This morning, we come to the conclusion of the sermon series on Revelation in the season of Easter. Yes, Easter does have one more Sunday in it, but I’m not going to be here next Sunday. You all know that it’s been a long two years. Public school teachers and hospital physicians and nurses have borne the brunt of this pandemic, but it hasn’t been a walk in the park for clergy and church program staff either. Due to the uncertainty caused by the Omicron surge back in January, I decided, again, to delay taking a sabbatical for another year. But I know that I need some rest. I had planned to go to a monastery for some quiet time; apparently, a lot of people had that same idea because it was all booked up. So I’ll be taking the train up to Washington on Saturday to spend a day in prayer at the Cathedral, to visit the African American Museum, to visit friends, and to worship next Sunday at the first church I served. I mention all of this because some of you have told me that you hope that I’m taking care of myself and getting some rest. Truly, I appreciate your care and concern for me. So all this is to say, I am looking forward to some rest and today’s sermon will wrap up the series on Revelation.
As
a very short summary, over these past several weeks we’ve seen how Revelation
is resistance literature – meaning it was written by an oppressed people to an
oppressed people to give encouragement and resilience in the face of adversity.
The cause of this confidence and comfort is the superhero of Revelation: the
Lamb. The Lamb is a symbol for Jesus Christ who was slaughtered and through his
death shows us that love is more effective than violence and more enduring than
death. In today’s passage from Revelation, we hear of the connection of this
hope to the Lamb as he is described as a lamp. The Lamb is a lamp.
Before
getting to this more fully though – I wouldn’t blame you for being a bit
disappointed in this sermon series. You were promised preaching on the book of
Revelation – where are the beasts, dragons, and lakes of fire, you might ask.
The way the lectionary, which is the cycle of readings that we, along with most
denominations follow, works is that we read a bit from chapters 1, 5, 7, 19, 21,
and 22 of Revelation. That means we skipped over the middle chapters which are
where some of the stuff you were probably expecting to hear about is found.
There
are two reasons for this omission. For one, the lectionary’s goal is not to
cover everything in the Bible. There are only 52 Sundays a year and our
attention span is only so long. You’ve seen how thick a Bible is, there’s just
no way to carve that up into small enough chunks and cover it all. The lectionary
assumes that Christians are reading the Bible outside of Sunday worship, which
may or may not be a good assumption. But the Sunday readings are not a tool for
covering all of Scripture. And given that choices have to be made, the
lectionary often steers clear of passages that might be deemed “too difficult”
in the context of the Sunday gathering.
The
other reason for skipping over those sections with warfare and beasts is that,
in the end, they are but a footnote to the victory of God. If we think Revelation
is a book full of violence, Satanic imagery, and codes to decipher then we’ve gotten
lost in the weeds. And so the lectionary, helpfully, keeps our focus on what matters
most – the victory of the Lamb of God. I would absolutely recommend reading
through all of Revelation, but do so with the vision of chapter 22 in mind.
What
this final chapter says to us is that God will redeem all that has been lost,
heal all that has been broken, and reconcile all that have become estranged. Revelation
shows us that the tree of life is present and is nourished from the abundant waters
of life and produces fruit for healing all year long. Peace is never out of
season, love is never caught up in supply chain issues, mercy never has a
shortage. This vision is what Revelation shows the faithful that God has in store
and what has already been purchased through the blood of the Lamb. Though
weeping may spend the night, joy comes in the morning. So when we are facing
beasts and plagues, we have hope in knowing that story is not over until the
light of God’s grace shines on all.
In
today’s reading, we heard “There will be no more night; they need no light of
lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever
and ever” and that the source of this light is the Lamb. Here, Revelation is drawing
heavily from Isaiah 60, which, in part, says “Arise, shine, for your light has
come... For behold, darkness covers the land… But over you the Lord will rise, the
sun will no more be your light by day; by night you will not need the
brightness of the moon. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God
will be your glory.” As I’ve said previously, Revelation isn’t about predicting
the future. If we want to understand Revelation we don’t look to the news in
the New York Times, but rather to the promises of God in the Old Testament. Revelation
isn’t about helping us to understand the present, it’s about helping us to
understand eternity.
This
is where the Lamb being our lamp matters so much. It is from him that the light
of truth emanates. A favorite CS Lewis quote is “I believe in Christianity as I
believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I
see everything else.” This is what Jesus does – he is the prism through which
we view all things so that we can see that love is the grain of the universe,
that grace is abundant, that all shall be well. What might our lives, our
church, our community look like if we let Jesus be our lamp?
Revelation
says nations and peoples will be guided by the light of Christ. As the Church
and sheep in the flock of our Good Shepherd, we are mirrors of this light. At
our best, we reflect this light of Christ. This is what “come and see” is all
about. Today, on Youth Sunday at St. Luke’s, this light is what we see in the
ministry of our youth which we celebrate today. We are so proud of the children
and youth of this parish and we thank God for the ways in which the future
shines brightly because of the movement of the Holy Spirit in their faith.
The
book of Revelation ends, but it doesn’t do so with what we might call a
conclusion. Rather, it gives us a paradigm shift to see things more deeply,
truly, and beautifully. Next Sunday, we will hear the final words of Jesus in
Revelation: “Surely I am coming soon” with the response of faith “Amen. Come,
Lord Jesus!” Those are the words of faith – Come, Lord Jesus. Come and bring heaven
to earth. Come and bring the radiance of your kingdom. Come and guide us by the
light of your truth. Come and grant us your peace which passes all
understanding. Come and help us to become your beloved community. Come and help
us to see the difference that Christ makes.
