May 18, 2025
Revised Common Lectionary
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
Lectionary for Mass (RC)
Acts 14:21-27
Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13 (see 1)
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33a, 34-35
Writers for popular streaming shows face a lot of pressure when it comes time for the series finale. Most of us can probably recall concluding episodes that made us delighted, satisfied, or surprised, but we can likely name some others that left us feeling disappointed or let down. We tend to like endings that provide meaningful closure and resolution.
While the concluding chapters of Revelation don’t qualify as a series finale, they do represent the final words in the final book of the Christian Bible. These passages present a vision of how God will bring the resurrection story to completion, an ending that may seem surprising. Revelation, after all, is best known for its dark apocalyptic images—fire, beasts, and tribulations. Yet its underlying message is one of hope, speaking words of assurance to communities undergoing persecution and trials that God will triumph over evil.
The Bible begins with the story of how God created “the heavens and the earth . . . and all their multitude” (Gen 2:1). It concludes not with a return to creation’s primordial state but rather with “a new heaven and a new earth”; indeed, “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (Rev 21:1). Popular images of the end times tend to focus on cataclysm and terror, but the author of Revelation moves beyond scenes of destruction to present a vision of hope fulfilled as God declares, “See, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5).
While Genesis tells of the first humans living in a garden (Gen 2:8), Revelation envisions the fulfillment of human history in a city, “the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev 21:2). And what a magnificent city it will be! There is no temple here, for this city is already filled with the presence of God and the Lamb (see Rev 21:22). There is no need for sun or moon, “for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23). Its gates will never be shut, as nations and peoples stream into it.
Our future is revealed here not in us being taken up to heaven but rather in God coming to dwell with us in a new creation: “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” (Rev 21:3). Our destiny is envisioned not in some ethereal “up there,” but in a renewed and re-created “down here.” God will fashion a new city for the community of redeemed humanity, permeated by the divine presence. We are promised a new life that has already begun with the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
We live in that in-between time—after Jesus’ resurrection but before the fulfillment of God’s promise. Yet even now, we have been initiated into Christ’s new life through baptism and called to live into the future God has prepared. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus shows us how: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34). Our communal life here and now, characterized by love for one another, bears witness to and prepares us for the holy city where all things are made new.
Through our love for one another, our care for the vulnerable, and our pursuit of justice, God’s transforming power becomes present—offering the world a glimpse of the new Jerusalem for which we hope and toward which we journey together. Unlike disappointing series finales, the divine conclusion God has written promises the most satisfying resolution of all: “See, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5).
A Hymn for Today: “O holy city, seen of John”
This text was written by pastor, scholar, professor, and author W. Russell Bowie in 1909, the same year that he was ordained as an Episcopal priest. Bowie wrote this hymn at the request of Presbyterian minister and social Gospel advocate Henry Sloane Coffin. It first appeared in 1910 in Hymns of the Kingdom of God, edited by Coffin and Ambrose White Vernon. The text draws on today’s passage from Revelation as a challenge to believers today to oppose injustice and help build the city of God now.
Listen here to an arrangement by Robert J. Powell based on the tune MORNING SONG.
O holy city, seen of John,
where Christ, the Lamb, does reign,
within whose foursquare walls shall come
no night, nor need, nor pain,
and where the tears are wiped from eyes
that shall not weep again!
O shame to us who rest content
while lust and greed for gain
in street and shop and tenement
wring gold from human pain,
and bitter lips in deep despair
cry, “Christ has died in vain!”
Give us, O God, the strength to build
the city that has stood
too long a dream; whose laws are love,
whose ways are servanthood,
and where the sun that shines becomes
your grace for human good.
Already in the mind of God
that city rises fair.
Lo, how its splendor challenges
the souls that greatly dare,
and bids us seize the whole of life
and build its glory there.
Text: Walter Russell Bowie, 1882-1969, alt.
Tunes: MORNING SONG, MORWELLHAM
Image Credit: New Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“Word and Song: A Lectionary Reflection” is written by the Executive Director of The Hymn Society, Rev. Dr. Mike McMahon. For his full bio, click here and scroll down to the “staff” section.
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