WWLS...What Would Luther Say?

I have a deep respect for the Roman Catholic Church.  For 6 years I was a part of the Newman Catholic school system in Mason City, Iowa.  I wasn't Catholic, but I have this strange suspicion the priest and nuns were brainwashing me.  To this day I have this urge to say "and also with you"... or "thanks be to God"... (Which thankfully we say at the Christian Reformed church I attend)

A few days ago I watched the news coverage of Pope Benedict's visit to the White House, and I had a "this is why I am a protestant" moment.  I have a deep respect for Pope Benedict, but I had a difficult time stomaching the pomp and circumstance.  There was the Pope, next to President Bush, watching a military parade being put on in his honor.  The glitz, the glamour, the power and prestige, the "papal protocol" (which Mrs. Bush apparently broke by wearing white...)...  And all I could think was:  What would Martin Luther say?  Then I chuckled... That's why I love Luther...

The contrast was too much.  Here was the head of the Catholic church, the "representative of Jesus Christ on earth" as one reporter put it, at the center of a media circus.  And yet, the one he represents had an entirely different experience.  Instead of power and glamour, he experienced shame and forsakeness.  Instead of presidents and prime ministers, he associated with fishermen and prostitutes - the sick, the lame, the suffering.  Instead of Papal protocol, he had no place to lay his head...  The essence of Biblical Christianity is  the Lamb who has been slain, and the testimony of the martyrs proclaiming the gospel through their suffering.  A confrontation with the powers of this age... not a part of the program.  Sadly, it seems, too often both protestants and Catholics want to be part of the show.

What would Luther say?  I think we know...

Slaying Dragons

So I teach this class - New Testament studies - covering both Acts and Revelation. Although it may seem a weird combo, the deeper you go the more it makes sense. (At least for me ... not sure for my students...) This post is based upon our class discussion today...

Today we had a good discussion ( at least I thought it was good...) about the purpose of Revelation, and what it means to live prophetically. As the discussion progressed we realized there needed to be a clarification of terms - specifically what we mean by "prophetic". How is John's apocalyptic vision prophetic? And how is he calling the church in the first century to live prophetic lives in the face of Roman power and persecution?

Certainly, John is giving first century Christians a word of hope in a time of immense suffering... but he is doing much more. He is calling them to a way of life. He is calling them to be washed in the blood of the lamb, which, at least in the context of Revelation, isn't about being saved from personal sins, it's about a life of faithfulness and discipleship. To follow the lamb who has been slain, taking our place in the struggle against the beasts and dragons, parallels the call of the gospels to take up our cross and follow Jesus. It's more then just an intellectual ascent, a belief or a hope, it's a call to a different way of life.

So what does this way of life look like? And how is it prophetic? An all encompassing biblical definition of "prophetic", from my perspective, it this: to proclaim the Word of God through speech and action. In Jesus Christ, God has spoken... he has revealed Himself, and he has revealed who we are. In Jesus Christ, we know who God is, and we know what it means to be human for in him we find both divinity and all created reality (Chalcedonian definition). Therefore the call to follow Jesus is the call to become who God wants us to be. Through faith we are united to Christ - his death and resurrection - discovering who we were created to be.

In Revelation 17 and 18 John calls first century Christians out of "Babylon"...out from the "beasts and dragons". He calls them out from the powers that dehumanize and destroy... from the powers that symbolize the inward turn... the glorification of the self, the essence of idolatry. In the same way, John calls Christians of the 21st century out from the powers of this world...powers that dehumanize, control, and destroy. He calls us out of idolatry... out of self glorification... self worship... and into the worship of the true God and the Lamb. Through this prophetic word, I would argue we are being called to be truly what we were created to be...human. In a world obsessed with power, with wealth, with status... we are being called back to a human life, an "ordinary life". A life of love, simplicity, generosity, and sacrifice... a life of giving ourselves for the other... pouring ourselves out in love, even for those who would hate and destroy us.

With regard to Revelation we must remember the imagery John uses to communicate his message. How does John speak of the death and suffering of Christ? What does the "weakness" of the cross look like from the perspective of the throne? Victory... power... the Son of man coming on the clouds. What does the "ordinary" life, the human life, we are called to in Christ look like from the throne? The faithfulness of the little old lady in the back pew, pouring herself out in prayer, in service, in the love and embrace of those she ministers too, what does this look like? A dragon slayer - the great multitude that no one can count... singing the song of Moses, to the One who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. This is a life lived in the Spirit.

This is not first and foremost a call out of complacency, it is a call to faithfulness, a call to discipleship. This is a call to live as the Christian community, in allegiance to the risen Lord, in opposition to the powers of this world. This is call to proclaim the presence and reality of the Kingdom of God to the world, reminding them of who they are, and what the world is becoming, and ultimately will be, at the second coming of Christ: "The Kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)