The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Readings:   I Samuel 3.1-10  Revelation 5.1-10;   John 1.43-51
 ‘You have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,  and they will reign on earth.’How does this statement which concludes  our reading from the Book of Revelation ring in your ears? It’s not the same, but does it have a feel about it  of what we might expect from Islamist assassins? The slaughtered one alone is worthy to open the scroll. Of course this slaughtered one has not slaughtered anyone else,  and it is the prayers of the people  which earn them the position of ruling the earth. Nevertheless, according to the author of the Book of Revelation they may expect to ‘rule the earth’!  World domination? There is indeed in Shia Islam, belief  that a special imam will appear at the end of time  heralding judgement and a new order in the universe,  a perspective sounding not unlike our own book of Revelation! So how are we to understand such texts of an idealised unified world  so inimical to contemporary western thinking? Surely Paris ten days ago, Belgium two days ago  are thorough wake up calls! Though I am not at all sure we have properly understood what is at stake. Or how the God of Christ would have us respond.
As we reflect on the Book of Revelation, its very real obscurity leaves it open to many interpretations,  which Christians down the centuries and across the world  have used to rouse others to ever greater fervour and belief. We need to beware of fundamentalism in all its guises,  Christian and secular included. We need to address our scriptures first within their own contexts,  and then reflect on how they might speak to our contemporary context. Without doing so we also risk serious damage to others around us.
So what is the Book of Revelation about? The writer lies imprisoned for his faith. An angel takes him on a journey into the very corridors of heaven, and what strange and extraordinary visions he sees there. John’s account of his apocalyptic experiences,  looks forward to the end of time as we know it.  The end of time when cataclysmic events will herald  the coming of the new order of creation.  A time when truly, the Messiah,  the Son of Man, Lion of the tribe of Judah,  the Lamb of God who was slain, very God will reign over all.
John the Divine was writing towards the end of the first century,   and will have lived through just such cataclysmic events. Devastating events for both parent and child, the parent Jewish nation and its fledgling offspring,  the early Christian Church. The for us, difficult and at times terrifying symbolic imagery of this book, was, for those at the time with eyes to see, ears to hear,  easily identified with particular people and events  in their own recent history.
In the year 64 the megalomaniac emperor, Nero  inflicted the first official persecution on the Church in Rome. A great fire had spread through Rome destroying all before it. The devastation it left also created the space Nero was wanting  to build his own new palace and garden. It was soon rumoured that he had started the fire himself. To squash any such thinking and the possibility of uprising, he quickly decided upon blaming the Christians.      So different and strange,   they were a mysterious community to their neighbours. It was easy to whip up suspicion against them.
However, Nero was not to be left in peace. The Jewish Revolt in Judea was gathering momentum  and initially successful.    Unrest at home intensified, until four years later,  Nero was driven from office. Following his suicide and several further swift assassinations,   he was replaced by the very general he had sent to quell Judea, Vespasian. Vespasian and his two sons thoroughly defeated the Jewish Revolt. Titus the older son, in the year 70, and following a terrible siege,  laid waste to Jerusalem herself. He ravaged the city at the heart of both Judaism and Christianity. Less than ten years later, Titus’ own short reign is remembered  for the literal cataclysmic bolt from the blue in the year 79,  the instant disappearance of Pompeii under the lava and ash of Vesuvius. Perhaps this was God’s judgement on Titus’  for his earlier destruction of the holy city. Titus was succeeded by younger brother, Domitian,  under whose own more limited persecution,   the author of our text, was in prison on Patmos.
Domitian also had good reason to be paranoid.   Popularly designated the ‘Second Nero’, and like the first,   claiming himself to be divine, he was nevertheless murdered in the year 96.
 Rumour and intrigue and sudden death abounded. For the young and growing church,  when was their God, the God who had sent the Saviour,  when was their God going to intervene and bring justice to the world? For both Jew and Christian in the midst of such destruction, keeping the faith was not easy.
So what about John’s visions of monsters and fallen angels,  fire and brimstone?   The book of Revelation was a subtly subversive tract.  A coded protest. The visionary is taken up into a realm where he can see the realities behind appearances.  Such vision enabled him to set out the consequences for a world  where state and emperor are deified,  where instead of the Creator, power and human institutions are worshipped.
Reader, look between the lines!  Beyond the surface! The imagery points to real political powers. This is a book written to encourage the battered and struggling  Christian communities to be strong, to reject the temptation to give up,  for surely God saw all they endured. There is appalling violence in the world, but the reign of Christ  when wrongs will be put right, is surely coming. Hold fast his precepts and all shall be well. ‘All manner of thing shall be well’ to quote a famous mystic.
Second, and most importantly, our other two readings this morning, the callings of Samuel, and Jesus’ first disciples,  speak to us a vital message about how we read Scripture:  the need to be ever open to the still small voice of God,  and the possibility that God is speaking something new to us.
As the young Samuel hears God’s voice in the night Eli is called to recognise his own time of leadership,  and that of his family, is coming to an end. The disciples of John the Baptist are called  to leave their revered master behind to follow a new teacher. God is always leading us forward into deeper understanding, wider vistas. We too need to listen deeply, and speak carefully.
How are we feeling about all that has happened in our own world, in our political arenas these last few days? As terrifying for Muslims as much as non-Muslims. Do we believe God sees, cares for us, in all our circumstances? Have we considered how God might want us to get involved? Is it possible we are being called to walk a new path?
We have a General Election in four months. Perhaps the most uncertain election for many decades. We live in a world where the complexity of the issues can overwhelm us. Nevertheless, it is vital we do not give up. We need to inform ourselves from all angles. Ask questions. Probe what lies behind things.  Hold our politicians to account. We need to find out about Islam. What it is that draws idealistic young people  into such horrific violent perspectives on the world. How can we help to build strong, open,  multi-cultural and inclusive communities? Ones where mutual respect and honour are the hallmarks.   Amen.