4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
Acts 13:14, 43-52 | Psalm 99:1-3, 5 | Apocalypse 7:9, 14-17 | John 10:27-30
John’s visions of the End Times are some of my favorite readings for their revelations (pun intended), but I only recently realised that I’d been misinterpreting one passage for a very long time:
“These are the people who have been through the great persecution; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.” (Apocalypse 7:14)
For some reason, I’ve long conflated the two clauses into a mistaken belief that their martyrdom earned them the right to bleach the robes with Christ’s blood. This is of course incorrect: Christ redeemed all humanity with His blood, martyr or not.
I think the message here is rather: “these are the people who kept faith with Christ unto death, and because of their faith, they chose to wash their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb, and to stand in front of the throne and the Lamb.” In other words, your faith in Christ may cause you some amount of suffering in this life, but “keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life.” Jesus Himself said as much:
Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)
Some crosses are heavier than others, but a life of suffering and poverty doesn’t automatically give a person any greater standing than a life of comfort and plenty. In the end, I think it’s how deeply we believe, and how that affects what we do to and for our fellow beings, that gains merit in God’s eyes.
Lord, help us to keep Your faith by seeing You in every one we meet, and to love them as we love You, especially if they love us not. Amen.