6th Easter Sunday (year C)

(Rev 21,10-14.22-23)

Revelation 21:10 And the angel carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, shining with the glory of God.

Revelation 21:11 Its radiance is like that of a most precious gem, like a crystalline jasper stone.

Revelation 21:12 The city is enclosed by a great and high wall with twelve gates: over these gates stand twelve angels and names written, the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

An angel leads John to contemplate in vision the bride, the wife of the Lamb, on a high mountain, in order to be able to admire the city from above, emphasising the importance and transcendent character of the bride. In order to be able to contemplate this revelation, a special influence of the Spirit is needed, which drives one upwards, in the direction of the divine. The great and high mountain is indeed the place of God's revelation, see for instance Moses ascending Mount Nebo from where God shows him the land of Canaan. 

The holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, descends from heaven, 'resplendent with the glory of God'. The first indication the angel gives us could not be higher. Coming from God, the bridal city possesses his 'glory'. The risen Christ, the only proper bearer of the Father's glory, has communicated this glory to his city-bride. Particularly enlightening is a reference to the fourth Gospel, where, referring to all those who believe in him, Jesus expresses himself as follows: "And the glory that you have given to me, I have given to them, that they may be as we are one" (Jn 17:22). 

God has clothed Jerusalem with his glory, and God's glory is his divinity. Jerusalem has been as if deified by God, clothed with his light, cloaked with the redemption of Christ the light of the world.  

It is important to know the concept of the city. To speak of the city is to speak of the dynamic that has sustained human history, beginning with the building of the first city at the time of Cain, who "became the builder of a city" (Gen 4:17). Human history can be depicted as the history of the building of a city, which, from Cain onwards, takes on troubling characteristics. Cain, after killing his brother, sets up a reality that has its charm, as a place where a civilisation develops, but carries within it a seed of violence, which, however hidden, invariably explodes when the time comes. Revelation also speaks of the fall of Babylon, in which "the blood was found ... of all those who were slain on earth" (Rev 18:24); the blood of all the slain from Abel onwards, the blood of all the rejected brothers: the city, from Cain onwards, is built on a foundation soaked in that blood. Now, the new Jerusalem is shown, which in its name recalls the ancient Jerusalem, a city that in the history of salvation saw the blood of Christ shed, but which carried within itself a sacramental value, a promise: God wants to manifest himself and bring to fulfilment his nuptial intentions with humanity.    

The illumination of the new city is placed in correspondence with the reflection of a precious gem, whose extraordinary quality - 'most precious' - and splendour is emphasised. What depicts what is most beautiful is used to describe the magnificence of Jerusalem. What is more beautiful than a most precious gemstone and a crystalline jasper stone? Nothing. What is more beautiful than God? Nothing. God is beauty itself, he is the author of all beauty. Jerusalem is clothed in the same beauty as God.  

"As a crystalline jasper stone": Jasper is a beautiful, precious stone, of different colours, mostly reddish, sometimes green, brown, blue, yellow and white, which communicates a sense of beauty and joy. The city is built in such a way as to attract, and this is precisely because the glory of God dwells in it.    

The inevitable comparison is with the 'old' Jerusalem which, with its monarchy, temple and priesthood had become the symbol of the people, of the covenant with God and of the divine dwelling among men. The renewal of the city means the renewal of the covenant. John, using biblical symbols and apocalyptic language, announces the newness of the covenant, the new relationship with God.    

The great and high wall indicates delimitation and at the same time stability, security and protection, but not closure; for twelve, three for each cardinal point, are the openings that connect the city with the rest of the world.

The twelve angels indicate angelic protection, they stand guard over the twelve gates like sentinels. Since the city is of heavenly origin, it must have heavenly guardians. According to Gen 3:24, the cherubim were the guardians of Eden, the garden of God, and since the new Jerusalem is the eschatological counterpart of Eden, the angelic guards at its gates are definitely appropriate. The wall, the gates, the guards, were for the protection and defence of the city; here, where there is no longer any fear of enemies, it all stands for the idea of the perfect peace and security enjoyed by the saved, because nothing dangerous will ever enter the holy city. 

The twelve gates have the written names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, although the names are not specified, because John is interested in the symbolic meaning of the number twelve and not in the individual tribes. The many gates emphasise the importance of access to the city. The association of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel with the gates of the new Jerusalem, signifies that the Old Testament is the gate necessary to enter into faith in Christ, but it also signifies that God has not denied his people, they are an integral part of the new Jerusalem. John alludes to the perfect continuity between the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament Church.

One enters the city of God through the gate of revelation that God gave to the patriarchs of Israel. The culmination of this revelation is Jesus Christ. Old and New Testament are the one and only revelation of God, the one and only Word of the Lord, the one and only way of salvation and redemption for all mankind. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul - Romans 9-11

(Buyable on Amazon)