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Living the Metaphor Part I: Four Questions for the Apocalypse
2nd Sunday in Eastertide
cts 5:27-32: Psalm 118:14-29; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31
The Easter Season has begun. Now the traditional dogma of the Church is reinforced with the stories from the Acts of the Apostles, written by the writer of Luke, and the theology of the writer of the Gospel of John and the writer of Revelation. It is important to realize that in all likelihood, none of the stories about Jesus’ appearances in John, nor the adventures of the Apostles in Acts are history remembered; none of the sayings of John’s Jesus can be traced directly back to him; and the Revelation to John (Apocalypse) is an extended allegory reiterating the conviction that God will act directly and violently in human history to restore God’s retributive justice to earth. The Elves have apparently decided that the Revelation to John is a “prophecy,” and have substituted it for the usual reading from the Old Testament prophets. Unfortunately, “prophecy” among the literalists means a foretelling of future events, not a crystallization of insight about where current events may be taking us.
There are several questions to ask when considering the readings for this season in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
1) What is the nature of God? Violent or non-violent?
2) What is the nature of Jesus’ message? Inclusive or exclusive?
3) What is faith? Suspension of disbelief or commitment to the great work of justice-compassion?
4) What is deliverance? Salvation from hell or liberation from injustice?
This first series of Eastertide readings traditionally illustrates violence, exclusion, suspension of disbelief, and salvation from hell. Jesus walks through closed doors and chastises Thomas for demanding physical proof that Jesus is alive; Peter and the leadership of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem continue their confrontation with the Temple authorities who collaborated with Rome. They refuse to stop teaching forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus and holding the Temple authorities accountable for Jesus’ death. The writer of Revelation claims that Jesus is coming again to the dismay of “all of the tribes of earth.”
What do post-enlightenment, post-modern minds do with this other than throw it out?
The mystics among us can come into the conversation at this point. Classically, a mystic is a person who is comfortable in a non-rational existence; one who finds truth beyond the physical, provable realms. In short, a mystic is someone who lives in the metaphor. The trick is to live in the metaphor without making it literal. It is the only way to avoid the trap of missing Jesus’ message – not to mention sitings of Elvis and the Blessed Virgin.
A post-modern mystic might look at this week’s appearance story in John as a realization of the truth of the empty tomb: Jesus’ spirit is alive. Further, in an echo of God’s action in Genesis, Jesus breathes on the apostles and says “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But rather than empowering every person to live the life that Jesus lived in communion with the Kingdom of God, this great commission has become a frightening and dangerous barrier that continues to exclude undesirables of all ages, races, genders, and circumstances. The mystical apostolic succession has been established. The apostles meeting in John’s closed room have become magicians who control the power. Only the lucky ones who receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus’ representatives in the Christian community have the power to forgive sins, or to withhold forgiveness. This is not history remembered, it is First Century metaphor literalized.
Not everyone is a mystic. Some require a graphic vision to grasp the spiritual reality, and Thomas the Doubter is one. Jesus gives him his physical proof and says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Does that mean Thomas is a pig-headed skeptic, and that those who “have faith” are somehow more deserving of salvation from sin? The accompanying reading from Revelation implies that the skeptics will be quickly culled from the believers as soon as Jesus comes again “with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.”
The Acts of the Apostles has a lot of mystical stuff in it – angels, magical openings of prisons, blinding flashes of transforming visions, etc., but they are all told as though they are history remembered. Luke – or whatever the name of the Greek who wrote both Luke and Acts – seems to be writing for the literalists in the early Christian community. Peter and “the apostles” with him seem to delight in sticking it to the Temple authorities, claiming “We must obey God, not any human authority . . . and we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” and not to YOU. Nyah Nyah Nyah.
Later in the story (which is not included by the Elves for study or illumination of the text) somebody in the “council” stands up and says “if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them – in that case, you may even be found fighting against God!” This is a practical First Century voice. It is also a warning against anyone who opposes Peter’s and Luke’s interpretation of Jesus’ message. Peter’s reported action in Acts is violent because it claims exclusivity and privilege. Therefore, Peter’s God is a violent God; Peter’s Jesus is exclusive; and suspension of disbelief is the order of the day, not participation with the risen Christ in actualizing God’s justice-compassion in the world. Deliverance in this context means salvation from the consequences of personal sin, not liberation from injustice. Again, the accompanying “prophecy” of Revelation is that, in a violent and unjust world, controlled by a violent, interventionist God, Jesus is on his way back to terrorize the tribes of the earth who, even though they might see, do not believe.
So back to the questions:
1) What is the nature of God? Violent or non-violent?
2) What is the nature of Jesus’ message? Inclusive or exclusive?
3) What is faith? Suspension of disbelief or commitment to the great work of justice-compassion?
4) What is deliverance? Salvation from hell or liberation from injustice?
Curiously, the Elves have suggested Psalm 118:14-29 as the accompanying liturgy of praise. There is not a word of retribution in the entire Psalm. Perhaps somewhere, someone realized that all of the vignettes in today’s readings can be interpreted as non-violent, inclusive, commitment to the great work of justice-compassion in partnership with the Christ consciousness that brings liberation from injustice.
Jesus’ true message needs to be reclaimed.