(A sermon based on Revelation 15 & 16 for Sunday, August 30, 2009)
In the Bible, the bowl or cup is a stock symbol of judgment so it is appropriate that the last series of visions that John has employs the symbol of the bowl. We should see the visions of the seven bowls as parallel with the earlier visions of the seven seals and the seven trumpets. They describe more or less the same kinds of events, namely, God’s judgments on the false gods of the world and on the people of the world who worship those gods. One difference with the judgments pictured by the bowls is that they appear to be more complete and final than those we have witnessed up to now; that fact communicates that the time is coming when the judgments of God will be completed and there will be no more chances for repentance.
We should keep in mind the main messages that the book of Revelation is trying to communicate. The primary message is that God is working God’s purposes out. If God is working God’s purposes out, then God’s people can confidently believe that God will deliver them and save them. Moreover, if God is working God’s purposes out, then God’s people can confidently believe that justice will be done. The world powers and the world citizens who continually deny the reality of God and who try to create their own reality will inevitably be judged by God.
Those messages were meant first for the Christians in the churches of Asia Minor at the end of the first century. Those persecuted Christians who lived with the constant temptation of giving in to emperor worship and to other forms of idolatry needed to know that if they held on God would finally deliver them and would finally punish their oppressors.
So on one level the vision of the seven bowls signifies that Rome and its cohorts would be judged for their actions against God’s people. On another level, the vision reveals that God always, in every period of history, judges such oppressive, egotistical, and power-hungry institutions and people. On a final level, the vision affirms that in the end, God will finally judge all such powers that have opposed God.
All of the talk in these two chapters about plagues and seas reminds us that we are in the middle of an exodus—not the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt but the church’s exodus from the oppressing world. Just like Israel did after crossing the sea and seeing the Egyptians drowned in the sea, so does the church triumphant sing a song beside the crystal sea. Only now it is both the “song of Moses . . . and the song of the Lamb.”
John has the martyrs mainly in mind but he is probably also thinking of all who have died in their faith without giving in to the worship of the beast. In his day, he would have meant those who did not worship the emperor. In any day, he means those who do not sell themselves out to the vain promises of the world. Notice that the focus of the song is on what God has done, not on what the believers have done.
Great and amazing are your deeds,
Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations!
Lord, who will not fear
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your judgments have been revealed (15:3-4).
Everything for which we have to give praise is something for which we should praise God. When we persevere, when we hold on, when we are victorious, it is because of what God has done through Christ in our lives.
The plagues in chapter 16 symbolize the judgment of God on an unbelieving and unrepentant world. Again, they are patterned after the plagues inflicted by God on Egypt during the Exodus; most of the images used here are drawn from the Exodus plagues: sores, water turned to blood, hail, frogs, and darkness. We can profitably comment on the possible meaning of some of these symbols.
For one thing, note that it is those who bear the mark of the beast who are afflicted with sores. To bear the mark of the beast is a symbolic way of saying to have sold your soul to the world. If you bear that mark in your soul, then you will be subject to a tormented conscience and to a troubled spirit.
The turning of the water into blood with the attendant death of marine life could be a reference to economic difficulties. The economic systems of this world that are built on exploitation and that are used to injure God’s people will inevitably fall.
The darkness of the fifth bowl can signify the reality of the sinners’ separation from God.
The “three foul spirits like frogs” that emerge from the mouths of the dragon (Satan), the beast (the Empire), and the false prophet (the second beast which is the local councils that promote Emperor worship) when the contents of the sixth bowl are poured out are interesting. Frogs traditionally represented evil spirits. Moreover, the facts that they engage in meaningless and endless croaking and their function in the vision is to gather people together for their own destruction give us a clue as to their meaning here. They represent the propaganda of the world systems opposed to God. Totalitarian systems are especially skilled at such propaganda, but even in our own setting we sometimes see how a lie that is told skillfully enough and loudly enough and regularly enough can come to be seen as the truth.
In the context of the sixth bowl, John also saw the Euphrates River dried up in preparation for a great battle. In the Bible, God causes waters to dry up and to flood as a part of his judging and delivering activity such as during the Exodus. Also, we know that Cyrus the Persian diverted the waters of the Euphrates so that he could conquer the city of Babylon in the sixth century BC and a result the Jews were set free from Babylonian Captivity. In a similar way, the Lord is preparing to set his people free from the oppressive world in which we reside.
The place Armageddon literally means “mount of Megiddo.” There is no such thing as a “mount of Megiddo” in Israel; there was, however, a town of Megiddo that was beside the Plain of Esdraelon where many significant battles have taken place. John is using a famous Israelite battleground to symbolize the great conflict between God and Satan, between the forces of good and evil. On one level, the conflict would be acted out one day when Rome would fall to the barbarians. On another level, this conflict is always taking place. On a third level, one day it will culminate in a showdown, though not necessarily a military one, in which Christ and the Church will prove ultimately victorious.
The seventh bowl symbolizes the final judgment, when God will make all things as they are supposed to be. Finally, when Christ returns, all will be made right and God’s way and God’s people will be vindicated. The victory that has already been won through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ will be finalized.
As I said at the beginning, the bowl or cup is a symbol of judgment in the Bible. God’s judgment is always being exercised against those who oppose God and God’s will and way. In every generation God’s justice works its way out. Always there are evil and oppressive systems that have to be overcome; it happens when totalitarian aggressors are vanquished and it happens when the structures of racism and prejudice crumble in our own nation and in our own time.
But one day, God’s perfect justice will be accomplished finally and forevermore. When that day comes, God’s people will sing a victory song praising God for what God has accomplished, even as we can sing that song all along the way. Evil will not win; Satan will lose; his servants will be punished eternally. We don’t gloat about what will happen to those who persist forever in rejecting God—but we do praise God for the fact that God’s grace and love are stronger than any other force, and what God is going to accomplish can’t be stopped.
Our lives and all of history are in God’s hands—and God is faithfully working God’s purposes out!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Beasts and the Lamb
(A sermon based on Revelation 13 & 14 for Sunday, August 23, 2009)
When last we visited Revelation, we saw Satan pictured in chapter 12 as a dragon who had been cast down to the earth because he was defeated by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. We were told that the dragon was going to wreak havoc on the earth during the little time that he had left. Chapter 13 tells us about how Satan wreaks that havoc on the earth, and especially upon the saints. In his symbolic world, John sees two beasts that carry out the bidding of Satan. When we think about what John’s words would have meant specifically to the seven churches to which he was writing and what they mean in an ongoing way, we will arrive at a helpful interpretation of this chapter.
The first beast arises out of the sea. The churches of Asia Minor would have understood this beast to be the Roman Empire. They were accustomed to seeing its representatives arriving by ship. The heads of the beast would represent the emperors of Rome. The dragon gave this beast his power; that is, the beast was the embodiment of satanic power. The beast was blasphemous, John says. The blasphemy of the empire was in claiming too much power for itself; the blasphemy of the emperors was in accepting praise as if they were divine. Those who were Christians, whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, were the only ones who would not give in to this idolatry. Still, the empire had power and it was willing to use it. Therefore, Christians ran the risk of being killed for their faith and they would have to endure (v. 10).
What does it mean that “one of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed” (v. 3)? Most scholars relate this picture to a rumor current in the first century. The rumor had it that the emperor Nero, who committed suicide in 63 AD, had come back to life and was waiting to reclaim his empire. That may be the origin of John’s symbol, but I think it more likely that John meant one of two other things. The first possibility is that John means to say that the empire, despite its sometimes seemingly eminent demise, kept bouncing back. Related to that would be that upon the death of an emperor another emperor inevitably took his place. The second possibility is that John is saying that the empire had been struck a fatal blow by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, but that it still continued to function and to exercise Satan’s power. That could be the meaning of the head of the beast having been “healed” of its mortal wound.
The second beast rose out of the earth. It appeared harmless and even positive (“it had two horns like a lamb”) but it was in fact evil and satanic (“it spoke like a dragon”). Verse 12 is the key to understanding the meaning of the second beast: “It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.” Local councils existed in Asia Minor that promoted and enforced emperor worship. The councils could apparently even pull off some pretty amazing religious-looking tricks to promote the worship of the emperor.
The first beast is said to have a “mark.” We are told that no one could buy or sell without having that mark, that the mark is the number or name of the beast, and that the number of the beast is 666. What does all this mean? The number is easily understood. Three sevens would be perfection. In some early Christian tradition, the number of Christ is given as 888, thus even beyond perfection. 666 is less than perfect three times, and thus very bad. Interestingly, when you spell “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew, the numeric value of the name is 666. That could be convenient coincidence. In short, 666 for John and his original readers would have stood for the empire and/or emperor that claimed divinity but fell short of even being decent humanity. We should not envision a literal mark. The meaning is that unless one worshiped and served the emperor he would suffer economic deprivation. Now, it is interesting that coins bore the image of the emperor and also his various titles, including those that claimed divinity. Perhaps that is in the background here.
Also in the background might be the image of the phylactery, those small boxes containing Scripture that Jews would attach to their foreheads or to their wrists, signifying that they served God with all their minds and with all their actions. The meaning then would be that to bear the “mark of the beast” meant to serve him with the kind of dedication that should be reserved for God alone.
Today, of course, we don’t have to worry about the Roman Empire. But we do still have to be aware of the power of the devil and of the ways that he uses the powers of the earth to do his bidding. We don’t have to fear the power of the devil, because our Lord has defeated him. But we do have to take seriously his activity during these, his last days.
There are still worldly powers that serve him. When powers or structures or institutions or individuals or economics demand more allegiance of people than is rightly theirs, then we have the beasts in our midst. When people put other allegiances before their loyalty to God, when they sell their souls to gain an economic advantage, then we have the beasts in our midst. Rome’s not a problem, but the beasts surely are, because Satan surely is.
Still, those who have trusted in Christ are safe and secure. Moreover, they can trust in the just judgments of God. Those are the main teachings of chapter 14.
At the beginning of chapter 14, John sees the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion, accompanied by the 144,000 who bear both the Lamb’s name and the Father’s name on their foreheads. Bearing the names means the same thing as their having been sealed in chapter 7 meant. They are identified with the Lord and he makes them safe. These 144,000 represent all those Christians who persevere and who claim Christ’s victory.
The symbolism of their being “virgins” (v. 4) means that they have been faithful to the Lord and have not committed adultery by worshipping the emperor or any other false gods. The Lamb who is Jesus Christ is always with his faithful ones, and one day he will return to take all his faithful ones home to be with him, and he will execute judgment on those who have served the world and its beasts rather than God.
For the most part, the remainder of chapter 14 proclaims and pictures the great future judgment of God upon the ungodly and the wicked. John portrays the judgment in very graphic terms, all of which are meant to underscore the seriousness of the matter. When the Lamb comes, when Jesus Christ returns, then those who have trusted in Christ and have followed him will know for all eternity the blessings that already begin when a believer dies in her faith. But those who have rejected the Lord for all their lives will spend all eternity apart from God, punished for all time as the consequence for the choice they consistently made.
Embedded in these verses of judgment are some very beautiful words: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them’” (14:13). We can endure anything! We can live through anything! We can suffer anything! We can persevere through anything! Why? Because we know that the Lamb is stronger than any beast. We know that in the end, God will win his victory and will make everything as it ought to be. We know that we can die in the Lord and that we can rest forever from earthly toil.
We know in whom we have we believed: the crucified, resurrected, and returning Lamb of God.
When last we visited Revelation, we saw Satan pictured in chapter 12 as a dragon who had been cast down to the earth because he was defeated by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. We were told that the dragon was going to wreak havoc on the earth during the little time that he had left. Chapter 13 tells us about how Satan wreaks that havoc on the earth, and especially upon the saints. In his symbolic world, John sees two beasts that carry out the bidding of Satan. When we think about what John’s words would have meant specifically to the seven churches to which he was writing and what they mean in an ongoing way, we will arrive at a helpful interpretation of this chapter.
The first beast arises out of the sea. The churches of Asia Minor would have understood this beast to be the Roman Empire. They were accustomed to seeing its representatives arriving by ship. The heads of the beast would represent the emperors of Rome. The dragon gave this beast his power; that is, the beast was the embodiment of satanic power. The beast was blasphemous, John says. The blasphemy of the empire was in claiming too much power for itself; the blasphemy of the emperors was in accepting praise as if they were divine. Those who were Christians, whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, were the only ones who would not give in to this idolatry. Still, the empire had power and it was willing to use it. Therefore, Christians ran the risk of being killed for their faith and they would have to endure (v. 10).
What does it mean that “one of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed” (v. 3)? Most scholars relate this picture to a rumor current in the first century. The rumor had it that the emperor Nero, who committed suicide in 63 AD, had come back to life and was waiting to reclaim his empire. That may be the origin of John’s symbol, but I think it more likely that John meant one of two other things. The first possibility is that John means to say that the empire, despite its sometimes seemingly eminent demise, kept bouncing back. Related to that would be that upon the death of an emperor another emperor inevitably took his place. The second possibility is that John is saying that the empire had been struck a fatal blow by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, but that it still continued to function and to exercise Satan’s power. That could be the meaning of the head of the beast having been “healed” of its mortal wound.
The second beast rose out of the earth. It appeared harmless and even positive (“it had two horns like a lamb”) but it was in fact evil and satanic (“it spoke like a dragon”). Verse 12 is the key to understanding the meaning of the second beast: “It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.” Local councils existed in Asia Minor that promoted and enforced emperor worship. The councils could apparently even pull off some pretty amazing religious-looking tricks to promote the worship of the emperor.
The first beast is said to have a “mark.” We are told that no one could buy or sell without having that mark, that the mark is the number or name of the beast, and that the number of the beast is 666. What does all this mean? The number is easily understood. Three sevens would be perfection. In some early Christian tradition, the number of Christ is given as 888, thus even beyond perfection. 666 is less than perfect three times, and thus very bad. Interestingly, when you spell “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew, the numeric value of the name is 666. That could be convenient coincidence. In short, 666 for John and his original readers would have stood for the empire and/or emperor that claimed divinity but fell short of even being decent humanity. We should not envision a literal mark. The meaning is that unless one worshiped and served the emperor he would suffer economic deprivation. Now, it is interesting that coins bore the image of the emperor and also his various titles, including those that claimed divinity. Perhaps that is in the background here.
Also in the background might be the image of the phylactery, those small boxes containing Scripture that Jews would attach to their foreheads or to their wrists, signifying that they served God with all their minds and with all their actions. The meaning then would be that to bear the “mark of the beast” meant to serve him with the kind of dedication that should be reserved for God alone.
Today, of course, we don’t have to worry about the Roman Empire. But we do still have to be aware of the power of the devil and of the ways that he uses the powers of the earth to do his bidding. We don’t have to fear the power of the devil, because our Lord has defeated him. But we do have to take seriously his activity during these, his last days.
There are still worldly powers that serve him. When powers or structures or institutions or individuals or economics demand more allegiance of people than is rightly theirs, then we have the beasts in our midst. When people put other allegiances before their loyalty to God, when they sell their souls to gain an economic advantage, then we have the beasts in our midst. Rome’s not a problem, but the beasts surely are, because Satan surely is.
Still, those who have trusted in Christ are safe and secure. Moreover, they can trust in the just judgments of God. Those are the main teachings of chapter 14.
At the beginning of chapter 14, John sees the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion, accompanied by the 144,000 who bear both the Lamb’s name and the Father’s name on their foreheads. Bearing the names means the same thing as their having been sealed in chapter 7 meant. They are identified with the Lord and he makes them safe. These 144,000 represent all those Christians who persevere and who claim Christ’s victory.
The symbolism of their being “virgins” (v. 4) means that they have been faithful to the Lord and have not committed adultery by worshipping the emperor or any other false gods. The Lamb who is Jesus Christ is always with his faithful ones, and one day he will return to take all his faithful ones home to be with him, and he will execute judgment on those who have served the world and its beasts rather than God.
For the most part, the remainder of chapter 14 proclaims and pictures the great future judgment of God upon the ungodly and the wicked. John portrays the judgment in very graphic terms, all of which are meant to underscore the seriousness of the matter. When the Lamb comes, when Jesus Christ returns, then those who have trusted in Christ and have followed him will know for all eternity the blessings that already begin when a believer dies in her faith. But those who have rejected the Lord for all their lives will spend all eternity apart from God, punished for all time as the consequence for the choice they consistently made.
Embedded in these verses of judgment are some very beautiful words: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them’” (14:13). We can endure anything! We can live through anything! We can suffer anything! We can persevere through anything! Why? Because we know that the Lamb is stronger than any beast. We know that in the end, God will win his victory and will make everything as it ought to be. We know that we can die in the Lord and that we can rest forever from earthly toil.
We know in whom we have we believed: the crucified, resurrected, and returning Lamb of God.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Messiness of Mercy
My late mother was, according to the testimony of many whose perspective is much more unbiased than mine, one of the finest Christians you could have ever wanted to know, but she nonetheless provided me with a very good example of how messy mercy can be.
One Sunday night, during one of the inter-tribal conflicts that unfortunately characterized the life of the church of my childhood, my father, as a good deacon should, stepped in between our pastor and a woman who was berating him which gave the lady the opportunity to turn her berating skills upon my father who, although he possessed a temper himself, just stood there smiling and taking it. I, along with others, was an eye witness to the whole episode.
The following Wednesday night, on which was scheduled—rather ironically I thought—our church’s monthly fellowship supper, I and the rest of the folks who were there, including my good mother, watched in fascination as my father and the berating lady came walking across the church yard, their arms around each other, smiling and laughing and obviously reveling in their newly negotiated rapprochement.
The next day, as I joined my mother in her daily visit with her mother and my grandmother on Granny’s front porch, my good Christian mother—and I’m not being ironic in describing her that way—offered her assessment of my father’s act of mercy: “I could have killed him.”
To her way of thinking, Daddy’s extension of mercy to and embrace in mercy of the one who had offended and hurt him as his response to the mess that the offense and hurt had created was a scandal that created more mess.
Mercy is messy.
I thought about that story as I contemplated the decision of Scottish authorities to release on humanitarian grounds Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 on 270 counts of murder in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 and who is reportedly suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Understandably, Megrahi’s release has raised a storm of protest, particularly in the United States which was home to 189 of the victims of the terrorist attack; the anger over his release has been exacerbated by images of the hero’s welcome that Megrahi received upon his arrival in Libya.
In a BBC story on the release, Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is quoted as saying, "Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.” “But, MacAskill continued, “that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."
MacAskill went on to say, "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available. For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that…Megrahi…be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."
It is my understanding that some people believe that Megrahi was wrongly convicted (he maintains his innocence) and that some believe that others were involved and that he should not have been the sole one punished. I have also heard some speculation about the politics behind the release, which goes something like this: Libyan leader Mohammar Qaddafi has in recent years been much better behaved and has in effect begun to play ball with the community of nations by ceasing sponsorship of terrorism and by ending his quest for nuclear capability and it is thus in the best interests of diplomacy to help him when possible and this release is a public relations coup for him in Libya.
But the Scottish Justice Secretary’s public pronouncements have focused on compassion as the motive for Megrahi’s release and I will take him at his word that the release was an expression of mercy.
If so, it underscores the truth that mercy is messy.
I want to be very clear about something here: I am my mother’s son and, if I had a relative who was killed on Pan Am Flight 103 my feelings toward the Scottish government would likely mimic those that my mother expressed toward my father when he exhibited mercy. I confess my own sense of outrage that, if Megrahi was in fact guilty of playing any role in the killing of so many of my countrymen and of so many citizens of other nations, he has now been shown mercy where he showed none; I admit my anger that justice has not been done.
I wonder, though, what such attitudes say about my Christian character and about my Christian commitments; I wonder what they say about the quality of my following of Jesus Christ and about the effect or lack of effect that the presence of the grace, love, and Spirit of God in my life have had. While how I feel about the release of Mr. Megrahi, who did me no personal wrong, may make little difference, what do my feelings about the mercy shown to him reveal about my desire and about my willingness—even about my capability—to show mercy toward someone who has directly hurt or wronged me?
Such thoughts bother me because I am supposed to be a Christian—I’m even supposed to be a Christian pastor.
I am not even attributing the Scottish government’s decision to Christian motives because I don’t know that such motives stand behind the decision; besides, I have elsewhere made the case that a nation state cannot be expected to be Christ-like in its policies, particularly related to affairs with other nations, because such an approach would be suicidal to a nation given the state of things in the world.
But I and other people who worship, serve, and follow Jesus Christ are supposed to exhibit Christ-like attitudes and actions in our lives and there is simply no way around the fact that one of the primary characteristics of God as God is revealed in Jesus is mercy; therefore, one of our primary characteristics should be mercy.
It is easier—and neater--to live our lives always insisting on justice; it is easier—and neater—to live our lives always insisting that people must get what they deserve; it is easier—and neater—to live our lives always insisting that that the letter of the law be followed and that every wrong must be righted.
It is harder—and messier—to live our lives showing mercy; it is harder—and messier—to live our lives always insisting that people must be forgiven; it is harder—and messier—to live our lives insisting that grace must be shown.
Is it possible? Is it possible for me? Is it possible for you?
I think of those Amish folk who expressed forgiveness for the man who murdered their little girls back in 2006 and I say, “Maybe.”
I think of a story I heard years ago about a family who, when their daughter was killed by a drunk driver, brought that young man into their home because, they said, there was no sense in two lives being destroyed by what had happened and I say, "Maybe."
Messy. Mercy is messy. It stirs up so much trouble, so much resistance, so much anger, so much fear, and so much misunderstanding. But perhaps it also stirs up so much more mercy—which of course only stirs up more mess.
It was Jesus who said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” It was Jesus who lived exhibiting perfect mercy. And it was Jesus who died on the cross for our sins so that, as we live our lives and when we face the judgment, it will be the mess of mercy and not the order of justice that defines our destiny.
Is there anyone out there who will join me in this prayer: “O God, let me in my life show such mercy that I make a big, big, big mess; cause me in my life to be part of the mess that your mercy makes”?
One Sunday night, during one of the inter-tribal conflicts that unfortunately characterized the life of the church of my childhood, my father, as a good deacon should, stepped in between our pastor and a woman who was berating him which gave the lady the opportunity to turn her berating skills upon my father who, although he possessed a temper himself, just stood there smiling and taking it. I, along with others, was an eye witness to the whole episode.
The following Wednesday night, on which was scheduled—rather ironically I thought—our church’s monthly fellowship supper, I and the rest of the folks who were there, including my good mother, watched in fascination as my father and the berating lady came walking across the church yard, their arms around each other, smiling and laughing and obviously reveling in their newly negotiated rapprochement.
The next day, as I joined my mother in her daily visit with her mother and my grandmother on Granny’s front porch, my good Christian mother—and I’m not being ironic in describing her that way—offered her assessment of my father’s act of mercy: “I could have killed him.”
To her way of thinking, Daddy’s extension of mercy to and embrace in mercy of the one who had offended and hurt him as his response to the mess that the offense and hurt had created was a scandal that created more mess.
Mercy is messy.
I thought about that story as I contemplated the decision of Scottish authorities to release on humanitarian grounds Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2001 on 270 counts of murder in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 and who is reportedly suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Understandably, Megrahi’s release has raised a storm of protest, particularly in the United States which was home to 189 of the victims of the terrorist attack; the anger over his release has been exacerbated by images of the hero’s welcome that Megrahi received upon his arrival in Libya.
In a BBC story on the release, Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is quoted as saying, "Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.” “But, MacAskill continued, “that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."
MacAskill went on to say, "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available. For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that…Megrahi…be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."
It is my understanding that some people believe that Megrahi was wrongly convicted (he maintains his innocence) and that some believe that others were involved and that he should not have been the sole one punished. I have also heard some speculation about the politics behind the release, which goes something like this: Libyan leader Mohammar Qaddafi has in recent years been much better behaved and has in effect begun to play ball with the community of nations by ceasing sponsorship of terrorism and by ending his quest for nuclear capability and it is thus in the best interests of diplomacy to help him when possible and this release is a public relations coup for him in Libya.
But the Scottish Justice Secretary’s public pronouncements have focused on compassion as the motive for Megrahi’s release and I will take him at his word that the release was an expression of mercy.
If so, it underscores the truth that mercy is messy.
I want to be very clear about something here: I am my mother’s son and, if I had a relative who was killed on Pan Am Flight 103 my feelings toward the Scottish government would likely mimic those that my mother expressed toward my father when he exhibited mercy. I confess my own sense of outrage that, if Megrahi was in fact guilty of playing any role in the killing of so many of my countrymen and of so many citizens of other nations, he has now been shown mercy where he showed none; I admit my anger that justice has not been done.
I wonder, though, what such attitudes say about my Christian character and about my Christian commitments; I wonder what they say about the quality of my following of Jesus Christ and about the effect or lack of effect that the presence of the grace, love, and Spirit of God in my life have had. While how I feel about the release of Mr. Megrahi, who did me no personal wrong, may make little difference, what do my feelings about the mercy shown to him reveal about my desire and about my willingness—even about my capability—to show mercy toward someone who has directly hurt or wronged me?
Such thoughts bother me because I am supposed to be a Christian—I’m even supposed to be a Christian pastor.
I am not even attributing the Scottish government’s decision to Christian motives because I don’t know that such motives stand behind the decision; besides, I have elsewhere made the case that a nation state cannot be expected to be Christ-like in its policies, particularly related to affairs with other nations, because such an approach would be suicidal to a nation given the state of things in the world.
But I and other people who worship, serve, and follow Jesus Christ are supposed to exhibit Christ-like attitudes and actions in our lives and there is simply no way around the fact that one of the primary characteristics of God as God is revealed in Jesus is mercy; therefore, one of our primary characteristics should be mercy.
It is easier—and neater--to live our lives always insisting on justice; it is easier—and neater—to live our lives always insisting that people must get what they deserve; it is easier—and neater—to live our lives always insisting that that the letter of the law be followed and that every wrong must be righted.
It is harder—and messier—to live our lives showing mercy; it is harder—and messier—to live our lives always insisting that people must be forgiven; it is harder—and messier—to live our lives insisting that grace must be shown.
Is it possible? Is it possible for me? Is it possible for you?
I think of those Amish folk who expressed forgiveness for the man who murdered their little girls back in 2006 and I say, “Maybe.”
I think of a story I heard years ago about a family who, when their daughter was killed by a drunk driver, brought that young man into their home because, they said, there was no sense in two lives being destroyed by what had happened and I say, "Maybe."
Messy. Mercy is messy. It stirs up so much trouble, so much resistance, so much anger, so much fear, and so much misunderstanding. But perhaps it also stirs up so much more mercy—which of course only stirs up more mess.
It was Jesus who said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” It was Jesus who lived exhibiting perfect mercy. And it was Jesus who died on the cross for our sins so that, as we live our lives and when we face the judgment, it will be the mess of mercy and not the order of justice that defines our destiny.
Is there anyone out there who will join me in this prayer: “O God, let me in my life show such mercy that I make a big, big, big mess; cause me in my life to be part of the mess that your mercy makes”?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Health Care as Moral Drama | Politics | ReligionDispatches
It seems to me that some helpful thoughts may be embedded here about what drives some religious conservatives always to be battling and attacking, as with some Southern Baptist leadership who seem, having divested themselves of the "moderate threat," to always be looking for some other threat.
Health Care as Moral Drama | Politics | ReligionDispatches
Shared via AddThis
Health Care as Moral Drama | Politics | ReligionDispatches
Shared via AddThis
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Link to FactCheck.org
I've added a link to FactCheck.org at the bottom of the left-hand column of this blog. If you are like I am, you don't have time to ferret out misinformation and that site seems a reliable source for such ferreting.
New Post at The Jesus Lens
Go to The Jesus Lens to read and comment on my first shot at reading a book of the Hebrew Bible through the Jesus lens.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Victory!
(A sermon based on Revelation 12 for Sunday, August 16, 2009)
Here we have clear evidence that the book of Revelation is not a chronological presentation of the unfolding of events. For here in the middle of the book, at chapter 12, we have a symbolic presentation of the meaning of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, a life and ministry that predated the writing of the book of Revelation. The reasons that John emphasizes that past event are clear. First, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are absolutely foundational and crucial to everything that we are and do as Christians. Second, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were important to the generation of Christians to whom John was writing because his victory was the basis for their victory.
The symbolism in this chapter is very powerful. John sees “portents,” or signs. One is a woman, the other is a dragon. The woman represents the people of God. That is, she represents the faithful and believing people of God who expected, longed for, and finally produced the Messiah. Her birth pangs and her agony of giving birth picture the difficulties that God’s people went through as the coming of the Messiah was awaited. The dragon represents Satan. The seven heads and ten horns represent the kingdoms and earthly powers through which Satan does his work of persecuting Christians.
In the thought world of Revelation, as in other places in the Bible, what happens on earth to God’s people has a heavenly counterpart. That is the probable meaning of v. 4, “his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” Obviously, a third of the stars of heaven cannot be thrown to the earth. A collision with just one large asteroid would irreparably harm our planet; collision with one small star would obliterate it. The stars represent the angelic counterparts of God’s people. When God’s people are persecuted, it has effects even in heaven.
So Satan persecuted and assailed the people of God with the goal of stopping the ministry of the Messiah. He wanted to “devour” the child. This could be referring to the attempts of Herod to have the child Jesus killed. More likely it includes that event but is not limited to it. Satan did everything he could to stop Jesus from doing what he came to do. But Satan could not stop his birth, he could not stop his life, and he could not stop his ministry. Finally, Satan thought that he had won because his forces, the oppressive forces of Jesus’ day, executed Jesus. But he was resurrected and ascended to heaven, and there was nothing Satan could do about it. Defeat was turned into victory. The Messiah took his rightful place because of his victorious death and resurrection.
Meanwhile, “the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days” (v. 6). Like Israel of old fled into the wilderness to escape the persecution of the Egyptians, so here the wilderness stands for the protection of the church. So the woman going into the wilderness paints the same picture as the sealing of the 144,000 and the measuring of the temple. God’s people are protected from ultimate spiritual harm. “One thousand two hundred sixty days” is the symbolic number for the entire period of persecution, or the entire period of Christian history.
Satan, of course, did not like the fact that Jesus Christ had won the victory despite Satan’s best efforts to stop him. And so “war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” (v. 7). In Jewish writings Michael typically represents Israel. Here he represents the new Israel, the church. The meaning of this symbolic “war” is that Jesus, through his death, put an end to the grounds that Satan had for accusing the people of God.
We must think some about what the role of Satan had been before the time of Christ. He appears in the Old Testament as the accuser of God’s people, trying to find grounds for them to be rejected (see the books of Job and Zechariah). When Revelation says that Satan and his angels have been cast down to the earth, it means to say that he can’t cause trouble for us in heaven so he must do it all on earth now. You see, Jesus has paid the price that we should pay for our sins. Therefore, Satan finally has nothing on us. So, he has no influence in heaven as he once did.
This meaning of the vision is made clear by the proclamation of the “loud voice” in vv. 10-12. Look at what v. 10 says:
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
The authority of Jesus as Messiah was established by all that he did, but especially by his death, resurrection, and ascension. That made our salvation possible and the establishment of the kingdom clear. As a result, Satan has lost his grounds for accusation. We are saved by what Jesus did, and there is nothing Satan can do about that. The words of v. 11 are very important here.
But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death
This is the literal way in which the war in heaven was fought and won. Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross and thereby paid the price for all the sins of which Satan could accuse us. True Christian believers participate in the death of Jesus by their own faithfulness. John speaks here especially of the martyrs who had given and who would give their lives for their faith. But this is important for all of us: we have an adequate and conquering word of testimony when we love Christ more than we love our own lives. Victory over Satan was won by the death of Christ, and it continues to be won when we who belong to Christ live sacrificially to the point of giving our own lives.
Verse 12 continues to explain the meaning of John’s vision in this chapter.
Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!
We have here an explanation for why the devil continues to cause so much trouble for us even when we are Christians. He has been defeated but is still given liberty to wreak havoc here on earth. So, he is going to take full advantage of that time. We sing that “we’ll work ‘til Jesus comes,” but so does Satan—only he means that he will work for himself, trying to torment and persecute Christians for as long as he can. As G. K. Beale has put it,
Christians can be assured that the serpent begins to battle against their bodies only after he has lost the battle over their souls. This expresses one of the major themes of the book: the suffering of Christians is a sign, not of Satan’s victory, but of the saints’ victory over Satan because of their belief in the triumph of the cross, with which their suffering identifies them. [The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), p. 663]
So we should not take Satan’s assaults on us as an indicator that he might win; we should take them as proof that he has lost. Having no authority or rights in heaven, he cannot hurt our souls. He can only hurt our bodies, and such hurt has no eternal consequences.
Verses 13-17 continue the theme of Satan’s persecution of the church and God’s protection of it. Exodus language is employed to say that like God protected Israel from Pharoah, so he will protect the church from the devil. Finally and spiritually, Satan cannot hurt us. During the Exodus God took threatening water and turned it into an instrument of victory. Here God protects the church. What, then, is the meaning of v. 17: “Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.” What does it mean for the “woman” to be protected but for her children to be persecuted? I agree with Beale, who says that the meaning is that the “one heavenly church” cannot finally be conquered, “but the many who individually compose the church can suffer physically from earthly dangers” (p. 677.
When all is said and done, what does this chapter say to us today? After all, I have said that we must look for what is helpful to Christians if we are to find John’s true meaning. Chapter 12 is all about victory. Satan has been defeated. He was defeated by the sacrificial death of our Savior and he continues to be defeated by the sacrificial lives of Christian. By living sacrificially, even being willing to die for our faith, we contribute to the defeat of Satan. He has already lost his heavenly privileges; now, like a pathetic little troublemaker, all he can do is cause earthly powers that oppose the church to harm us physically. Our proper reaction to that is, “So what!” We are ultimately safe and secure in heaven. Today and every day, let us celebrate the victory won by Christ through his blood.
Here we have clear evidence that the book of Revelation is not a chronological presentation of the unfolding of events. For here in the middle of the book, at chapter 12, we have a symbolic presentation of the meaning of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, a life and ministry that predated the writing of the book of Revelation. The reasons that John emphasizes that past event are clear. First, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are absolutely foundational and crucial to everything that we are and do as Christians. Second, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were important to the generation of Christians to whom John was writing because his victory was the basis for their victory.
The symbolism in this chapter is very powerful. John sees “portents,” or signs. One is a woman, the other is a dragon. The woman represents the people of God. That is, she represents the faithful and believing people of God who expected, longed for, and finally produced the Messiah. Her birth pangs and her agony of giving birth picture the difficulties that God’s people went through as the coming of the Messiah was awaited. The dragon represents Satan. The seven heads and ten horns represent the kingdoms and earthly powers through which Satan does his work of persecuting Christians.
In the thought world of Revelation, as in other places in the Bible, what happens on earth to God’s people has a heavenly counterpart. That is the probable meaning of v. 4, “his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” Obviously, a third of the stars of heaven cannot be thrown to the earth. A collision with just one large asteroid would irreparably harm our planet; collision with one small star would obliterate it. The stars represent the angelic counterparts of God’s people. When God’s people are persecuted, it has effects even in heaven.
So Satan persecuted and assailed the people of God with the goal of stopping the ministry of the Messiah. He wanted to “devour” the child. This could be referring to the attempts of Herod to have the child Jesus killed. More likely it includes that event but is not limited to it. Satan did everything he could to stop Jesus from doing what he came to do. But Satan could not stop his birth, he could not stop his life, and he could not stop his ministry. Finally, Satan thought that he had won because his forces, the oppressive forces of Jesus’ day, executed Jesus. But he was resurrected and ascended to heaven, and there was nothing Satan could do about it. Defeat was turned into victory. The Messiah took his rightful place because of his victorious death and resurrection.
Meanwhile, “the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days” (v. 6). Like Israel of old fled into the wilderness to escape the persecution of the Egyptians, so here the wilderness stands for the protection of the church. So the woman going into the wilderness paints the same picture as the sealing of the 144,000 and the measuring of the temple. God’s people are protected from ultimate spiritual harm. “One thousand two hundred sixty days” is the symbolic number for the entire period of persecution, or the entire period of Christian history.
Satan, of course, did not like the fact that Jesus Christ had won the victory despite Satan’s best efforts to stop him. And so “war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” (v. 7). In Jewish writings Michael typically represents Israel. Here he represents the new Israel, the church. The meaning of this symbolic “war” is that Jesus, through his death, put an end to the grounds that Satan had for accusing the people of God.
We must think some about what the role of Satan had been before the time of Christ. He appears in the Old Testament as the accuser of God’s people, trying to find grounds for them to be rejected (see the books of Job and Zechariah). When Revelation says that Satan and his angels have been cast down to the earth, it means to say that he can’t cause trouble for us in heaven so he must do it all on earth now. You see, Jesus has paid the price that we should pay for our sins. Therefore, Satan finally has nothing on us. So, he has no influence in heaven as he once did.
This meaning of the vision is made clear by the proclamation of the “loud voice” in vv. 10-12. Look at what v. 10 says:
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
The authority of Jesus as Messiah was established by all that he did, but especially by his death, resurrection, and ascension. That made our salvation possible and the establishment of the kingdom clear. As a result, Satan has lost his grounds for accusation. We are saved by what Jesus did, and there is nothing Satan can do about that. The words of v. 11 are very important here.
But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death
This is the literal way in which the war in heaven was fought and won. Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross and thereby paid the price for all the sins of which Satan could accuse us. True Christian believers participate in the death of Jesus by their own faithfulness. John speaks here especially of the martyrs who had given and who would give their lives for their faith. But this is important for all of us: we have an adequate and conquering word of testimony when we love Christ more than we love our own lives. Victory over Satan was won by the death of Christ, and it continues to be won when we who belong to Christ live sacrificially to the point of giving our own lives.
Verse 12 continues to explain the meaning of John’s vision in this chapter.
Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!
We have here an explanation for why the devil continues to cause so much trouble for us even when we are Christians. He has been defeated but is still given liberty to wreak havoc here on earth. So, he is going to take full advantage of that time. We sing that “we’ll work ‘til Jesus comes,” but so does Satan—only he means that he will work for himself, trying to torment and persecute Christians for as long as he can. As G. K. Beale has put it,
Christians can be assured that the serpent begins to battle against their bodies only after he has lost the battle over their souls. This expresses one of the major themes of the book: the suffering of Christians is a sign, not of Satan’s victory, but of the saints’ victory over Satan because of their belief in the triumph of the cross, with which their suffering identifies them. [The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), p. 663]
So we should not take Satan’s assaults on us as an indicator that he might win; we should take them as proof that he has lost. Having no authority or rights in heaven, he cannot hurt our souls. He can only hurt our bodies, and such hurt has no eternal consequences.
Verses 13-17 continue the theme of Satan’s persecution of the church and God’s protection of it. Exodus language is employed to say that like God protected Israel from Pharoah, so he will protect the church from the devil. Finally and spiritually, Satan cannot hurt us. During the Exodus God took threatening water and turned it into an instrument of victory. Here God protects the church. What, then, is the meaning of v. 17: “Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.” What does it mean for the “woman” to be protected but for her children to be persecuted? I agree with Beale, who says that the meaning is that the “one heavenly church” cannot finally be conquered, “but the many who individually compose the church can suffer physically from earthly dangers” (p. 677.
When all is said and done, what does this chapter say to us today? After all, I have said that we must look for what is helpful to Christians if we are to find John’s true meaning. Chapter 12 is all about victory. Satan has been defeated. He was defeated by the sacrificial death of our Savior and he continues to be defeated by the sacrificial lives of Christian. By living sacrificially, even being willing to die for our faith, we contribute to the defeat of Satan. He has already lost his heavenly privileges; now, like a pathetic little troublemaker, all he can do is cause earthly powers that oppose the church to harm us physically. Our proper reaction to that is, “So what!” We are ultimately safe and secure in heaven. Today and every day, let us celebrate the victory won by Christ through his blood.
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