The top two grossing movies so far this year are “The Batman” and “Spider-Man.” We love the idea of the superhero. Whether it’s James Bond, Xena Warrior Princess, or Luke Skywalker, the idea resonates with us – that we are helpless and we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves, and so we need someone who is better equipped, or divinely appointed, or uniquely gifted to help us. As we continue this sermon series in Easter on Revelation, we are introduced today to the superhero of Scripture: the Lamb.
To
state the obvious, the Lamb is not like Superman, the Black Panther, or Wonder
Woman. The Lamb does not fly, he is not faster than a train, nor does he leap
over tall buildings in a single bound. In fact, the Greek word is the diminutive;
so this is a “little lamb,” a lamb that is still nursing. Hardly the image of
power that we are accustomed to seeing. And yet in the resistance literature
that we call Revelation, it is this Lamb who is the main character. This is an
important thing to keep in mind – Revelation is about the Lamb. Meaning it is
not primarily about us and therefore not about predicting our future because it
is about the already accomplished triumph of the Lamb, the superhero of Revelation.
Having
the Lamb at the center of our faith means that we need to come and see the
difference Christ makes, with the keyword being “difference.” A little lamb is something
that Mary had and brought to school one day, not typically a figure we look to
for salvation and hope. Our natural human inclination is for confirmation bias,
which is when we tend to favor information that confirms what we already think
and dismiss information that goes against our previous experience and ideas. This
means that we have to do work to put our faith in the Lamb and join that song
to the Lamb in which the countless creatures and angels sing “Worthy is the Lamb
that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor
and glory and blessing!”
That
song does not come naturally, which is why it comes in a book called “Revelation;”
this is a truth that must be revealed to us. Some things you can learn on your
own – math or languages are things that you can work through. But there are
other things we have to recieve – like what it feels like to love, or really
trusting that all shall be well. These are gifts that come from beyond us because
they express truths beyond what can be rationalized, predicted, or explained. This
is why at St. Luke’s we say “come and see,” because we have to be given the gift
of revelation, of learning things we cannot discover on our own.
Before
getting further into the character of the Lamb, there are a few things to
highlight about the praise being given to the Lamb. First, it all starts with
worship. Worship is at the center of what we are to do and be. With all of our
lives, we give glory to God. When we gather for intentional worship, we are
being formed into people who are nourished in Word and Sacrament by community
and fellowship. The reason why worship matters so much is that everything grows
out of it and is rooted in it. Worship is the soil of faith.
And
Revelation tells us that it is a “myriad of myriads and thousands of thousands”
in worship. Don’t try to count that high, you’ll never finish. A myriad is
10,000, but it also represents the idea of an inconceivable amount. Revelation
tells us that this great number is composed of not only angels, but also of “every
creature in heaven and on the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them.”
Which is another way of saying everyone everywhere is singing these praises.
Now,
if everyone everywhere is singing praises to the Lamb, then who is not singing
these praises? Clearly, no one. If everyone is singing, then no one is not
singing. This means that Christians ought to be very careful about telling
people they will ever be separated from God or in a place called “hell.” The erroneous
and arrogant claim that certain people will be kept away from God simply is not
supported by Scripture, which very clearly here tells us that all, which means “all,”
will be singing these praises to the Lamb.
This
is a different understanding of salvation than most of us are accustomed to. We’ve
been trained to think that salvation is the ticket to this great choral
festival around the throne. But it’s not. Salvation isn’t something for the
future, it is a gift right now. Faith is not about rules to follow to earn salvation
later, faith is about coming and seeing and knowing and enjoying the gift of
salvation right now. God’s abundant grace is the gravitational center of our
faith, as everything orbits around this gratuitous and inexhaustible love. But
if we take this abundant grace out of the center of our faith, well, it would
be as if the sun simply vanished from our solar system. Sadly though, that is
what happens in some versions of Christianity – salvation becomes a carrot or
a stick, instead of simply the gift that it is.
Another
thing to point out about this praise is that it is sung. Enough cannot be said
about the importance of music and singing. We had a candidate here this past
week for our Director of Music Ministry position and in talking about the
spirituality of music, I said that music has taken me into the very throne room
of God. It’s not only music that can do this, there are certainly paintings
that can do this as well. The new icons will help generations of people at St.
Luke’s to experience glimpses of the beauty of heaven here and now. Music
though is like the fast lane to heaven. Because when we sing praises to God, we
do so not alone, not as a congregation, but as a part of this chorus of myriads
of myriads. Those of you who sing in the choir, who play instruments – you are
prophets, messengers from God who help us to come and see the beauty and love
of God and we thank you for your commitment and your faithfulness in using the gifts
that God has given you.
Even
if you aren’t the most musically inclined person out there, the more you set yourself
up to receive the beauty of God through music, the more richly God will be able
to feed you through it. What I’m saying is that even if you can’t read notes,
when there’s a hymn being sung, pull out the hymnal and join in. Because we’re
not singing songs as if we’re at karaoke night; we’re gathering around the
throne of the Lamb to offer praise, and that’s not a time for keeping our mouths
closed. You might also prioritize getting to church early enough to sit and
listen to the prelude and prepare yourself for worship. And after the Dismissal,
you can also just sit down and take a few minutes and rest in God’s beauty. Our
lives are so busy, rushing from one thing to the next. But taking just a few minutes
to sit, and listen, and be – well, that’s different, part of the difference
that Christ makes. Also, if someone chooses not to stay for the closing voluntary,
there’s no judgment, as this is a place of abundant grace. But if you’ve never
stayed for the voluntary, give it a try sometime.
So
we’ve considered the fact that myriads are singing in worship, now on to the superhero
of Revelation who receives this praise: the Lamb. The first word of the song to
the Lamb is “worthy.” It might not strike us as such, but this is what we might
call a “fighting word.” Worthy means worthy of allegiance, worthy of attention,
worthy of worship. To those who received Revelation a letter written to them, it
was very clear who they were expected to call “worthy” – the Emperor, and the
Emperor alone. To say that anyone else is worthy is unpatriotic, it is to
commit treason, it is to live differently. Sometimes people prefer that faith
have nothing to do with politics; but for that to work, we have to get rid of
the Bible, which is a bit much.
There
is no way to read this song in an unpolitical way. Our praise to the Lamb disrupts
everything else that we might give worth to – our awards, our account balances,
our physique, our talents, our intellect, the people we admire, our allegiance
to parties, teams, clubs, and nations – these things are all relegated to
second-tier matters. I’m not saying that those other things are inherently bad
or wrong, it’s just they can’t be what we put at the center of our lives and ascribe
worthiness to. The Lamb reorders our lives.
And
the reason why Revelation says that the Lamb is worthy is because he is
slaughtered. Again, this is where our image of the superhero is subverted by
God’s transformative love. The Lamb does not burst onto the scene and vanquish
enemies or slay evildoers, rather the Lamb is the one slaughtered. We pray all
the time that God’s Kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Revelation
shows us that when that kingdom comes, leading the procession is the
slaughtered Lamb. Simply put – these are not our values. Our society does not
reward the humble, the meek, the compassionate, or the generous. What gets us
to the top is cunning, strength, shrewdness, and thinking of ourselves first. We
can pretend that isn’t the case, but it’s reality. We live in a culture of narcissism
and violence, and even if we do our best not to give into that, it’s the water
we swim in.
This
is why faith and following the Lamb are so difficult – it goes against all of
the lessons that we are taught by our economy, by the culture of merit, by our
habit of score keeping. It is far easier to go with the flow of culture. A
bloodied Lamb on the throne is embarrassing, unsettling, and disorienting and to
sing that the Lamb is worthy is counter-cultural and challenging. This
slaughtered Lamb at the center of our faith is what makes Christianity unique, but
also paradoxically true and beautiful. And this mystery is why, for 2,000
years, people have given their lives and livelihood to following Jesus Christ.
The
Lamb’s power is in that though he is slaughtered, he is not passive. Jesus is
not a victim, rather he voluntarily gives up his life because of a love that
defies all explanation. In his steadfastness, Jesus exhibits a hope and trust
that are far stronger than any act of violence. While the Lamb is the central
figure in Revelation, there are a few places where he is described as a lion. Now
a lion is the kind of superhero we can get behind – strong, ferocious, and fearsome.
But as one theologian has put it, “the slaughtered lamb is how the lion shows
strength in this world.” In other words, the Lamb’s strength comes not from
imposing his will on others as rulers and tyrants do, but rather through an unwavering
trust in God and commitment to God’s way of love. The Lamb has all the strength
of a Lion but shows forth that power with a love that absorbs the worst and
gives forth the best.
Because
Jesus the Lamb has chosen this steadfast faith to God, we see vulnerability
without victimization. Nothing happens to the Lamb that he did not allow and
even invite. Jesus does not die innocently. We might say he “earned” his
slaughter, in the same way that Perpetua, Martin Luther King, or Dietrich
Bonhoeffer earned their martyrdom by an unwavering commitment to God in the face
of the rulers of the earth.
One
commentator on Revelation wants us to read “slaughtered Lamb” not as a noun,
but as a verb. In Jesus, God “slaughtered Lambs” Sin and Death. He shortens
this to sLambs (s-l-a-m-b-s). Jesus sLambs all that stands between us and God.
His worthiness is given to us. The ways of tyrants are exposed as weak. Other
rulers are seen as empty idols. The effects of evil are overcome by his
limitless and gracious mercy. He shows us that love really is the way. The fact
that he has been slaughtered and yet sits on the throne gives us every reason
to know, hope, and trust that all shall be well.
For
us to dare to follow this Lamb and sing that he is worthy of all power, glory,
and honor, we have to root ourselves in worship in order to retrain and unlearn
our assumptions and preferences. In worshiping as a beloved community, we gain
the courage and trust to know that we proclaim this worthiness not alone, by
with myriads of brothers and sisters. And we strive and aspire to lead lives
that are Lamb-like, lives about witnessing to the power and strength that come
from walking in the way of love no matter what is coming at us. A prayer that many
use is “O Lamb of God, grant us your peace.” Give that a try this week and know
the love of the Lamb at the center of all things who was slain for us and our salvation.
