A Brand New Day

May 18, 2025 homily on Revelation 21:1-6 and John 13:31-35 by Pastor Galen

“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” -Revelation 21:5a

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” – John 13:34

A Brand New Day

For the past few months, my daughter has been practicing for her role as the Scarecrow in her school’s production of The Wiz—a 1970s retelling of The Wizard of Oz reimagined through African American culture, music, and storytelling. The Wiz started as a Broadway musical and was later made into a film starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. Instead of Kansas and ruby slippers, this version takes place in an urban landscape, and the soundtrack is influenced by funk, soul, and gospel music.

Toward the end of The Wiz, after Dorothy and her friends help free the people of Oz from the Wicked Witch’s control, they sing a jubilant song, entitled “A Brand New Day”. It’s a moment of freedom, release, and hope as, for the first time, the people of Oz realize they don’t have to live in fear anymore. They begin to sing and dance and shout for joy, singing, “Can you feel a brand new day? Can you feel a brand new day?” 

All Things New

Just as the people in The Wiz saw a bright new future ahead of them when they were freed from tyranny, Revelation 21 points forward to “a brand new day” when all sorrow, pain, and injustice will be wiped away and when everything will be made new. 

John, who wrote the book of Revelation, wrote that he “saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1), “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). He heard a loud voice proclaiming,

“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 and be their God; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” (Rev. 21:3-5a).

Talk about a brand new day! Talk about freedom from fear and tyranny! We will live with God in a brand new city, where there will be no violence or vandalism, no more gunshots or graffiti. No one will go hungry or be unhoused; there will be no prejudice or persecution, no discrimination, no despair. No more broken systems or broken hearts. 

We will be free—completely free—from the sorrow and suffering of this life, because in this new city—the New Jerusalem—God will dwell with us. And we will live together with all of God’s people in perfect harmony.

This is not just a dream — this is our destiny.
This is the hope we hold on to.
This is the promise we proclaim: the hope and promise of a brand new day.

How Do We Live Here and Now?

But the question is, how do we live in the here and now, while we await the day when we will finally be free of the burdens and cares of this life? How do we live in a world where there is still heartache and pain, suffering and grief?

Throughout history, prior to Jesus, religious attempts to address the problem of pain and suffering generally fell into three major categories:

1. Transcendence. Many religious traditions sought to transcend the pain of this world through meditation, detachment, or spiritual enlightenment as ways to escape or rise above the harsh realities of human suffering.

2. Appeasement. In many cultures, suffering has been understood as punishment from the gods. People offered sacrifices or rituals to try to appease these deities, hoping to earn their favor and bring relief, like rain for their crops or protection from disaster.

3. Rules and Regulations. Various religious systems focused on moral laws and behavioral codes, out of a belief that suffering is divine punishment and a recognition that humans frequently cause suffering for one another through injustice, violence, and selfishness. In response, these traditions sought to legislate morality, establish order, and promote righteousness in the hope that doing so would restore balance and invite God’s blessing.

Indeed, we can see all three of these approaches reflected in the Bible before the coming of Jesus. The desire for transcendence frequently appears in places like the Psalms, where worship and prayer often help our souls rise above the sufferings of this life. The theme of appeasement is especially evident in the sacrificial system laid out in the book of Leviticus, where offerings were made to atone for sin and seek God’s favor, although unlike that of other nations, Israel’s system was rooted in covenant, rather than manipulation. And the emphasis on rules and regulations is found throughout the first five books of the Bible, where God gives commandments both to maintain holiness, and to promote justice and compassion among people, acknowledging that much suffering comes from human sin against others. 

It is against this backdrop that Jesus came, offering something completely new and different, ushering in a brand new day, offering a new commandment that does not abolish everything that came before, but rather fulfills and transforms not only our religious practices but our whole way of being and operating in the world.

It’s all about Love

And Jesus’ new commandment  — indeed, his whole message and his whole purpose and mission, can be summarized in a single word: love.

It was love that motivated Jesus to enter into our world and to live among us as the physical manifestation of God’s presence. In one of the most famous verses in the Bible, John 3:16, we’re told that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…” Jesus came into the world, and experienced all of the pain and suffering and heartache and grief that we experience in this world, to show us that no matter what we endure, God is with us, and God sees and God understands.

The love that Jesus extended toward us shows us that we do not have to try to earn God’s favor or appease God’s wrath, but rather that we are already dearly loved by God. Even before our birth, God knew us and loved us and crafted our very being. And to prove God’s love for us, Jesus—God in human form—offered himself as a sacrifice for us on the cross, to free us from our captivity to sin and death. Jesus, who was himself sinless and blameless, gave himself so that we could be forgiven and set free and made new.

A New Commandment: Love One Another

And so it was love that motivated Jesus to give himself for us and to free us. And Jesus said that all of the law and all of the commandments could be replaced by that single word: love. Love for God and love for one another. 

Jesus said that this would be the distinguishing mark of his followers—that we would love one another. And the command to love one another does not just include those people who look like us, or act like us, or speak like us. Jesus gave us an example of this in his own life, as his love extended across boundaries of race and class and ethnicity and gender and religion. Indeed, Jesus taught us that we should even love our enemies and those who persecute us, and he modeled this by forgiving the very people who put him to death on the cross.

Now, this commandment to love one another may not sound very revolutionary or countercultural. But just imagine with me for a minute what our neighborhoods would look like if everyone loved the way Jesus taught us to love. Imagine our city, our country — even the entire world — transformed by that kind of love. 

So much of the suffering we see around us would disappear. Wars would end. Violence would stop. Racism, sexism, and classism would no longer have a place. Yes, natural disasters would still occur, but if the world were shaped by Christ-like love, the response to those disasters would be radically different. Instead of indifference, there would be compassion. Instead of neglect, there would be action. Love wouldn’t erase every hardship, but it would transform how we walk through it together. Indeed our world would look much more like the new heaven and new earth that Jesus will one day usher in — the world that is to come. 

Of course, we cannot do this on our own strength. We need the transforming power of Jesus to change our hearts and lives in order to love the way Jesus taught us to love. Indeed, as followers of Christ, we are called a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17)—we are part of the world in which God is making all things new. 

And so this is our call—our task as followers of Christ. To bear witness to God’s new creation. When we love the way Jesus taught us to love, our lives testify to the reality that God is making all things new. 

A Closing Invitation: Living the Brand New Day

Every act of love… every gesture of compassion… every stand for justice… every time we choose mercy over judgment, peace over violence, and welcome over exclusion—we bear witness to the truth that God is making all things new.

We are not just waiting for the New Jerusalem to arrive — we are called to be a preview of it. A community that lives out God’s dream here and now. A people so shaped by love that the world can’t help but take notice and wonder, Is this a brand new day?

So may the Spirit of God so fill our hearts, our homes, our church, and our neighborhood that the love of Christ overflows through us into a world that is weary, hurting, and longing for something more.

The day is coming when every tear will be wiped away, and death will be no more. But until that day, let us love one another. Let us live the love that makes all things new.

In the words of the people of Oz from The Wiz, 

It’s like a different way of living now. 

thank you world, 

I always knew that we’d be free somehow, 

In harmony, and show the world that we’ve got liberty…

Can you feel a brand new day? 

Can you feel a brand new day?

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection in Response to Today’s Sermon:

1. When you hear the words “See, I am making all things new,” what emotions or hopes arise in you?
2. What areas of your life feel like they need renewal, healing, or transformation?
3. In the face of today’s suffering, how do you usually respond: with detachment, striving to appease, or trying to control through rules? How might Jesus be calling you to respond differently?
4. Where do you see glimpses of God’s “brand new day” breaking into your life or community?
5. What could it look like for our congregation to be a “preview” of the New Jerusalem in our community?