Continuing Revelation 18-19.
The images of this apocalyptic work bounce back and forth between "the Authentic" and "the Perverse imitation." The Whore is the world's version of the Bride. The True Woman is the Bride. Babylon is the 'cheap imitation' which seduces people from God. As I wrote last time, the primary mode of this seduction is economic and it appeals to all manner of people. Personal morality is not immaterial, but in this book the prime focus is economic.
One common theme of presidential elections is to ask the question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" While no doubt personally relevant and certainly motivational, a good case can be made that my own personal financial success may not be the primary question. It certainly is not the question Jesus asks...
The whore of Babylon collapses and is destroyed. No earthly power can, in the end, replace God. Angels sing Alleluia and the smoke of the smoldering city rises forever and ever. One sees the connection to the incense (prayers of the saints) which rises before the altar of God. Is there an ironic parallel here? Then loud voices, a roar like mighty waters or a huge crowd declare, "this is the wedding day of the Lamb."
Marriage imagery resonated for me in light of a wedding I did this saturday. One great debate in the churches centers around whether marriage is a sacrament of not. Some would say, "no" it was not instituted by Christ. (Ancient Christian arguments would beg to differ. Jesus is The Word. And everything is created through the Word. Genesis says God made them male and female so they can marry. Hence, Jesusas-God not-yet-Incarnate created marriage..) Whatever ones' view of the sacrament, obviously marriage is a sign of Christ's relationship with the church. Marriage is identified as a way to understand the coming of the kingdom.
How is marriage a fit model to understand the coming Kingdom? Certainly one key element (for an ancient) would be the celebration. Marriage feasts were big events and rare opportunities to celebrate. Life was hard for them, harder than it is for us. The notion of joy is prevalent here. You and I are invited to a deeper sense of joy. Anticipating the joy yet to come is another way of describing the church's vocation.
Marriage is also about union: man and woman become one. And marital love is fecund; it produces new life. The relationship of Christ to church has long been compared to man and wife. The church is both the wife and the children (apocalyptic imagery is multivalent and cannot be limited to one sense). Knowing the future we are invited to live today in a way which reflects that hope.
Reading this text and praying over it, I made an effort to meditate my self into the joy of a wedding. I used the recent event as fodder for my thinking. I was amazed at how my mood changed. In a world full of sex scandal (generals and muppets), division (states petitioning to secede), and potential wars (Israel vs....) it is helpful to recall that the apocalyptic vision of Jesus was a stern warning not to be dismayed by all the birth pangs. Bad stuff has always been around, frequently much worse than what we experience. I do not know the whens and hows of The End. I do know the imagery: Wedding! And if God loves us so, then in the midst of worries, we can relax, enjoy and give thanks.
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