A NEW LIGHT(19)
Scripture: Revelation 21:10, Revelation 21:22-27, Revelation 22:1-5
A New Light(19)
Lectionary, Year C, Easter 6
Christopher B. Harbin
Revelation 21:10; 22-22:5
Before we get to today’s text, I have a few questions for you. Who wants to go to heaven when they die? Alright, shall we drink some Koolaid to get there now? No? Okay, how about we bring heaven down into our midst? Who is up for that? Isn’t that what John is essentially talking about here in today’s text, Jerusalem coming down to earth where God dwells in our very midst with no need of any temple to serve as an access point into God’s presence?
I’m going to need to ask you to suspend your concept of reality for a moment. I’m going to need you to suspend all sense of disbelief. After all, that is the only way we are going to get through today’s text. At face value, it makes no sense, otherwise. It’s like going back to Genesis 1 and seeing God create light, separating light and dark, calling light day, all before there is a sun to make night and day a reality. John’s images and descriptions make just as much sense at face value. There is, however, a message in them that does not depend on our concepts of reality, science, and the functioning of the universe as we know it.
John uses over 500 allusions and references to the Hebrew Scriptures in Revelation. That is more than one per verse. His thought processes, his words, his understanding of the world, his grasp of God’s purpose and identity all flow largely from his immersion in the Hebrew Scriptures. They color his thinking. They provide a framework from which to speak. Jesus enters the picture and clarifies many things, but not to the exclusion of what John knew as Scripture. He calls this ‘‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ,’’ his gospel of Jesus, but he is not quoting from what we know as the gospels which detail Jesus’ earthly life and ministry. Those may not even have been written at this time. This text before us is this John’s gospel, his good news, his presentation of who Jesus is. He does not purport to ...
Lectionary, Year C, Easter 6
Christopher B. Harbin
Revelation 21:10; 22-22:5
Before we get to today’s text, I have a few questions for you. Who wants to go to heaven when they die? Alright, shall we drink some Koolaid to get there now? No? Okay, how about we bring heaven down into our midst? Who is up for that? Isn’t that what John is essentially talking about here in today’s text, Jerusalem coming down to earth where God dwells in our very midst with no need of any temple to serve as an access point into God’s presence?
I’m going to need to ask you to suspend your concept of reality for a moment. I’m going to need you to suspend all sense of disbelief. After all, that is the only way we are going to get through today’s text. At face value, it makes no sense, otherwise. It’s like going back to Genesis 1 and seeing God create light, separating light and dark, calling light day, all before there is a sun to make night and day a reality. John’s images and descriptions make just as much sense at face value. There is, however, a message in them that does not depend on our concepts of reality, science, and the functioning of the universe as we know it.
John uses over 500 allusions and references to the Hebrew Scriptures in Revelation. That is more than one per verse. His thought processes, his words, his understanding of the world, his grasp of God’s purpose and identity all flow largely from his immersion in the Hebrew Scriptures. They color his thinking. They provide a framework from which to speak. Jesus enters the picture and clarifies many things, but not to the exclusion of what John knew as Scripture. He calls this ‘‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ,’’ his gospel of Jesus, but he is not quoting from what we know as the gospels which detail Jesus’ earthly life and ministry. Those may not even have been written at this time. This text before us is this John’s gospel, his good news, his presentation of who Jesus is. He does not purport to ...
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