The Promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth and its Meaning
March 11, 2024 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Isaiah 65:17-21; Psalm 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b; John 4:43-54
In Isaiah 65:17-21, we encounter the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, where sorrow and distress will be replaced with joy and fulfillment. Psalm 30 echoes this theme of renewal, recounting a personal experience of deliverance from sickness and despair. Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus turned sorrow into joy by healing the son of a royal official.
The Bible begins with a poetic description of creation (Gen 1:1-2:4). But as the story continues, God's beautiful creation is being disfigured by human sinfulness. The first attempt at renewing creation was the story of the Flood and Noah's ark (see Gen 6:9-9:17). However, it did not work out because the human heart did not change: "the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen 8:21). And so, the Lord put forward a plan that would renew his disfigured creation by renewing the human heart.
Isaiah begins with a powerful declaration of the Lord: "For behold! I am creating a new heaven and a new earth" (Is 65:17). Looking at it from our perspective, it is a process, not an instant moment, and its ultimate goal is the destruction of death and all that leads to it. Isaiah speaks using a metaphor of extraordinary longevity, but the author of the Book of Revelation declares openly that in a new heaven and a new earth "death shall be no more" (Rev 21:4).
What is worth pointing out is the fact that we all have the experiences of a new heaven and a new earth bursting into our lives here on earth. Each time we recover from illness, are liberated from addiction, and forgiven, we taste a new heaven and a new earth. Like the psalmist, we have been preserved "from among those going down into the pit" (Ps 30:4). And like the son of a royal official, we have been given another chance to live. But, the mystery of a new creation is fully revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If we read Psalm 30 again through the lenses of the New Testament, we realize that the psalmist's words, "O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit" (Ps 30:4), are the prophecy of Jesus' death and resurrection. The same applies to those who, in the sacrament of baptism, died, were buried with Christ, and rose with Christ to begin a new life. Saint Paul writes that "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor 5:17).
The encounter between Jesus and the royal official in Cana took place at the seventh hour of the day - 1 PM - and at the same time in Capernaum, 40 km away from Cana, the cure of the dying boy took place. The Word of Christ traveled faster than the speed of light and snatched life from the grip of death. The same word of Christ, through the proclamation of the Church, snatches people from the grip of eternal death and brings them to the glory of everlasting life.