6 Easter Yr C

We’ve been listening to John’s visions in Revelation, and we’ve compared those visions to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Scrooge says as he is accompanied by the Phantom who shows him his grave, ‘Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead.’ But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me.’ One of the purposes of John’s Revelation is to effect transformation in us, to wake us up, to show us the results when nations continue to bow down to idols. Today’s passage from Revelation shows us what will be when lives are altered, when lives are transformed. It is a glorious vision.

The vision is of the holy city Jerusalem. Revelation sets the holy city Jerusalem over and against the whore city Babylon, the heart of empire, the heart of addiction to violence, greed, fear, and unjust lifestyle, the heart of whatever holds each of us most captive. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is established right where we are, not somewhere else, not away in the clouds, but right where we are. The glory of God is the city’s light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light. And what’s more, the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city, and the leaves on the tree of life are for the healing of the nations.

The book of Revelation was born out of a time when people who followed Jesus had to live under cover. Worship of the gods was proscribed by the Roman Empire. Empire and worship were one and the same. The book of Revelation gave hope in that context, and describes the community that Jesus has set up on earth that is an alternative to empire. These were people who would gather and sing songs to God and to the Lamb, to share stories and to break bread in remembrance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They came together around a radical and transforming vision of the joyful reign of God. In this letter from John this community heard a call to faithfulness, a call to renew their love for one another. They heard the promise that they would be victorious, provided that they resist the seductions of the empire. Signs and portents of revelation worked to wake up the people to change, to wake them up so that they could resist the seductions of the empire.

The vision of Revelation gathers the community together beside God’s riverside, to drink of its water of life, to find shelter beside God’s majestic tree of life with its healing leaves. As you read these verses in Revelation chapters 21-22, imagine yourself walking into this city through its open gates, exploring the landscape that the angel unfolds before you. You are safe at last. You are beloved.

I know that the truth of our lives here and now is that the seductions are powerful. The seduction of greed, of exclusion, and of self-importance is powerful indeed. Chapter 21 in Revelation speaks specifically to the healing of all nations through the leaves of the tree of life. There is much in Revelation that some have used to dominate and to create a culture of fear. The theory that some know as the rapture is clearly a misinterpretation of the message of Revelation. The call to transformation and to reconciliation and healing is clear in Revelation. The call to turn away from violence, to turn away from greed, to turn away from exclusion, to turn toward peace, to turn toward generosity, to turn toward inclusion is mighty powerful. God’s holy city provides enough food for all, in God’s holy city all hunger is satisfied.

Given this interpretation of Revelation, that Revelation offers hope and freedom, nourishment and sustenance in a culture of greed, violence, and narcissism, I ask you this question. How does this speak to your deepest hunger? How does this speak to the deepest hunger of our world? I think we spend our lives yearning and searching for nourishment, for something that resembles the holy city that is described in Revelation. Our search takes us by way of false nourishment. Like eating potato chips instead of potatoes, or candy instead of fruits and vegetables. We look for satisfaction in places that can only offer us momentary delight. But when we look away from God to satisfy our hunger, we continue to go away hungry.

Gathered at the riverside, God’s people, you and I, have tasted life-giving water and manna from heaven. We have glimpsed God’s beloved city. Because of that, everything is different now. Everything and everyone is precious. The challenge is to live our lives according to the story of God’s beloved city, to live in terms of its blessing. We live in freedom, not enslaved by the need to please and perform, but fully and absolutely and abundantly loved by the God who created us, who came into our world to live, suffer, and die as one of us, who rose from the dead, and lives among us, and who will come again to reign here in the company of the creation.

I invite you to respond to the promise of the new creation, the New Jerusalem, it is a summons to be more, to live and love more, to share more because there is so much more that God desires and designed for us. It seems to me that there are at least two views of the religious life. Both acknowledge that this world we share is full of tumults and challenges, of sometimes seismic ups and downs. You know these things, and it seems we have been living through them one after another; earthquakes and volcanoes, oil spills and terrorist bombings. One view of the life of faith assumes that when you come to faith, things settle down, stop shaking, and make sense suddenly. But most of us know that isn’t really the truth of our lives. The other view of faith, however, doesn't promise an end to the tremors but enables you to keep your footing amid them. That’s what Revelation shows us. Christ, the Lamb, in our midst, taking on our sadness and pain, sharing our burden, celebrating our joy.

And it’s not all about any one of us; we live our lives connected to one another. Barbara Rossing reminds us near the end of her book, The Rapture Exposed, that Revelation’s story is about seeing the Lamb beside you in every moment of your life, in the car, at the shopping mall, at work and at school. Revelation is about looking more deeply into God’s picture and seeing how the Lamb is leading you even now into a world of joy and healing.

Alleluia, The Lord is risen indeed: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.