Can we use this text as the second reading instead?

Yes. Parish practice widely accepts it among the New Testament readings, and this site also lists it there. During Easter Time the Lectionary places it with the first readings; your celebrant will fit it to the liturgy's shape either way.

Why does the reading skip a few half-verses?

The Lectionary appoints Revelation 21:1-5a, 6b-7, trimming clauses addressed to other contexts so the proclamation stays focused on the promise of the new creation. The elisions are the Church's own.

First Reading

Easter Time

Revelation 21:1-5a, 6b-7

"There shall be no more death (Easter Time)"

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Scripture text (World English Bible)

I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.” He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

Themes

no more death
every tear wiped away
God dwelling with his people
all things new
the water of life

Reflection

During Easter Time this beloved vision may serve as the first reading. It is the same text many families choose year-round as a New Testament reading, here restored to the position the Lectionary gives it in the Easter season. Many families find it the most consoling passage in the funeral lectionary.

John sees the end of the story: a new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city descending "prepared like a bride adorned for her husband." Then the loud voice makes the promise every mourner is waiting to hear: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more."

Notice who does the wiping. Not time, which merely dulls grief; not memory, which fades. God himself, dwelling with his people, wipes the tears, an image of almost parental tenderness placed at the climax of the Bible's most cosmic book. And the one on the throne speaks directly, one of the few times in Scripture he does: "Behold, I am making all things new." Not all new things, but all things new. The person being mourned is not replaced in the new creation; they are renewed.

The closing promise of "the spring of the water of life," given freely to the thirsty, echoes baptism, where the Christian's dying and rising began.

Best for

·Funerals during Easter Time (as the appointed first reading)
·Families for whom consolation is the day's greatest need
·Funerals after long suffering, where "no more pain" answers years of it
·Congregations with many guests, since the text needs no explanation

In the liturgy

Appointed both as an Easter Time first reading (Lectionary no. 1012) and commonly used as a New Testament reading outside the season; choose one placement, not both, in a single liturgy. Its familiarity is a strength: even guests far from the Church recognize "he will wipe away every tear."

The Lectionary appoints this reading as the first reading at funerals celebrated during Easter Time (the fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost) in place of a reading from the Old Testament. Outside that season, choose one of the seven Old Testament first readings. This passage is also among the approved New Testament second readings, where it may be chosen at any time of year. Use it in one place, not both.

Pairs well with

Frequently asked questions

Can we use this text as the second reading instead?: Yes. Parish practice widely accepts it among the New Testament readings, and this site also lists it there. During Easter Time the Lectionary places it with the first readings; your celebrant will fit it to the liturgy's shape either way.
Why does the reading skip a few half-verses?: The Lectionary appoints Revelation 21:1-5a, 6b-7, trimming clauses addressed to other contexts so the proclamation stays focused on the promise of the new creation. The elisions are the Church's own.

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