Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Remembering Stephen is a commemoration of many of the characteristics of the early Church. Stephen stood for Jesus to inaugurate a new Kingdom, one that was not understood by the religious authorites of the day. Not even the Jewish leaders that practiced the tradition from which Christianity came understood the carrying on of God's promise through Jesus. Stephen died for that cause, giving legitimacy to his message as a martyr.

Unto us a Son is born, and nothing will ever be the same again. God has fulfilled his promise to Israel, and we have seen God with the seeing of Jesus. No longer has God separated himself, but God has come in the Flesh to live among us. Jesus is born.

The wrath that unfolds in this chapter seems to reveal the true hearts of people: cursing God instead of blessing, refusing to repent. Of course, only God sees the true hearts of people, but circumstance has made them rise to the surface. Divisions are rising, and God is establishing his own people and those who are not God's.

As the judgment comes to an end, we are back to worship. It's like this was the objective that was always before us: worship must live and grow, and the wrath of judgement excises the poison that prohibits it. There is still a prophet standing on the hill, John the Revelator, who is being encouraged to keep doing his part, and reminded of the reason he was important.

It's an interesting perspective to think of the amount of times thunderous worship occurs in Revelation. We sometimes tend to think of it more like a book of horrors, and there is definitely some imagery to that effect. It isn't the whole character. There is also beauty and worship, and it this case it is a prelude to judgement. Of course, a just God must also enact justice, there is no one more fitting to do so.

Thomas sometimes gets a bad rap as "the doubter," but he did actually have to courage to ask questions that other disciples were probably thinking without voicing. We definitely need those people in our ranks: those who know our cause and believe in it, but still question us to help us stay sharp.

This sudden onslaught of otherworldly action movies might seem out of place in sequence with the previous chapters encouraging the prophets to keep doing their work, but perhaps this might be an explanation for its placement: if prophets work in isolation, then their work seems quite daunting. If prophets see their place in a timeless story that includes the very war in Heaven, then they have a greater sense of purpose. Perhaps that is the main crux of this section: to John the Revelator and his successors, you are part of something bigger. Don't give up.

The bitter scroll of the last chapter how takes a turn with the introduction of two witnesses. These are again the prophetic voices, interpreted by different groups in different ways through the years. The Holy Spirit is certainly at work regardless of their identity, and the task of prophet remains to continue working even in tough times.

A lot of symbolism is happening i today's passge unless you are a proponent of eating scrolls! Revelation is cerrtainly part prophecy, and John is reminded of his role in a long line of prophets chosen by God to imagine a better world for God's people. John, in eating the scroll, is recommissioned and reminded of the important role he plays.

When the worship of God is replaced with something else, God. responds to set it right. These visions have been attached to both events in the first two centuries and portrayed as the "end of all time" in many places, but whatever the correct placement, God is holy and he is setting the world right.