Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - Wednesday in the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
[Revelation 4:1-11 and Luke 19:11-28]Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.
The vivid imagery of the Book of Revelation and its highly symbolic content have been the subject matter of all kinds of speculation, scholarly and otherwise! Scholars differ on just about everything about it! Nevertheless, a widespread tradition holds that it was written as a way of comforting a community that was either being persecuted or about to undergo persecution. Whether it achieved this goal or not, it remains a fascinating set of visions. The one which appears in today's scripture is no exception! It is based on common images about the way life was lived in the imperial court as well as visions in Ezekiel and Isaiah! The idea in this passage that is foremost is the sovereignty of God (with the accompanying implied reminder that the emperor in Rome was NOT the sovereign of all!) The hymn quoted above is a summary of the idea!! In a few weeks, amid great ceremony and pomp, a new president will be inaugurated for our land. In political speech (and perhaps in political reality) he will be described as the most powerful leader in the world! Because President-elect Obama is a Christian, I suspect he will place his hand on a copy of the Bible when he takes the oath of office. One must hope that this might be an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty, but already some of his proposed policies appear to indicate that he regards human beings as sovereign since he proposes to give the power of life and death (of which we are but very limited stewards) to research scientists and those who would destroy life in the womb! My own prayer is that God's sovereignty as creator and Lord of all life will come to reign and that we will respect it in faith. The Book of Revelation simply provides some images to go with it! AMEN