no more injustice.