All Saints’ Day in one of those very rare occasions where we get to read from the Book of Revelation, at least in mainline protestant churches. There is a good reason for that, and it probably has to do with the fact that the Book of Revelation is a bit suspicious to us. By that, I mean that we find it a book difficult to understand, sometimes cryptic, and we’re not too comfortable with the fact that the powerful and often violent scenes it pictures have been used many times to scare people with God’s justice, the punishment of sins and even the threat of hell for the unrepentant.
One thing that could help us understand this book better though is to realize that it wasn’t written to terrorize people, rather it was written at a time where people, the first Christians, were terrorized, and they weren’t terrorized by God and God’s justice, mind you, they weren’t even terrorized by demons and hell, they were terrorized by the Roman Empire and their persecutions. Their hope was in Christ’s return to his followers, the establishment of kingdom of God and its justice, coming down from heavens to replace the kingdom of men that so often looks like a nightmare, to use one of Bishop Curry’s favorite expressions.Well, we have to acknowledge that in 2000 years indeed, nothing has changed much in our world. I found it very difficult this week to watch the news and not to cry. Nightmare is not too strong a word to describe our world, except that it’s worse because it does not end when we wake up, it’s all very real and too real. And yet, yet in parallel to a reality that is so often unbearable, the Book of Revelation describes another reality, not a dream but a reality that is still hidden to our eyes, a vision of what is to come. We like to call it heavens, and why not the word is often used in the Bible, Jesus himself talks again and again in Matthew’s Gospel about the kingdom of heavens. But something important is lost if we only think of haven as a place of happiness and well being. It certainly is, butRevelation describes what kind of happiness this new reality isall about, so let’s have a closer look.
– First of all, we know that there are many, many books and TV shows and testimonies these days about NDE and how heaven looks like, with abundance of details, pearly gates, white horses and so on. But what we can notice in the Book of Revelation is that the kingdom of God is first of all a place of togetherness, where people are brought together. That’s the very sentence our lesson begins with: There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.
– Then John tells us that these people are clothed in white, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So we know that heaven is a place where we are made pure and justified before God, not based on our own merits but by the grace of Christ. It’s up to us to accept this grace. I don’t think it excludes people who didn’t know Jesus or even believe in Jesus in this world, far from it. But it certainly means that we all have to go through Christ though to approach the throne of God when we get there. Heavens is a place where justice is not just an ideal or an aspiration. Justice is realized. We need to acknowledge our sin and receive forgiveness. And we can notice that this forgiveness that is given is not just mere acceptance, God will not just tolerate us rather in spite of our sins, rather we are made holy as God is holy and washed from all uncleanliness (That’s why we talk about All Saints)
– The third thing we learn from the book of Revelation (and a consequence of what we have just said) is that heaven is a place of reconciliation: Reconciliation with God through Jesus-Christ, reconciliation between all people, tribes and nations, and also reconciliation with creation, with the earth and all its inhabitants: They will hunger no more, thirst no more, the sun will not strike them says John. Species and elements are no more a threat to each other, there is no material, physical or even emotional need anymore, so there is no war between creatures for power and resources, but there is perfect peace for all.
– The last thing I would like us to notice in the Book of Revelation is that heaven is the place where death has been slain. The violence in the Book of Revelation has to be acknowledged, but also understood, and what it’s really about is the defeating of death itself and the forces of death: Sin. In this sense, if I could, I would rename the “Book of Revelation””The Book of Consolation“. And this is what it’s about, John tells us: God will wipe every tear from their eyes. God is not going to bring to those who love Him something to “make them feel better”, which is the way we comfort ourselves in this world. In this life, we find moments of relief to our suffering.“The Book of Consolation“ promises us that consolation will be definitive because there won’t be a tear left to cry. The root of all our sorrows being death, in a way or another, and death being defeated, what could we be sad about or scared about?
I remember when I was a child, they were taking my grand father’s casket down the stairs. There was my grand mother, all the children and all the grand children, all standing there in the hallway and everybody was crying. And I remember my father standing next to me, telling me: “We cry because we don’t understand. Of course it’s sad for us, but it isn’t sad for him. How long has it been since he hasn’t seen his own grand parents, his parents, his brother. Can you imagine his joy at seeing them again?” I will never forget these words. In the Gospel, Jesus often describes heaven as the eternal banquet where we sit with God and all family and friends and those who used to be our enemies and share a meal and rejoice with one another. This is this reality we anticipate when we share the bread and the wine here at church.
More than ever, we need the vision of the Book of Revelation to sustain us, to encourage us. Thinking of heaven or even dreaming of heaven isn’t meant to be escapism, a way to numb us to the pain of this life, to help us cope. Well, sometimes it can be, and that’s all right. But mainly, this vision is what we need to transform the world, we need to know that something else is possible, that in God something else already exists, we need this vision to mold this present reality to the beauty, the goodness and also exigencies of the kingdom of God. That’s what this famous passage of the beatitudes is all about. Jesus asks his followers to live according to the reality of God’s kingdom, rather than according to what this world values.Being blessed does not necessarily mean being lucky, or successful or happy, the way we often understand the word now, it means first of all that God is with us and walk with us. And that’s what it means to be a Saint and to be a church. So let’s continue to walk with God and with one another. That’s all we are called to do, and there is no higher calling than that.