This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news

MURDOCH FACES HARD QUESTIONS  

Revelation 19:5-10

5 And from the throne came a voice saying,
‘Praise our God,
all you his servants,^*
and all who fear him,
small and great.’
⁶Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder-peals, crying out,
‘Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
⁸ to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure’—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ ¹⁰Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow-servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus.^* Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’

suffering has no passport

After the judgment on the great city (see previous blogs) the vision turns to those whom God will reward with eternal life. They are the bride of the Lamb, that is, they are to live in the love of Jesus forever. Heaven is the absence of all idolatry. The prophet is rebuked for showing reverence to an angel.  Only the one God of justice and love is to be worshipped through his son Jesus the Lamb, in the power of his Spirit which animates the prophet. Idolatry is not much considered in modern religious discourse as if it had gone out of business. The criterion is that whatever puts itself ahead of the Lamb is an idol. The popular press in the UK are great idolaters, most recently in their wrathful promotion of the remembrance poppy as a symbol of UK sacrifice. The Lamb sees only the marks of suffering on his people; he doesn’t examine their passports.

Matthew 16:1-12

16The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2He answered them, ‘When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” 3And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ Then he left them and went away.

5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ 7They said to one another, ‘It is because we have brought no bread.’ 8And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, ‘You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? 9Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’ 12Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Faced with all the signs of Jesus’ ministry the religious leaders demand a sign of his authenticity! The religious mind is obsessed with legitimacy and miracles. That’s why it so often falls for snake-oil salesmen. To them Jesus offers only the ambiguous sign of the prophet who was swallowed up but returned to preach repentance. The bread of Jesus is God’s kingdom available in his life and teaching,  true bread for Jews and Gentiles (for number symbolism, see yesterday’s blog). The teaching of the religious leaders is corrupted by religiosity and power. We should take very seriously the numerous warnings in the gospels against false religious teaching. Just the other day I heard an orthodox Moslem inveighing against the perversion of the Quran by killers. The perversion of the gospel of Jesus is just as dangerous, especially when it s used to bully and intimidate.