Revelation 3:14-22
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white robes to clothe yourself and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Revelation 3:14-22 (NRSVUE)
What’s your image of Jesus? Perhaps John’s sacrificial Lamb of God in the fourth Gospel? Or maybe that of the story-teller in the Gospel According to Luke whose parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son emphasize God’s love? Those images clash resoundingly with what John of Patmos gives us in this brief passage from his vitriolic diatribe against both the Roman empire and his fellow Christians in the book of Revelation. The words of this John’s Jesus, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth,” leave a bad taste in ours, unsweetened by the description of Laodicea’s Christians as “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” His Jesus’s “I reprove and discipline those whom I love,” is hardly reassuring or loving in the threats that underlie its [i.e., John’s] call for earnest repentance. To put it in very polite terms, John’s Jesus seems far more miffed than forgiving.
So what is wrong with the church in Laodicea, one of the seven churches addressed in the opening chapters of John’s Revelation? Jesus allegedly itemizes for John the failings of each, but we readily recognize that the listings are John’s and not Jesus’s. For John, Laodicea is too lacking in passion, too wishy-washy, too lukewarm, insufficiently fired-up. He ascribes all this complacent self-satisfaction to the people’s wealth and comfortable situation. His words and images seem an attempt to muster up and embody the emotional enthusiasm he would elicit from Laodicea, but this passage isn’t even lukewarm compared to the later, hotter visions that would have God torture, kill, and even re-kill, almost the entirety of humanity. John’s description of Jesus as nauseated by his followers’ reticence in Laodicea might seem a bit over-the-top until we read on in Revelation and realize that a movie version of the book would constitute the ultimate snuff film.
Revelation challenges what we think we know about the Bible and what we think we understand about Jesus and his message. Careful reading reveals far more about John’s hatreds than about Jesus’s love and confronts us with the reality that the Bible is neither infallible nor inerrant. Some Christians would attack such a statement as heresy. If this be heresy, make the most of it. We learn from Jesus, not John of Patmos, that, in Luther’s startling phrase, we are to “Sin boldly,” trusting confidently in God’s grace. Such trust and confidence in God’s infinite love marks and expresses growth in our love for God, the first of the two great commandments.
Questions for Reflection:
- The Alpha class this past winter included an episode that at one point made reference to William Holman Hunt’s painting “The Light of the World.” The artwork illustrates Rev 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" [KJV]. It shows Jesus knocking outside a door that can be opened only from the inside. The video voice makes the obvious point that Jesus is waiting for us to respond to his knock. How does this square with your understanding of God’s action in the Incarnation? How does Hunt’s painting differ from Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven” from roughly the same era portraying Jesus in hot pursuit of lost humanity? Does God love those who reject him? And what is implied by our answer to that question?
Prayer:
Lord, we read the scriptures and ponder the words. We seek answers, but each answer brings only more questions. We are confronted again and again by the knowable/unknowable You. We see Jesus, who when asked a question responded almost invariably with another question or a parable that raised still more questions. We ask for patience, Lord. And we trust in your grace.
Amen.
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