The church triumphant
Commentary
A little knowledge can be a dangerous (or at least a humorous) thing. Occasionally people will hear a word or expression whose meaning seems obvious, but actually has a specific, less-than-obvious, technical meaning that leads in a quite different direction. As a result, they will use the expression in inappropriate contexts with quite unintended consequences.
For a number of years I regularly drove past a sign with a theological example of this phenomenon, and it never failed to amuse me. A congregation had chosen to adopt the phrase "The Church Triumphant" as its name. Obviously they had heard the expression used somewhere and thought it captured an important aspect of their mission. In a society that was not only increasingly secular but perhaps also perceived as openly hostile to Christian faith, this congregation refused to feel beaten down or defeated. They would gladly herald their joyous and victorious life to all who passed by. And so they had erected a billboard along a major thoroughfare that read, "The Church Triumphant, Next Exit."
The expression "Church Triumphant" is, of course, one half of the pairing "Church Militant" and "Church Triumphant." The terms have well-established meanings in the long history of Christian theology. The "Church Militant" is that part of the body of Christ in this world, still struggling to realize the fullness of God's reign in cultures and societies distorted by human sin. The "Church Triumphant" is the remainder of the body of Christ already united with God through death. They have in their personal lives triumphed over evil through God's grace, and they are the seal and the promise of God's ultimate triumph over evil.
Each time I saw the sign, "The Church Triumphant, Next Exit," my mischievous mind could not help but conjure an image of a cemetery and chuckle at how far removed that image was from the image of a vibrant and active church that that congregation no doubt had in mind. It also reminded me of the unintentionally ironic line from a song I heard a number of years ago: "But the church triumphant is alive and well."
Yet sometimes even misunderstanding leads the way to insight. After all, the affirmation of belief in the "communion of the saints" in the Apostles' Creed relates to the conviction that the "Church Militant and Triumphant" is together the one body of Christ, united across time in the physical and spiritual realms. All Saints' Sunday is a good time to remind ourselves of the unity of the "Church Militant" and the "Church Triumphant" within the "communion of the saints."
Revelation 7:9-17
One of the sources for the "Church Militant and Triumphant" imagery is no doubt this vision within the Revelation. It expresses the paradoxical idea (in terms of the usual human norms) of people who triumph in death by depicting those who have been martyred during the Apocalypse's period of tribulation ("they who have come out of the great ordeal," v. 14) with palm branches -- symbolic of victory and culturally associated with triumphal processions (e.g., "Palm Sunday"; see John 12:13; 1 Maccabees 13:51; 2 Maccabees 14:4) -- in their hands (v. 9). Like the Lamb whom they worship, this multitude that bears the scars of death has nevertheless conquered and triumphed over its enemies (cf. 5:5-14).
This innumerable multitude "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" represents a clear expansion of those redeemed beyond the "one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel" (7:4). The point is not, however, that there are limits on those redeemed from Israel but not on the redemption of Gentiles. The symbolically representative character of the 144,000 is clear both from the fact that it is the product of 12,000 multiplied by 12 and from delineation of exactly 12,000 sealed from each tribe (vv. 5-8) despite their different relative sizes. Nor should those "sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel" be too quickly identified with the church as a new, spiritual Israel. Quite likely the point of setting side-by-side a definite number "sealed" from Israel with an innumerable multitude "from every nation" is to show that God's consistency in keeping covenant with Israel is proof that God will also keep covenant with those newly brought into relationship with God through the work of Christ.
What unites this innumerable multitude in all its racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity is the common purpose of worshiping the one on "the throne" (a circumlocution for referring to God out of reverence for the divine name) and "the Lamb." Moreover, the mixed mass of humanity is joined in its worship by "all the angels ... the elders and the four living creatures" (vv. 9-12). By focusing on a unity of purpose, the totality of creation is able to join in a single song of praise to the Creator. It is a vision of hope and a model to be followed by all those who seek to build genuine unity that nevertheless respects the rich diversity of God's creation.
One of the characteristic features of Revelation is its construction of images that stand the usual human conceptions and values on their heads. Among these is the assertion that the white robes worn by the redeemed multitude have been made "white in the blood of the Lamb" (v. 14). Then as now, the normal expectation was that blood would permanently stain fabrics. Yet within this vision, blood cleanses the robes rather than fouling them, using blood-soaked garments that would naturally be thought of as symbolic of death as symbols of eternal life instead. Those who have had the spiritual realm unveiled before their eyes come to recognize that the apparent triumph of evil in the world is an illusion, for God ultimately triumphs through what appears to be defeat. God's values overturn the values of a sinful world.
In yet another of these paradoxical images, "the Lamb ... will be their shepherd" (v. 17). Clearly the statement that this shepherd "will guide them to springs of the water of life" is intended to call to mind Psalm 23. But the allusion is triggered by the verbal connections with Psalm 23:1-2, and not limited to them. Just as the Lord shepherds the psalmist through "the valley of the shadow of death" and "prepares a table ... in the presence of ... enemies" (Psalm 23:4-5) so the Lamb has led this multitude through a martyr's death (having suffered the same himself) and into God's eternal presence. The ultimate victory of those who have appeared to be the victims of evil is represented by the absence of hunger, thirst, suffering from harsh natural environments, and even "every tear from their eyes" (vv. 16-17).
1 John 3:1-3
One of the most striking features of this brief passage is how the author still seems somewhat amazed at the greatness of God's love and what it means for us to be the recipients of that love. The enthusiasm of the statement is born out by the somewhat awkward syntax of the Greek: "Behold what love the Father gave to us, so that we might be called God's children -- even we are!" The very awkwardness may account for the absence of that final interjection in some manuscripts, but the exuberance of the author comes through the struggle with inarticulateness. Such love is always amazing, and should never be taken for granted.
This love should also be truly transforming in its effects upon us. It should, the writer maintains, make us as incomprehensible to those dominated by the value system of the world as Jesus himself was (cf. John 1:10). Moreover, this transformation is not just some distant hope. "We are God's children now" (1 John 3:2a), those who recognize this truth "purify themselves, just as Christ is pure" (v. 3).
Yet even though we are already transformed, the transformation is not yet complete. The reason for this on-going change is that we have not yet seen Christ fully revealed. The very process of incarnation has veiled something of the eternal Christ even as it has revealed the divine through human form. Only when we "see him as he is" in the fullness of divine glory (what later theologians would call the "beatific vision" in reflecting on passages such as the companion lectionary text from Revelation) can we become like him and so reveal the complete transformation that God's love is accomplishing in us.
Matthew 5:1-12
Matthew begins the "Sermon on the Mount" with a series of nine beatitudes. Each of these pronouncements begins with the Greek adjective makarios. Traditionally translated into English as "blessed," some more recent translations have sparked mild controversy by rendering the word into English as "happy" or "fortunate." More is at stake in the choice between these competing options than just a concern for a less archaic, more colloquial sounding translation.
Makarios was used in both the common Greek of the period and some instances within the New Testament to describe a favorable emotional state arising from a person's particular circumstances and so would equate with the normal uses of English "happy" or "fortunate" (see as examples Luke 23:29; Acts 26:2; 1 Corinthians 7:40). The more customary use in Greek, however, was as a reference to a favorable emotional state arising from circumstances resulting from divine favor. Within Greco-Roman culture, this use might be associated with the notion of "one on whom fortune has smiled." Within a Jewish or Christian context, however, these circumstances would be associated not with an impersonal "fortune" or "fate," but with circumstances arising from actions on one's behalf by God. It is this origin in divine activity that is marked by the translation into English as "blessed."
The translation issue here in the Beatitudes is determining which of these two uses is intended. As Danker has recently commented, "the transl[ation] 0, the happiness of or hail to those, favored by some ... appears to be exactly right for the Aramaic original (=Hebr[ew] 'ashrey), but scholars have disputed whether it exhausts the content that makarios had in the mouths of G[ree]k-speaking Christians" (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [3rd ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000], 611). In this case, the question is whether the English translation of Matthew should reflect the linguistic character of its Greek text ("blessed") or that of the Aramaic more probably originally spoken by Jesus ("happy," "fortunate").
Within the context of the Beatitudes, however, the English translation "blessed" has more to commend itself than just longstanding tradition. It is clear that the favorable circumstances set out in the explanatory clause of each of these nine affirmations are intended to be understood as the result of divine action. Only God can grant the "kingdom of heaven" to the "poor in spirit" (v. 3) and those "persecuted for righteousness' sake" (v. 10). Notice particularly the use of the passive voice in four of the beatitudes ("will be comforted," v. 4; "will be filled," v. 6; "will be given mercy," v. 7; and "will be called God's children," v. 9). The passive voice was frequently used in early Jewish and Christian writings to avoid explicitly naming God as the one performing an action (the so-called "divine passive") lest one inadvertently "use God's name in vain." If these are affirmations of divine favor, then the use of the English word with that specific connotation ("blessed") is justified, whether or not the Aramaic word may have had that specific meaning.
In terms of relating the Beatitudes to the liturgical context of preaching on All Saints' Day, two points deserve particular attention. As already noted, the second of the beatitudes employs a divine passive construction. To say, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," is a far more specific affirmation than simply that mourners will find some source of comfort either in themselves or in the solace offered to them by others. It is to promise specifically that God will comfort those who mourn. This promise does not diminish the importance of the care that we provide to one another in times of grief and loss, but it does insist that even that comfort is ultimately grounded in God's promise and activity in conquering death. Because this life is not all that there is, there is divine comfort available to us in our mourning.
Secondly, like the passage from Revelation, the Beatitudes overturn conventional human wisdom. They assert a vision of reality in which those who are despised by the world are affirmed as the recipients of divine favor. There are even specific parallels between the promises here in the gospel and the vision related in Revelation. Those who "mourn ... will be comforted" (v. 4) for "God will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17). Those who "hunger and thirst ... will be filled" (v. 6; cf. Revelation 7:16). Those who are "pure in heart ... will see God" (v. 8; cf. Revelation 7:15). Those who have been "persecuted for righteousness' sake" will receive a great reward in heaven (vv. 10-12; cf. Revelation 7:13-14).
Application
The origins of All Saints' Day are rooted in the early Christian practice of remembering and celebrating the lives of the heroes and martyrs of the church on the dates of their deaths. Over the centuries the number of such festivals observed throughout the church and in specific, local regions multiplied to the point that there literally were not enough days in the year to commemorate all the martyrs. Additionally, there was broad consensus that there were many more Christians who deserved to be honored for their faith and service but whose stories had simply been lost to the church. All Saints' Day was established as a general day of commemoration and was associated with November 1 by at least 835 A.D. Since its beginnings, then, All Saints' observance has been about the remembrance of those who have died in the faith.
Yet the core theological conviction of Christianity is belief in the resurrection. There would be no church were it not for the resurrection of Christ as the first fruits assuring the ultimate harvest of all souls united with Christ into God's eternal life (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 20). In whatever context Christians gather to reflect on those who have died in the faith, there must therefore be an emphasis on bearing witness to the resurrection. The final truth regarding every Christian is not the grave, but eternal life in the blessed presence of God.
It is this realization that strips the irony away from the statement that "the church triumphant is alive and well" (even if it doesn't exonerate the songwriter's misunderstanding of the phrase). What has always been most true in the Christian theology of the Church Triumphant is that it is eternally alive with its Lord, "the living one" who "was dead" but is "alive forever and ever" and has "the keys of Death and of Hades" (Revelation 1:18). The ultimate triumph of the Church Triumphant is indeed its victory over death, the ultimate consequence of sin.
The focal point of All Saints' observance then is not really in the past, but in the future. Its proper images are less the fires and tortures of martyrdom, and more the songs of praise sung by the innumerable multitude caught up in the rapture of the beatific vision of God and the Christ. As the Church Militant, we still struggle with the consequences of sin in this world, among them our own grief in mourning for loved ones who have died. Yet as the communion of the saints makes clear, there really is only one church militant and triumphant. And some day we too will change our ranks. Today the battle cry; tomorrow the victor's song.
Alternative Applications
1) 1 John 3:1-3. Much of the Protestant Christian tradition has moved away from the veneration of the saints. Historically this development is rooted in both the positive emphasis of the Reformers upon the "priesthood of all believers" and in their negative reaction against perceived excesses of the formal canonization process in the Roman church. Recently there has been some reassessment of what may have been lost in the liturgical abandonment of iconography and the exemplary function of the saints. In the midst of such debate, this brief passage from 1 John serves as a reminder that whatever may distinguish "all believers" from the "exemplary saints," it is not a result of some being more loved by God than others. We are all "children of God" by virtue of God's great love for us. We need to look to the lives of the great women and men of faith not to find who were God's favorites, but to find models of what it means to be transformed by God's love.
2) Revelation 7:9-17. Part of the vision of the future glory of the church is the unity it finds through worship and song in the midst of its broad diversity. It is more than a little ironic, then, that a number of writers have begun speaking of "worship wars" breaking out in congregations with diverse memberships in terms of age, culture, ethnicity, etc. -- and that these "wars" tend to break out over music styles more than anything else. Maybe the problem is that we have made different forms of worship a part of our identity and self-expression. If worship is going to be a unifying rather than a dividing force, then the focus must be kept on the one who is being worshiped and not on those who are doing the worshiping. Who knows? Maybe if we can get God at the center of worship lives rather than our desires for self-expression we will also be able to unite other aspects of our communal life around God as well.
First Lesson Focus
Revelation 7:9-17
The Book of Revelation is a type of literature known as an apocalypse, a word that means "revealing" or "unveiling." It is one of only two apocalypses in the Old and New Testaments, the other being Daniel. As such, Revelation shares the characteristics of apocalypses. It has the idea of the disclosure of heavenly truth to a seer. It is concerned with the contradiction between God's rule over his creation and the dominance of evil in the world. And it employs highly figurative, imaginative, sometimes almost grotesque symbolism and language that makes it almost incomprehensible to the reader. Above all, Revelation seeks to reveal God's final dealings with evil in a worldwide judgment and his establishment of his kingdom over all the earth.
The book was written by a man named John, a Jewish Christian, who was familiar with the little Christian churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor, and who had been exiled to the tiny island of Patmos off the west coast. He was not the same John who wrote the Gospel by that name, because he refers to the twelve apostles in the past (21:14), and his book probably dates toward the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96). But he had a very particular purpose in writing. At that time, serious and sporadic persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities was taking place in some localities, and John wrote to strengthen the Christian communities and to urge them to hold fast to their faith in the Lord, even to the point of martyrdom and death. Domitian claimed to be Deus et Dominus, God and Lord, and Christians were increasingly pressured to worship him in the emperor cult. Over against worldly Roman power, John saw the triumphant reign of one God in Christ, the panto-krator, the Almighty (1:8), and those Christians who held fast, even in martyrdom, to the Almighty would receive a glorious reward in the kingdom that was coming.
The Book of Revelation, therefore, is a very time-specific book. It is dealing with a particular situation at the end of the first century A.D., and it makes no claim to forecast or prophesy events and their outcomes in our time. It is poor theology to interpret the book as a prophecy for the 21st century. Nevertheless, it can give us a new world-view, as it served to give those first-century Christians.
We tend to view our world in terms of earthly realities. We see the powers of this world as in charge of our lives. The rulers, the politicians, the economists, the military, the multinational corporations, all the principalities and powers of this world are those, we think, who hold our lives in their hands and who have the last say over affairs. But Revelation urges us to look at our world from the standpoint of heaven, from the side of God, who is the Almighty Ruler of heaven and of earth, and who has conquered all earthly powers through his Son Jesus Christ.
In addition, Revelation can give us a new understanding of where history and the faithful are heading. Will the powers and evils of this world reign over all until the very end of history? Does faith finally make no ultimate and eternal difference in the scheme of things?
This is the Sunday when we celebrate the lives of the saints of the church. On this day, we remember all those steadfast souls, known and unknown, who have gone before us, who have fought the good fight and finished the race and kept the faith. Perhaps you remember some of them among your relatives or among the past members of this congregation. But we celebrate not only the saints of the past, but all of those who will come after us, all who will cling in trust and obedience to Jesus Christ and who will persevere in his church to the end of the age. All of them, past and future, suffer the same tribulations and afflictions that every human being knows. Some will or have undergone great trials. Indeed, there are saints throughout the worldwide Christian Church who have been martyrs for their faith and who have been steadfast to the end, much like those martyrs in the first-century Roman Empire. And do all of those faithful witnesses make any difference in the final scheme of life? Have Christians lived in vain?
No, says our text, and it gives us a glorious picture. In Revelation's portrayal, God's final judgment and wrath are about to be worked on the earth. But before the judgment descends, the servants of God, the saints, the faithful, who have persevered even in persecution, are set aside by a protecting seal, and instead of suffering God's judgment on the wicked, they are portrayed in heaven before the throne of God and his Son and surrounded by all the hosts of heaven. They wear the white robes of Christ, who himself was the principal martyr who gave his life for God, and so they celebrate their salvation in Christ with a hymn (v. 10).
But they also enjoy an eternal and blessed fellowship with God and Christ. They hunger no more, nor ever thirst. They suffer no scorching heat. Christ the Lamb dwells in their midst as their Shepherd and guides them to springs of living water. They know no sorrow or death or suffering, for God himself wipes away every tear from their eyes. In short, the saints, the faithful followers of the Almighty, already participate in the joyous life of that new heaven and new earth that God is bringing in his kingdom. The saints you know among your departed loved ones, and all the saints of the church, already share in the goodness of eternity in fellowship with Almighty God. And that will be the destiny of every person present and future, who trusts God and his Son Jesus Christ, even in the direst circumstances.
That blessed circle of saints is not and never will be limited to any one people. Our text says that they make up "a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (v. 9), from Asia and Africa, South America and Europe, Australia and Antarctica, and yes, even from the USA. I have often thought that we may be very surprised, if and when we get to heaven, to see who has made it into that happy realm.
But Revelation is telling us that God's kingdom is coming, that his judgment will do away with every enemy and opposition and evil, and that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Revelation further says that he will reign forever and ever (11:15), for God is Almighty God, the sovereign over every earthly power. And his universal rule will be the final state on this planet. In the light and certainty of that, we celebrate the saints of the church. But you and I and all folk are also called to be among their number.
The Political Pulpit
Revelation 7:9-17
With Election Day this week, a political commentary seems appropriate. We believe faith has something to say to the electoral process. But what is that word for this election?
Those who have read this column over the years know that I share Saint Augustine's cynicism about providing distinct Christian political proposals. Given the state of human sin, the best we can achieve in government is provisional justice, and even that rarely happens. Cast your ballot according to the critera of what best serves justice, not your own special interests.
If your parishioners needed convincing about our sin, the multi-billion dollar business scandals that surfaced with Enron, WorldCom, and others should be sufficient to persuade. These developments and other trends sent the Dow Jones Average and Nasdaq to five-year lows by mid-August. At press time it appears that the economy will be the issue for the midterm Congressional elections, if not in local elections in your area. Which candidates will best facilitate America's (your region's) economic well-being?
Although our faith does not pronounce directly on who to vote for, the universal principle of justice complemented by insights from this Sunday's first lesson can provide some guidelines. The Revelation text provides a vision of unity, of God's plan to gather together human beings from every imaginable background (v. 9) and ensure their material well-being (that they hunger and thirst no more [v. 16]).
With these criteria in view we can ask the candidates about whether their economic proposals will put an end to the corruption, put an end to the accounting shenanigans and present policies that have made it possible for CEOs to become exorbitantly rich while workers lose their jobs and their pensions. Here is some data you can share:
The recent much ballyhooed corporate reform bill is not as tough as it has been marketed to be. Its only real teeth is to forbid accounting firms from doctoring the books by functioning in the dual capacity of auditor of budgets and consultant (usually for fat fees). Two serious irregularities remain legal: (1) Stockholders are limited in their rights to sue companies in which they are invested, even in cases where the company and its board of directors are guilty of fraud and paying executives outrageous salaries; and (2) stock options generously bestowed on CEOs and other executives need not be treated as company expenses. Both of these still legal practices are not in the interests of all God's people, but blatantly favor CEOs and their high-placed administrators. The clout of stockholders remains minimized insofar as their only significant representation is by the corporation's board of directors, most of whose members are holding their well-paid position because of what they can do for the CEO. As for stock options, it not only skews the bottom line, making the company appear more profitable than it is (since the expenses it incurs in giving away stocks to executives do not count). It also means that since CEOs receive so much of their compensation in stocks, they have a strong incentive to increase the value of their company stocks, to manage for the short range, even if at the expense of the labor force or the long-term health of the company.
The majority of representatives and senators have not done much to end these practices. That is not surprising in view of the fact that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, business provides $3 out of every $4 raised by Republicans and $2 out of every $3 for Democrats. Christian criteria direct us to vote for the candidates on the basis of their positions on whether they advocate stricter controls on business and where the contributions come from. Get real about what you can accomplish, though: Analysis rather than advocacy is likely to get you a better hearing, to have more influence on your parishioners.
For a number of years I regularly drove past a sign with a theological example of this phenomenon, and it never failed to amuse me. A congregation had chosen to adopt the phrase "The Church Triumphant" as its name. Obviously they had heard the expression used somewhere and thought it captured an important aspect of their mission. In a society that was not only increasingly secular but perhaps also perceived as openly hostile to Christian faith, this congregation refused to feel beaten down or defeated. They would gladly herald their joyous and victorious life to all who passed by. And so they had erected a billboard along a major thoroughfare that read, "The Church Triumphant, Next Exit."
The expression "Church Triumphant" is, of course, one half of the pairing "Church Militant" and "Church Triumphant." The terms have well-established meanings in the long history of Christian theology. The "Church Militant" is that part of the body of Christ in this world, still struggling to realize the fullness of God's reign in cultures and societies distorted by human sin. The "Church Triumphant" is the remainder of the body of Christ already united with God through death. They have in their personal lives triumphed over evil through God's grace, and they are the seal and the promise of God's ultimate triumph over evil.
Each time I saw the sign, "The Church Triumphant, Next Exit," my mischievous mind could not help but conjure an image of a cemetery and chuckle at how far removed that image was from the image of a vibrant and active church that that congregation no doubt had in mind. It also reminded me of the unintentionally ironic line from a song I heard a number of years ago: "But the church triumphant is alive and well."
Yet sometimes even misunderstanding leads the way to insight. After all, the affirmation of belief in the "communion of the saints" in the Apostles' Creed relates to the conviction that the "Church Militant and Triumphant" is together the one body of Christ, united across time in the physical and spiritual realms. All Saints' Sunday is a good time to remind ourselves of the unity of the "Church Militant" and the "Church Triumphant" within the "communion of the saints."
Revelation 7:9-17
One of the sources for the "Church Militant and Triumphant" imagery is no doubt this vision within the Revelation. It expresses the paradoxical idea (in terms of the usual human norms) of people who triumph in death by depicting those who have been martyred during the Apocalypse's period of tribulation ("they who have come out of the great ordeal," v. 14) with palm branches -- symbolic of victory and culturally associated with triumphal processions (e.g., "Palm Sunday"; see John 12:13; 1 Maccabees 13:51; 2 Maccabees 14:4) -- in their hands (v. 9). Like the Lamb whom they worship, this multitude that bears the scars of death has nevertheless conquered and triumphed over its enemies (cf. 5:5-14).
This innumerable multitude "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" represents a clear expansion of those redeemed beyond the "one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel" (7:4). The point is not, however, that there are limits on those redeemed from Israel but not on the redemption of Gentiles. The symbolically representative character of the 144,000 is clear both from the fact that it is the product of 12,000 multiplied by 12 and from delineation of exactly 12,000 sealed from each tribe (vv. 5-8) despite their different relative sizes. Nor should those "sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel" be too quickly identified with the church as a new, spiritual Israel. Quite likely the point of setting side-by-side a definite number "sealed" from Israel with an innumerable multitude "from every nation" is to show that God's consistency in keeping covenant with Israel is proof that God will also keep covenant with those newly brought into relationship with God through the work of Christ.
What unites this innumerable multitude in all its racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity is the common purpose of worshiping the one on "the throne" (a circumlocution for referring to God out of reverence for the divine name) and "the Lamb." Moreover, the mixed mass of humanity is joined in its worship by "all the angels ... the elders and the four living creatures" (vv. 9-12). By focusing on a unity of purpose, the totality of creation is able to join in a single song of praise to the Creator. It is a vision of hope and a model to be followed by all those who seek to build genuine unity that nevertheless respects the rich diversity of God's creation.
One of the characteristic features of Revelation is its construction of images that stand the usual human conceptions and values on their heads. Among these is the assertion that the white robes worn by the redeemed multitude have been made "white in the blood of the Lamb" (v. 14). Then as now, the normal expectation was that blood would permanently stain fabrics. Yet within this vision, blood cleanses the robes rather than fouling them, using blood-soaked garments that would naturally be thought of as symbolic of death as symbols of eternal life instead. Those who have had the spiritual realm unveiled before their eyes come to recognize that the apparent triumph of evil in the world is an illusion, for God ultimately triumphs through what appears to be defeat. God's values overturn the values of a sinful world.
In yet another of these paradoxical images, "the Lamb ... will be their shepherd" (v. 17). Clearly the statement that this shepherd "will guide them to springs of the water of life" is intended to call to mind Psalm 23. But the allusion is triggered by the verbal connections with Psalm 23:1-2, and not limited to them. Just as the Lord shepherds the psalmist through "the valley of the shadow of death" and "prepares a table ... in the presence of ... enemies" (Psalm 23:4-5) so the Lamb has led this multitude through a martyr's death (having suffered the same himself) and into God's eternal presence. The ultimate victory of those who have appeared to be the victims of evil is represented by the absence of hunger, thirst, suffering from harsh natural environments, and even "every tear from their eyes" (vv. 16-17).
1 John 3:1-3
One of the most striking features of this brief passage is how the author still seems somewhat amazed at the greatness of God's love and what it means for us to be the recipients of that love. The enthusiasm of the statement is born out by the somewhat awkward syntax of the Greek: "Behold what love the Father gave to us, so that we might be called God's children -- even we are!" The very awkwardness may account for the absence of that final interjection in some manuscripts, but the exuberance of the author comes through the struggle with inarticulateness. Such love is always amazing, and should never be taken for granted.
This love should also be truly transforming in its effects upon us. It should, the writer maintains, make us as incomprehensible to those dominated by the value system of the world as Jesus himself was (cf. John 1:10). Moreover, this transformation is not just some distant hope. "We are God's children now" (1 John 3:2a), those who recognize this truth "purify themselves, just as Christ is pure" (v. 3).
Yet even though we are already transformed, the transformation is not yet complete. The reason for this on-going change is that we have not yet seen Christ fully revealed. The very process of incarnation has veiled something of the eternal Christ even as it has revealed the divine through human form. Only when we "see him as he is" in the fullness of divine glory (what later theologians would call the "beatific vision" in reflecting on passages such as the companion lectionary text from Revelation) can we become like him and so reveal the complete transformation that God's love is accomplishing in us.
Matthew 5:1-12
Matthew begins the "Sermon on the Mount" with a series of nine beatitudes. Each of these pronouncements begins with the Greek adjective makarios. Traditionally translated into English as "blessed," some more recent translations have sparked mild controversy by rendering the word into English as "happy" or "fortunate." More is at stake in the choice between these competing options than just a concern for a less archaic, more colloquial sounding translation.
Makarios was used in both the common Greek of the period and some instances within the New Testament to describe a favorable emotional state arising from a person's particular circumstances and so would equate with the normal uses of English "happy" or "fortunate" (see as examples Luke 23:29; Acts 26:2; 1 Corinthians 7:40). The more customary use in Greek, however, was as a reference to a favorable emotional state arising from circumstances resulting from divine favor. Within Greco-Roman culture, this use might be associated with the notion of "one on whom fortune has smiled." Within a Jewish or Christian context, however, these circumstances would be associated not with an impersonal "fortune" or "fate," but with circumstances arising from actions on one's behalf by God. It is this origin in divine activity that is marked by the translation into English as "blessed."
The translation issue here in the Beatitudes is determining which of these two uses is intended. As Danker has recently commented, "the transl[ation] 0, the happiness of or hail to those, favored by some ... appears to be exactly right for the Aramaic original (=Hebr[ew] 'ashrey), but scholars have disputed whether it exhausts the content that makarios had in the mouths of G[ree]k-speaking Christians" (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [3rd ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000], 611). In this case, the question is whether the English translation of Matthew should reflect the linguistic character of its Greek text ("blessed") or that of the Aramaic more probably originally spoken by Jesus ("happy," "fortunate").
Within the context of the Beatitudes, however, the English translation "blessed" has more to commend itself than just longstanding tradition. It is clear that the favorable circumstances set out in the explanatory clause of each of these nine affirmations are intended to be understood as the result of divine action. Only God can grant the "kingdom of heaven" to the "poor in spirit" (v. 3) and those "persecuted for righteousness' sake" (v. 10). Notice particularly the use of the passive voice in four of the beatitudes ("will be comforted," v. 4; "will be filled," v. 6; "will be given mercy," v. 7; and "will be called God's children," v. 9). The passive voice was frequently used in early Jewish and Christian writings to avoid explicitly naming God as the one performing an action (the so-called "divine passive") lest one inadvertently "use God's name in vain." If these are affirmations of divine favor, then the use of the English word with that specific connotation ("blessed") is justified, whether or not the Aramaic word may have had that specific meaning.
In terms of relating the Beatitudes to the liturgical context of preaching on All Saints' Day, two points deserve particular attention. As already noted, the second of the beatitudes employs a divine passive construction. To say, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," is a far more specific affirmation than simply that mourners will find some source of comfort either in themselves or in the solace offered to them by others. It is to promise specifically that God will comfort those who mourn. This promise does not diminish the importance of the care that we provide to one another in times of grief and loss, but it does insist that even that comfort is ultimately grounded in God's promise and activity in conquering death. Because this life is not all that there is, there is divine comfort available to us in our mourning.
Secondly, like the passage from Revelation, the Beatitudes overturn conventional human wisdom. They assert a vision of reality in which those who are despised by the world are affirmed as the recipients of divine favor. There are even specific parallels between the promises here in the gospel and the vision related in Revelation. Those who "mourn ... will be comforted" (v. 4) for "God will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17). Those who "hunger and thirst ... will be filled" (v. 6; cf. Revelation 7:16). Those who are "pure in heart ... will see God" (v. 8; cf. Revelation 7:15). Those who have been "persecuted for righteousness' sake" will receive a great reward in heaven (vv. 10-12; cf. Revelation 7:13-14).
Application
The origins of All Saints' Day are rooted in the early Christian practice of remembering and celebrating the lives of the heroes and martyrs of the church on the dates of their deaths. Over the centuries the number of such festivals observed throughout the church and in specific, local regions multiplied to the point that there literally were not enough days in the year to commemorate all the martyrs. Additionally, there was broad consensus that there were many more Christians who deserved to be honored for their faith and service but whose stories had simply been lost to the church. All Saints' Day was established as a general day of commemoration and was associated with November 1 by at least 835 A.D. Since its beginnings, then, All Saints' observance has been about the remembrance of those who have died in the faith.
Yet the core theological conviction of Christianity is belief in the resurrection. There would be no church were it not for the resurrection of Christ as the first fruits assuring the ultimate harvest of all souls united with Christ into God's eternal life (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 20). In whatever context Christians gather to reflect on those who have died in the faith, there must therefore be an emphasis on bearing witness to the resurrection. The final truth regarding every Christian is not the grave, but eternal life in the blessed presence of God.
It is this realization that strips the irony away from the statement that "the church triumphant is alive and well" (even if it doesn't exonerate the songwriter's misunderstanding of the phrase). What has always been most true in the Christian theology of the Church Triumphant is that it is eternally alive with its Lord, "the living one" who "was dead" but is "alive forever and ever" and has "the keys of Death and of Hades" (Revelation 1:18). The ultimate triumph of the Church Triumphant is indeed its victory over death, the ultimate consequence of sin.
The focal point of All Saints' observance then is not really in the past, but in the future. Its proper images are less the fires and tortures of martyrdom, and more the songs of praise sung by the innumerable multitude caught up in the rapture of the beatific vision of God and the Christ. As the Church Militant, we still struggle with the consequences of sin in this world, among them our own grief in mourning for loved ones who have died. Yet as the communion of the saints makes clear, there really is only one church militant and triumphant. And some day we too will change our ranks. Today the battle cry; tomorrow the victor's song.
Alternative Applications
1) 1 John 3:1-3. Much of the Protestant Christian tradition has moved away from the veneration of the saints. Historically this development is rooted in both the positive emphasis of the Reformers upon the "priesthood of all believers" and in their negative reaction against perceived excesses of the formal canonization process in the Roman church. Recently there has been some reassessment of what may have been lost in the liturgical abandonment of iconography and the exemplary function of the saints. In the midst of such debate, this brief passage from 1 John serves as a reminder that whatever may distinguish "all believers" from the "exemplary saints," it is not a result of some being more loved by God than others. We are all "children of God" by virtue of God's great love for us. We need to look to the lives of the great women and men of faith not to find who were God's favorites, but to find models of what it means to be transformed by God's love.
2) Revelation 7:9-17. Part of the vision of the future glory of the church is the unity it finds through worship and song in the midst of its broad diversity. It is more than a little ironic, then, that a number of writers have begun speaking of "worship wars" breaking out in congregations with diverse memberships in terms of age, culture, ethnicity, etc. -- and that these "wars" tend to break out over music styles more than anything else. Maybe the problem is that we have made different forms of worship a part of our identity and self-expression. If worship is going to be a unifying rather than a dividing force, then the focus must be kept on the one who is being worshiped and not on those who are doing the worshiping. Who knows? Maybe if we can get God at the center of worship lives rather than our desires for self-expression we will also be able to unite other aspects of our communal life around God as well.
First Lesson Focus
Revelation 7:9-17
The Book of Revelation is a type of literature known as an apocalypse, a word that means "revealing" or "unveiling." It is one of only two apocalypses in the Old and New Testaments, the other being Daniel. As such, Revelation shares the characteristics of apocalypses. It has the idea of the disclosure of heavenly truth to a seer. It is concerned with the contradiction between God's rule over his creation and the dominance of evil in the world. And it employs highly figurative, imaginative, sometimes almost grotesque symbolism and language that makes it almost incomprehensible to the reader. Above all, Revelation seeks to reveal God's final dealings with evil in a worldwide judgment and his establishment of his kingdom over all the earth.
The book was written by a man named John, a Jewish Christian, who was familiar with the little Christian churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor, and who had been exiled to the tiny island of Patmos off the west coast. He was not the same John who wrote the Gospel by that name, because he refers to the twelve apostles in the past (21:14), and his book probably dates toward the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81-96). But he had a very particular purpose in writing. At that time, serious and sporadic persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities was taking place in some localities, and John wrote to strengthen the Christian communities and to urge them to hold fast to their faith in the Lord, even to the point of martyrdom and death. Domitian claimed to be Deus et Dominus, God and Lord, and Christians were increasingly pressured to worship him in the emperor cult. Over against worldly Roman power, John saw the triumphant reign of one God in Christ, the panto-krator, the Almighty (1:8), and those Christians who held fast, even in martyrdom, to the Almighty would receive a glorious reward in the kingdom that was coming.
The Book of Revelation, therefore, is a very time-specific book. It is dealing with a particular situation at the end of the first century A.D., and it makes no claim to forecast or prophesy events and their outcomes in our time. It is poor theology to interpret the book as a prophecy for the 21st century. Nevertheless, it can give us a new world-view, as it served to give those first-century Christians.
We tend to view our world in terms of earthly realities. We see the powers of this world as in charge of our lives. The rulers, the politicians, the economists, the military, the multinational corporations, all the principalities and powers of this world are those, we think, who hold our lives in their hands and who have the last say over affairs. But Revelation urges us to look at our world from the standpoint of heaven, from the side of God, who is the Almighty Ruler of heaven and of earth, and who has conquered all earthly powers through his Son Jesus Christ.
In addition, Revelation can give us a new understanding of where history and the faithful are heading. Will the powers and evils of this world reign over all until the very end of history? Does faith finally make no ultimate and eternal difference in the scheme of things?
This is the Sunday when we celebrate the lives of the saints of the church. On this day, we remember all those steadfast souls, known and unknown, who have gone before us, who have fought the good fight and finished the race and kept the faith. Perhaps you remember some of them among your relatives or among the past members of this congregation. But we celebrate not only the saints of the past, but all of those who will come after us, all who will cling in trust and obedience to Jesus Christ and who will persevere in his church to the end of the age. All of them, past and future, suffer the same tribulations and afflictions that every human being knows. Some will or have undergone great trials. Indeed, there are saints throughout the worldwide Christian Church who have been martyrs for their faith and who have been steadfast to the end, much like those martyrs in the first-century Roman Empire. And do all of those faithful witnesses make any difference in the final scheme of life? Have Christians lived in vain?
No, says our text, and it gives us a glorious picture. In Revelation's portrayal, God's final judgment and wrath are about to be worked on the earth. But before the judgment descends, the servants of God, the saints, the faithful, who have persevered even in persecution, are set aside by a protecting seal, and instead of suffering God's judgment on the wicked, they are portrayed in heaven before the throne of God and his Son and surrounded by all the hosts of heaven. They wear the white robes of Christ, who himself was the principal martyr who gave his life for God, and so they celebrate their salvation in Christ with a hymn (v. 10).
But they also enjoy an eternal and blessed fellowship with God and Christ. They hunger no more, nor ever thirst. They suffer no scorching heat. Christ the Lamb dwells in their midst as their Shepherd and guides them to springs of living water. They know no sorrow or death or suffering, for God himself wipes away every tear from their eyes. In short, the saints, the faithful followers of the Almighty, already participate in the joyous life of that new heaven and new earth that God is bringing in his kingdom. The saints you know among your departed loved ones, and all the saints of the church, already share in the goodness of eternity in fellowship with Almighty God. And that will be the destiny of every person present and future, who trusts God and his Son Jesus Christ, even in the direst circumstances.
That blessed circle of saints is not and never will be limited to any one people. Our text says that they make up "a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (v. 9), from Asia and Africa, South America and Europe, Australia and Antarctica, and yes, even from the USA. I have often thought that we may be very surprised, if and when we get to heaven, to see who has made it into that happy realm.
But Revelation is telling us that God's kingdom is coming, that his judgment will do away with every enemy and opposition and evil, and that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Revelation further says that he will reign forever and ever (11:15), for God is Almighty God, the sovereign over every earthly power. And his universal rule will be the final state on this planet. In the light and certainty of that, we celebrate the saints of the church. But you and I and all folk are also called to be among their number.
The Political Pulpit
Revelation 7:9-17
With Election Day this week, a political commentary seems appropriate. We believe faith has something to say to the electoral process. But what is that word for this election?
Those who have read this column over the years know that I share Saint Augustine's cynicism about providing distinct Christian political proposals. Given the state of human sin, the best we can achieve in government is provisional justice, and even that rarely happens. Cast your ballot according to the critera of what best serves justice, not your own special interests.
If your parishioners needed convincing about our sin, the multi-billion dollar business scandals that surfaced with Enron, WorldCom, and others should be sufficient to persuade. These developments and other trends sent the Dow Jones Average and Nasdaq to five-year lows by mid-August. At press time it appears that the economy will be the issue for the midterm Congressional elections, if not in local elections in your area. Which candidates will best facilitate America's (your region's) economic well-being?
Although our faith does not pronounce directly on who to vote for, the universal principle of justice complemented by insights from this Sunday's first lesson can provide some guidelines. The Revelation text provides a vision of unity, of God's plan to gather together human beings from every imaginable background (v. 9) and ensure their material well-being (that they hunger and thirst no more [v. 16]).
With these criteria in view we can ask the candidates about whether their economic proposals will put an end to the corruption, put an end to the accounting shenanigans and present policies that have made it possible for CEOs to become exorbitantly rich while workers lose their jobs and their pensions. Here is some data you can share:
The recent much ballyhooed corporate reform bill is not as tough as it has been marketed to be. Its only real teeth is to forbid accounting firms from doctoring the books by functioning in the dual capacity of auditor of budgets and consultant (usually for fat fees). Two serious irregularities remain legal: (1) Stockholders are limited in their rights to sue companies in which they are invested, even in cases where the company and its board of directors are guilty of fraud and paying executives outrageous salaries; and (2) stock options generously bestowed on CEOs and other executives need not be treated as company expenses. Both of these still legal practices are not in the interests of all God's people, but blatantly favor CEOs and their high-placed administrators. The clout of stockholders remains minimized insofar as their only significant representation is by the corporation's board of directors, most of whose members are holding their well-paid position because of what they can do for the CEO. As for stock options, it not only skews the bottom line, making the company appear more profitable than it is (since the expenses it incurs in giving away stocks to executives do not count). It also means that since CEOs receive so much of their compensation in stocks, they have a strong incentive to increase the value of their company stocks, to manage for the short range, even if at the expense of the labor force or the long-term health of the company.
The majority of representatives and senators have not done much to end these practices. That is not surprising in view of the fact that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, business provides $3 out of every $4 raised by Republicans and $2 out of every $3 for Democrats. Christian criteria direct us to vote for the candidates on the basis of their positions on whether they advocate stricter controls on business and where the contributions come from. Get real about what you can accomplish, though: Analysis rather than advocacy is likely to get you a better hearing, to have more influence on your parishioners.
