This Is Us: A Community of Transformation; Revelation 21:1-5

Tucked in the middle of the movie, The Passion of the Christ is a scene that I find my mind going back to again and again. Jesus has been beaten bloody and carries his cross through the streets of Jerusalem. The weight of the wood, the exhaustion of the beating, and the blood in his eyes from the crown of thorns suddenly become too much for him. He collapses to the ground, the cross pinning him there. His mother watches on, and like any mother who sees her child fall, she runs to comfort him, saying, “I’m here.” Jesus turns to her, cups her cheek, and says, “See, mother, I make all things new.” It’s a line you won’t find in any of the Gospels or their passion narratives. Instead, it comes from the throne of heaven in Revelation 21:5. “Behold, I am making all things new.” I love that promise there at the culmination of all things, but I’m moved by how the Passion of the Christ reminds me of the price of the promise. The chaos of this world is conquered by the cross. Humanity’s final union with the Father is delivered by the one who was rejected. The promise of the end of mourning and pain was accomplished through the man of sorrows. The transformation of the sufferings of Jesus into the glory to be revealed in us is beyond my comprehension today. Still, it is the hope we share and extend to the hurting around us.