Second Sunday of Easter - Revelation Part 1

"I saw Eternity the other night, 

Like a great ring of pure and endless light, 

All calm, as it was bright; 

And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years, 

Driv’n by the spheres 

Like a vast shadow mov’d; in which the world 

And all her train were hurl’d. 

The doting lover in his quaintest strain 

Did there complain; 

Near him, his lute, his fancy, and his flights, 

Wit’s sour delights, 

With gloves, and knots, the silly snares of pleasure, 

Yet his dear treasure 

All scatter’d lay, while he his eyes did pour 

Upon a flow’r. 

The darksome statesman hung with weights and woe, 

Like a thick midnight-fog mov’d there so slow, 

He did not stay, nor go; 

Condemning thoughts (like sad eclipses) scowl 

Upon his soul, 

And clouds of crying witnesses without 

Pursued him with one shout. 

Yet digg’d the mole, and lest his ways be found, 

Work’d under ground, 

Where he did clutch his prey; but one did see 

That policy; 

Churches and altars fed him; perjuries 

Were gnats and flies; 

It rain’d about him blood and tears, but he 

Drank them as free. 

The fearful miser on a heap of rust 

Sate pining all his life there, did scarce trust 

His own hands with the dust, 

Yet would not place one piece above, but lives 

In fear of thieves; 

Thousands there were as frantic as himself, 

And hugg’d each one his pelf; 

The downright epicure plac’d heav’n in sense, 

And scorn’d pretence, 

While others, slipp’d into a wide excess, 

Said little less; 

The weaker sort slight, trivial wares enslave, 

Who think them brave; 

And poor despised Truth sate counting by 

Their victory. 

Yet some, who all this while did weep and sing, 

And sing, and weep, soar’d up into the ring; 

But most would use no wing. 

O fools (said I) thus to prefer dark night 

Before true light, 

To live in grots and caves, and hate the day 

Because it shews the way, 

The way, which from this dead and dark abode 

Leads up to God, 

A way where you might tread the sun, and be 

More bright than he. 

But as I did their madness so discuss 

One whisper’d thus, 

“This ring the Bridegroom did for none provide, 

But for his bride.”"

Henry Vaughan is one of my favorite 17th century Welsh poets, 

and this poem, The World,

marks the contrast between the world and eternity,

between what it is like in this realm,

and what God is calling us to. 

I first read this poem in high school

and what struck me at that time was

the witness to eternity. 

Henry Vaughan in some way had an experience of eternity

and he was not content merely to enjoy it

he wrote about it,

he was a witness to it

and a witness to the calling of God to all

not just some, as one of the characters in the poem suggests.

Poets have not only been the witnesses to eternity,

though many might come to mind.

In the scriptures, we have many prophets 

who have seen and heard much of heaven and eternity

and been willing to speak and share about it,

even when such sharing got them into serious trouble.

This is where we find John of Patmos,

a Palestinian Jewish Christian in the first century,

who fled from the region of Israel during the Jewish Revolts,

and ended up in exile on the island of Patmos because of the persecutions of Emperor Domitian.

He had a vision of eternity,

he had a message of hope for all people.

The Revelation to John,

the last book of the Bible today

details the vision and message John received

in the guise of letters to seven churches at the time

in Asia Minor, what is today, Turkey.

Revelation, as it is mostly known as,

is a very complicated, metaphorical, allegorical, visionary, eschatological apocalypse. 

And if that doesn't put you off,

St. Jerome, the well-known scholar and bishop, 

who translated the Scriptures from both Hebrew and Greek

into Latin to create the Vulgate, the standard Catholic Bible,

who was well-known for his scholarship and theology,

wrote in 394 in a letter (no. 53) to Paulinus, another bishop of the church at that time,

"The apocalypse of John has as many mysteries as words."

Which considering the book has 22 chapters, is a lot of words

and a lot of mysteries.

If this is how one of the greatest Christian biblical scholars feels about the book of Revelation,

we shouldn't be too concerned when we have a hard time making heads or tails of it.

The Easter season is a time of newness and hope

we hope for salvation, knowing that it has already been granted to us,

we celebrate, for fifty days!, the new life within and awaiting us.

This is why we hear from the book of Revelation during the season of Easter.

We hear from Acts, because it tells the story of the days after the resurrection 

and the events which happened between the resurrection and Pentecost. 

We hear from the gospel of John, 

because he includes the most post-resurrection stories in his version of events. 

(Reading from Mark during Easter would be difficult! No post resurrection stories!)

And we hear from Revelation, 

because beyond its fantastic allegories and confusing-to-us metaphors, 

it is at its base, a book about hope.

It is a vision of a new creation and a new God-centered reality.

It is a vision of salvation and forgiveness and love.

Naturally, I don't expect you all to agree with all of my interpretations of Revelation 

over the next seven weeks.

Interpretation is a complicated, tricky, and entangled business.

And not every question can be answered.

However, I do hope you will listen with me,

listen to the author of Revelation,

listen to God calling to us.

We are indeed witnesses to the acts of Jesus

in so, we are witnesses to eternity.

We behold the power of eternity

and the eternal being of God

And it is a story we need to share. 

We think things that last a long time are eternal,

Like the forty days of Lent,

but that is not the truth of the matter.

God who is and who was and who is to come

In the vernacular of the time, 

God says he is the Alpha and the Omega, 

the beginning and end of the alphabet. 

The beginning and end of all things.

Now that is eternity,

always something new but always the same.

Paradox and mystery.

However, God's mystery of eternity is part of how God conquers death.

Jesus gives himself up to death willingly and because he is innocent,

he breaks the bonds.

As a human, death would naturally claim him and even a sacrifice of innocence would not destroy death

Yet, as also divine, death does not naturally claim him

and he destroys the hold of death.

We are witnesses to this.

John reaches out to the seven churches in Asia Minor,

(you can read in your insert which churches he reached out to

and see where they are on the map)

to remind them of their witness

and to remind them of the hope of Jesus.

In God we can celebrate, 

in God is our salvation, our transformation, our hope.

We have seen eternity in the works of God,

"Like a great ring of pure and endless light"

let us share in John's witness

and share in telling the greatest story in the world.

Amen.