Sunday, November 25, 2012
Revelations 1 : 4b-8
John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--- to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
“Look , he is coming in the clouds”,
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
And all people on earth will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega”, says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”.
St. John 18 : 33-37
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king , then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
How does anyone communicate the unknowable? This is the quandary of the biblical writers, they write to communicate their limited understanding of the divine as they record and respond to the events of history. They write in the moment of the events and whatever or whomever God may or may not be, is largely hidden from them and from us, behind the veil of death. Is God an idea, a convenient myth, is he or she a person or some kind of paranormal entity? We are deluged with questions that only seem to lead to other questions. What we all would like are some answers.
One may open the Bible because the biblical documents record the interaction of men and a very hesitant self revealing God through two millennia. If anything is relevant to our quest for answers it is the Bible. The writings are opinions, hopefully blessed opinions, that require an investigation of the writers and their motives. We should question how one writer’s opinion compares to other biblical and extra biblical sources. The reader that is only casually interested in answers or wishes to know little more than the obvious, need not explore the Bible for answers. The Bible is, however, by far the best context to start asking the big questions.
As a disciple, friend and eyewitness to Jesus, John gave us the fourth gospel of St. John. In his old age he shares his love for the church and a number of visions he received from the other side in the book of Revelations. Considering his proximity to the events in question, one may want to ask of him, who was this Jesus, according to John? In both of these passages for this Sunday, John answers.
The man before Pilate was subject to the same human vicissitudes of life as any other man but this man was also totally unique to this world. He confesses to being a king but a king from another place. He somehow controls all earthly things which appear to us as uncontrollable, both from the past, to the present and into the future, he is the Alpha and the Omega. Through the lens of the post resurrection Jesus, we can best understand ourselves, all of history and the future of men on earth and into eternity.
The question is, do we really want the answers?
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
