Hunger and Thirst No More
Rev. 7:9-17
I was talking last week with Sharon Core, pastor over at Arlington
Pres, and she asked me about the sign on our wall over the parking lot. She
wanted to know what we meant by ìprogressive, inclusive and diverse.î A couple
of days later, Father Creedon, from
Hm, good questions. So, now that itís way too late, now that Iíve
committed myself to being pastor of a church that calls itself progressive,
inclusive and diverse, now that we are in this together ñ what does it mean?
For reasons of grammar and time, Iím going to focus on just that first word
this morning. While all three words are usually adjectives describing something
ñ in this case, a congregation of Christians who are also described as
Presbyterian and thus from the Reformed tradition, progressive is used often as
a noun in ways that inclusive and diverse are not. Its meaning is broader, and
thus a bit more encompassing in describing who we are.
The dictionary tells us that progressive
is related to progress, from the
Latin progressus ìto advance,î from progredi which combines pro ñ forward ñ and gradi ñ to go. To go forward, then, tells us a little bit about
ourselves: we face the future, open to change.
But there is so much else packed into this little word, especially
when it is used, as we use it here, as a description of a Christian
congregation ñ and especially when it comes up in a sermon that intends to
comment upon words from the Book of Revelation.
Indeed, Revelation is one of those texts that many self-identified
progressives read with considerable discomfort, and one that self-identified
conservative evangelicals embrace with an enthusiasm that, by itself, makes
progressive even more uncomfortable. We can so easily imagine a tent revival
scene with a passionate, earnest and sweat-soaked evangelist waving a floppy
Bible, and almost begging his listeners to come forward, kneel and be saved
from the coming ravages of the apocalypse.
Revelation, with its dramatic end-time images, its 144,000 sealed with
the mark of servants of God on their foreheads, its sign of the beast, its
golden lampstands and angelic messengers to the seven churches ñ this is not
comfortable terrain for us progressives. When it comes to seven seals, most
progressives are far more comfortable sitting through a three-hour, sub-titled
Bergman film than sitting through a three-minute reading from Revelation.
What is the word of the Lord for us, here, in a progressive, inclusive
and diverse Christian congregation from such a strange and forbidding text?
Listen ñ for a word from God from the apocalypse of John:
9After
this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
ëSalvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!í 11And all the angels stood around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on
their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12singing, ëAmen! Blessing and glory and
wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and
ever! Amen.í
13 Then one of the elders addressed me,
saying, ëWho are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?í 14I said to him, ëSir, you are the one that
knows.í Then he said to me, ëThese are they who have come out of the great
ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. 15For this reason they are before the
throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who
is seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They
will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any
scorching heat; 17for
the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide
them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from
their eyes.í
Multitudes, angels, thrones, ordeals, robes, the blood of the Lamb,
salvation ñ this is certainly a text full of vivid images. ìWashed in the blood
of the Lambî is one of those phrases the falls easily and often from the lips
of conservative evangelicals. Such cleansing is part and parcel of the ìborn
againî experience and is central to the personal relationship with Jesus Christ
understood to be the essential
requirement for eternal salvation.
This text, and so many others like it from Revelation, have become
proof texts among those who live in anticipation of the rapture. And while that
ìend timesî perspective is not universally held among conservative evangelicals,
it certainly colors much thinking among conservative Christians as evidenced by
the incredible popularity of the Left
Behind series.
If I were a conservative evangelical, Iíd lick my lips at the
opportunity to preach on a passage such as the one that the lectionary puts
before us this morning. But as one who is trying to work out and live out a
progressive faith, the temptation to turn to the other passages is great.
For example, the gospel reading today comes from John, and it features
Jesus walking in the portico of Solomon in the temple (John
So I figured if Iím going to challenge us to wrestle with a difficult
text why not go all out and dive into Revelation!
Of course, the whole issue of approaching texts is central to what it
means to be a progressive Christian. How we approach scripture is not the
be-all and end-all of progressive Christianity ñ and next week I intend to
extend the notion of progressive Christianity in a more typical way toward a
specific social issue, and the following week John Green is going to lead us
toward a deeper understanding of progressive Christian worship. Still, how we
understand and intend to live out of scripture as progressives is crucial
because it shapes and informs both the inward journey of worship and
spirituality, and the outward journey of mission and social justice. On top of
that, how we interpret scripture is so clearly an area of great tension not
only between progressives and conservatives but also, I have seen, as a tension
inherent in progressive faith regardless of the attitudes of conservatives.
That tension exists within our movement because, as the dictionary
reminds us, progressives look forward in hope, but, at the same time, progressive
Christians are deeply rooted in an ancient tradition that calls us to look back
as well. As Presbyterians, we are rooted in a particular stream of that broader
tradition, and our branch claims as its watch words the phrase ìthe church
reformed and always reformingî ñ in other words, part of a particular reformed
tradition, but always open to being reformed anew. So, while our vision is for
the future, it is also cast back to a foundational past, and we are rooted and
grounded in texts that are thousands of years old.
These texts developed in cultural and historical settings that are
incredibly foreign to us, in languages that we do not speak, by writers about
whom precious little is known.
I ran across an amusing updating of our lectionary psalm for this
morning recently. Itís called a 21st Century 23rd Psalm.
It begins like this:
ìThe Lord and I are in a shepherd ñ sheep situation, and I am in a
position of negative need. He prostrates me in a green belt grazing area, and
conducts me directionally parallel to a non-torrential aqueous liquid.î It goes
on to describe the table set in the presence of enemies like this: ìYou design
and produce a nutrient bearing furniture type structure in the context of
non-cooperative elements, and my beverage utensil experiences a volume crisis.î
It concludes, ìAnd I will possess tenant rights in the housing unit of the Lord
on a permanently open ended time basis.î[1]
Personally, I think I prefer the King James Version. But this humorous
recasting of ancient words does underscore the challenge of approaching ancient
texts in good faith.
We 21st century North Americans really donít know much at
all about ancient Middle Eastern cultures. We donít know much about sheep and
shepherds, about temples and blood sacrifices, about kings and kingdoms.
But one thing we progressives ñ at least we Presbyterian progressives
who place such a high value on education ñ one thing weíre good at is
understanding texts. There is a lot that we donít get, but text criticism is
not one of those things.
So, as we listen for a word from God, letís look at the textual
package the word comes wrapped in. Our passage from Revelation is not so
strange as it seems at first blush. Actually, itís a fairly common setting ñ a
throne room scene in which the throne and its attendants are carefully
described, and an approaching crisis is revealed. Think of Joseph in the
Pharaohís court. Typically in such stories, the seer or visionary interprets a
message from heaven and is thus elevated to a higher status. Think again of
Joseph interpreting dreams sent from God. The focus in such stories is usually
on the visionary ñ thatís why the musical is called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and not How Godís Grace Saves Joseph.
But in our text the tables are turned. When the elder asks ìwho are
these, robbed in white, and where have they come from?î the visionary,
first-person narrator shifts the focus away from himself. Those robbed in white
are the faithful ones who have been brought through a time of great trial by a
faithful and grace-filled God.
The story is ultimately about the faithful actions of God, not about a
special and specific number of the saved and what we must do to be in that
number. If we donít understand the framing of this story, itís easy to miss the
forest for the trees. Itís like the running gag in the wonderful childrenís
film, Finding Nemo. Thereís this
clown fish, and every time he meets another fish they expect him to be funny,
because heís a clown fish. They insist he tell a joke, but heís really not
funny because he tries to explain everything in the joke as he tells it. Itís
as if I said to you, ìknock-knockî ñ OK, we can actually do this, and itíll be
Biblically based, too:
Knock, knock ñ
Whoís there?
Amos.
Amos who?
Amosquito bit me.
And, rather than groan and roll your eyes, you asked, ìso, who was
this Amos?
If you donít understand the form, you cannot understand the message.
This is important for all of scripture. It is utterly determinative for the
Book of Revelation.
A central part of practicing a progressive faith is understanding the
form of the text; for it is only by understanding such textual information that
we can lift these ancient words out of the distant past, bring them forward to
our time, and use them to help us faithfully anticipate and work toward a
future of Godís envisioning.
Why does any of this matter? Why not just ignore the parts of
scripture that offend or confuse? Indeed, why not just jettison the whole
endeavor altogether?
Two reasons:
First, because we are people of the Book. Scripture remains for us the
authoritative revelation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus
remains for us the one through whom the fullness of God is revealed decisively.
Through scripture, God speaks to us ñ even now. This is not, we progressives
fundamentally assert, the only way in which God speaks, but it remains, we progressive
adamantly affirm, the central way in which God speaks to the community of faith
throughout the ages.
Second, we hold on to these texts because if we do not embrace them,
study them, and understand them, I am convinced that they will be used against
us by those who hold a different vision of the world, of the life of faith, of
scripture and of God.
As I was in the process of being forced out of my pastorate in a
church in Pittsburgh ñ a process brought to a head when I spoke out from the
pulpit in favor of the blessing of same-sex holy unions ñ I was accused of
ìtrashing the Bible.î One woman asked me, ìwhy do we need to do all of this
interpreting? Why canít we just accept what the words say?î
ìWell,î I said at the time, ìwe cannot come to any text ñ holy
scripture or the Sunday New York Times ñ without interpreting.î
As Walter Brueggemann put is, reminding us that interpretation is
nothing new under the sun, ìThe Bible, our mothers and fathers have always
known, is not self-evident and self-interpreting, and the Reformers did not
mean that at all when they escaped the churchís magisterium. Rather, the Bible
requires and insists upon human interpretation that is inescapably subjective,
necessarily provisional, and, as you are living witnesses, inevitably
disputatious.î[2]
The question is not whether we interpret, but how? The challenge for
progressives is to lift up and hold onto a faithful interpretive framework.
Let me conclude by suggesting a few principles:
In brief, we interpret the whole of scripture with an eye toward the
future, with humility and a prophetic imagination, guided always by the rule of
love. Let me unpack that by suggesting five quick principles that seem to me to
grow naturally in the soil of this church:
First, that we interpret these ancient words with an eye toward the
future that God is calling us into. That is the essence of progressive
interpretation. In the text before us this morning, that principle insists that
we hear God calling us toward a future of wholeness and healing and shalom that
includes the multitudes ìfrom every nation, from all the tribes and peoples and
languages.î In other words, this principle insists that we hear in this text a
call for the inbreaking of Godís kingdom, and that such salvation is meant to be
radically inclusive.
Second, that we interpret this often profoundly difficult text with a
deep humility. The hymn in our text today reminds us that ìsalvation belongs to
our God.î There is much that we are not given to know, much that belongs to
God, much that remains forever shrouded in mysteries. In the face of this, it
is much more to our credit to sing to Godís glory and confess our limited
understanding of that glory than it will be to hatefully scorn those who
disagree with us.
At the same time, as a third principle, we should interpret these
texts with prophetic imagination, hearing in them Godís call to do justice, to
love filled with mercy and compassion, and to walk, again humbly, with God.
Interpreting thus, we hear in a text like this one both a description of Godís
promises of shalom ñ ìhe will guide them to the springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyesî ñ and a call to work in the
world for the incarnation of this promise for all Godís people.
Such reading is easier when we adhere to a fourth principle ñ one that
is long-standing in the tradition and comes straight out of John Calvin: that
we interpret scripture in light of scripture. In other words, we do not latch
onto isolated proof-texts and use them to bash our opponents over the head with
ñ no matter how tempting that may be from time to time! For we find ourselves
not beaten down but embraced when we discover ourselves in such texts as this
song of victory in Revelation with its promises that ìwe will hunger no more,
and thirst no more; the sun will not strike us nor any scorching heat.î In the
light of these promises, we who too often find ourselves on the receiving end
of judgments based on a handful of disputed passages, can claim our rightful
place at the table of the beloved.
Finally, again as Calvin charged us, we progressives interpret
scripture according to the rule of love ñ the rule of the radically inclusive,
barrier-breaking, abundant and overflowing love of God made known to us in
Jesus Christ. By this rule we know that even though this text is profoundly
realistic about the suffering that is part of the lives of faithful people ñ
ìthese are they who have come out of the great ordealî the text tells us in a
scene set just before the opening of seventh seal when all hell breaks loose ñ
although the text does not shy away from the reality of suffering, it insists ñ
over and over and over again against that provisional reality ñ that the love
of God will triumph, that nothing in all of creation can separate us from the
love of God ñ known to us Christians in the life, death and resurrection of Christ
Jesus.
This is the good news of the gospel for all people in all times and
all places. The challenge to us, to the church at Clarendon, is to be now and
to become ever more so the progressive expression of that promise. Let is be
so. Amen.
Rev. Dr. David E. Ensign
[1] Posted by wft@ukonline.co.uk on www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Aug/psalm23.html
[2] Walter
Brueggemann, William C. Placher and Brian K. Blount, Struggling with Scripture (