Kahu's Manao

Fifth Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika

“Imagine”
Revelation 21:1-6 & John 13:31-35

It never ceases to amaze me when I think back on my days in Sunday school. Whatever images I may have about where heaven is located and what heaven is like came from the memory I have of those early years.

One of the hymns we often sang included the following refrain: “I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop in that bright land where we never grow old; and some day yonder we will never more wander but walk on streets that are paved with gold.”

We lay claim to the promise that Jesus made to Peter and the other early disciples - “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2) He goes a step further and says to Peter, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3)

Whatever images we may conjure up about heaven quickly disappear when we realize “heaven is plainly and simply the place where God is.” The Rev. Dana Ferguson, Associate Pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois noted that “this is the first and most important detail: heaven is the place where God is and humans are fully united with God.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Bartlett & Taylor, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2009, page 462)

We are accustomed to thinking about heaven in terms of its location or what it may look like. However the writer of The Revelation to John reminds us to imagine heaven not as a place or location but as a relationship we share with God now - in this moment – and not some time in the distant future.

The Revelation to John was written during the reign of the Emperor Domitian and his persecution of Christians in the latter part of the first century. Domitian insisted that he be called “My Lord and My God.” He compelled others to do this by putting incense on the altar for use in emperor worship. Those who refused were persecuted. (The Word & You, Nan Duerling, Volume 1, United Church Press, Cleveland, Ohio, 1997, page 165)

Our reading this morning provided the people with a vision of God’s new world for those who were faithful in the midst of such political persecution. (Revelation 21:1-22:5) The vision was intended to serve as a source of encouragement to the churches in the first century and to call for faithful living in the midst of such persecution. It was a vision that challenged the worship of any nation that exalted itself above God.

When I think back on my days in college in the 1970s I was convinced as were many others that The Revelation to John provided all of the clues that pointed to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Back then there were different wars and rumors of wars, famines and natural disasters of every kind. It did not matter that such signs and wonders occurred in previous generations. It was clear that we were living in a time unlike any other.

Well, forty years have passed. Today there are those who look at the last decade and are convinced that the end is near once again. The events of 9/11; the horrific destruction in Asia as a result of the earthquake in Indonesia and the cataclysmic tsunami it generated the day after Christmas and the disaster that overwhelmed New Orleans in the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina; the protracted war in the Middle East; the recent swarm of earthquakes worldwide and the onslaught of volcanic eruptions, tornados, monsoons, and other disasters that have occurred are all signs that the end is near.

Some are eager to usher a war of unimagined destruction in the Middle East if only to hasten Jesus’ return. To speak of an apocalypse is to speak of the destruction of the world as we know it.

But the term that is used in reference to The Revelation to John means to “reveal” or to “unveil.” It does not mean “to destroy.”

What is revealed, what is unveiled to the people is reality that Domitian is not in charge of history. It is God - “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” – who shapes the course of history. What is revealed is a vision of hope for the future in the midst of rough times.

The vision is not one of earth lifted up to heaven, but of heaven coming down to transform earth and human life with the presence of God. “The home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them and they will be God’s people and God will be with them.” (Revelation 21:3)

Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania points out that apocalyptic writing imagines a “new heaven and a new earth in terms of transformation and healing, not simply obliteration . . . it evokes faithful discipleship in the present, rather than an empty hope that sits and waits.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Bartlett & Taylor, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2009, page 467)

Our faithful discipleship in the present requires us to give heed to Jesus’ words. If a new heaven and a new earth is to come it will come as we respond to a new commandment - that we love one another as he has loved us. By this will everyone know that we are his disciples. (John 13:34-35)

If there is any mystery to the apocalypse it is not in deciphering its images and symbols but in affirming the revelation God is already at work and that Jesus is here right now. “Making new; that’s what’s going on in the world; that’s what’s happening.” (Preaching through the Apocalypse: Sermons from Revelation, David Buttrick, Chalice Press, St. Louis, 1992, page 162).

“The Holy City is not future perfect, it’s present tense” (or as someone has suggested “check out the Greek verbs in the text!) Now the Holy City is descending, Now God is making things new. Right now God is wiping tears and easing pain and overcoming the power of death in the world.”

“Now! There’s nothing otherworldly about the vision; it’s happening now in the midst of our worn, torn, broken world. And with the eyes of faith, (we) can see it happening.” (Op. cit.)

Our hope for the future does not lie in putting trust in any “emperor” or king or president but in the One who is the Alpha and Omega. It is God who proclaims, “See, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5; Isaiah 42:9; 43:19)

So it is that we imagine and envision a new future. We seek to live such a vision in a world marked not by betrayal and violence but by love and service in the name of the Risen Christ.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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