Follow Me with Faithfulness (Lent 4, 2025) - Revelation 1:1-10

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John was one of the Apostles--a band of brothers who lived their lives under the leadership of Jesus.  

They also lived their lives under the authority of kings and Emperors.  

The first Roman ruler who was part of John's landscape was Emperor Tiberius. It was during his reign that the 12 Apostles lost their first brother: Judas committed suicide after betraying Jesus.  

After Tiberius came Emperor Claudius, during whose reign John's dear brother—his other half, his partner, his buddy—James was arrested and put to the sword in Jerusalem by Herod Agrippa.  

After Claudius came Emperor Nero. You may be familiar with this name. He is infamous for his cruelty. Christians were tortured and killed as political pawns during his reign, and the Church scattered across the great Roman empire. During Nero’s reign the Apostle Matthew was stoned for his faith Ethiopia. In Turkey Andrew was crucified for his faith. In Britain Simon the Zealot was crucified for his faith. In Rome Peter was crucified for his faith. 

After Nero came Emperor Vespasian—not much better. Vespasian ordered and oversaw the destruction of Jerusalem, the disassembly and looting of the Temple of God, and the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Jews. During Vespasian's rule Thomas was killed in India for his faith by a spear. In Syria Jude was killed by an axe for his faith. In Egypt the other Apostle James was crucified for his faith. In India Bartholomew was crucified for his faith. 

After Vespasian came his son Emperor Titus to the throne—the general who had implemented Jerusalem’s destruction, and was celebrated in Rome for that wonderful, glorious military victory. During Titus's very short rule Philip, in the city of Hieropolis, was crucified for his faith.  

After Titus came Emperor Domitian. Domitian was nuts, and not the good kind of nuts. He set himself up as the head of a state religion: the worship of Domitian. He killed and imprisoned the priests and priestesses of other long established Roman gods. Christians were arrested, tried, and imprisoned or killed or exiled. He even had some of his own family members (converts to Judaism) convicted of ‘atheism’ and executed.  

In case you haven’t been keeping count in our list of names, we're up to 11 now. Under the reign of Domitian there is one left: John.  

John is the last one left. Living now, in his 80’s, in Ephesus, he is the last eyewitness left to the life of Christ. The last one who was there when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. The last one who was there for the miracles that Jesus performed. The last one who saw the transfiguration, when the glory of God broke into the world. He was the last one who had met the Apostle Paul and welcomed him—from being an enemy to being a brother. The last one left. 

It's in this final part of his life when we begin to hear John's voice. He begins to write and write and write. The man who started his life casting nets made of flax and linen to catch fish ends his life casting nets woven of words, inspired by the Spirit, to catch the hearts and the minds and the spirits of people.  

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James’ younger brother is now “The Elder.” He addresses his readers as “my little children.”  

He writes about love: love is strong, love is bold, love speaks up when it needs to speak up, love is not weak and wishy washy, love doesn't ever give up. Love doesn't ever surrender.  

As writes his Gospel and his letters, he’s in his 90s in a world where the life expectancy for a man was closer to 50. John has beat the odds. He is in the 1% to have lived this long. And at some point John catches the eye of Domitian. John is a leader in this (as Domitian would have put it) atheistic organization who refuse to acknowledge his godhood. 

John is arrested, tried, convicted, and taken in chains down to the harbour in Ephesus. He’s put on a boat and sailed 120 kilometers away and left on the Isle of Patmos. 

Patmos was a small island where Domitian exiled troublemakers. As far as we can tell from archaeological studies, there was no synagogue on Patmos. There was definitely no Baptist Church. But God met him there.  

God met him and John had the vision that is introduced in our scripture focus.  

On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet... - Revelation 1:10 

God opened a window to eternity, a window of perspective, helping John understand what was going to happen, alongside what was happening in his own day. God's final written unveiling of hope to the world.

When John wrote this letter, he didn't address it from “The Elder” but from: 

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus. - Revelation 1:9 

John wanted everybody to know that, ‘We're all on the same page. We're all in the same boat. I am in prison because I spoke the name of Jesus and I wouldn't back down.’ 

The letter begins with John telling people, ‘This is what Jesus wants you to know.’ 

It ends with John's prayer,  

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! - Revelation 22:20

And in between, all through the body of that vision is woven images that his brothers and sisters on the mainland would have recognized from their own experience. Their suffering under Nero was on those pages. Their experience under Domitian was on those pages. And woven all through the bad news was God's promise to bring justice, and to bring peace.  

The TLDR of Revelation is this: whatever you see happen around you... Don't give up. Because Christ will stand and so can you. 

Sometime after John experienced Christ’s revelation, Emperor Nerva came to the throne and undid all of Domitian’s religious laws. He ordered the release of the religious prisoners and exiles. John was free to get on a boat and sail back to Ephesus: to his Church family. The Elder, returning to his ‘little children.’ He was home again in time for the end.  

And I think I can picture that; when John came to the end of his long obedience, just as his very, very young self had done so long ago, maybe The Elder leaned back against Jesus’ chest (John 13:23-26) and rested.  

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When we read about people in Scripture, we're told so little. It's like peeking through cracks. Out of John's life of 90 some years, I think if we add up what’s on the page, we really only spend a few hours in his company. The text doesn't tell us how he reacted in in wonderful, glorious moments like seeing people raised from death to life. How he reacted when he heard the news that his brother James, and then every one of his faith brothers, had been killed. We don't see between those moments the long hours, the long days, the years of long obedience in the same direction through a world that was just as politically and militarily confused and worrying as ours.  

Because we are, aren't we... Worried? Afraid? Kind of angry sometimes? A little bit exhausted from trying to keep up with what is happening in the news cycle? Wondering what the future holds? Trying to see behind the curtains and beneath the surface of the analysis of what so-and-so said and how does it contradict what they said last week and what's going to happen next? 

We don't know what's going to happen in Canada, and in North America, and in our world, any more than John knew what was going to happen when the next Emperor came to the throne. Right now, our world is experiencing more uncertainty than we have seen in generations. So much is broken, so much is under threat, just like in John's day. We, just like John's people, are worried and afraid and angry.  

So what did John do? How did he live that long obedience in the same direction when everything political was going to pot? How did John live his life of faith, from leaning on the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper, to falling into His arms at the other end? What did he do? 

First of all, I think that when things got stressful, when things got confused, John doubled down on what mattered: his faith in Jesus. He was waiting for Jesus to return. He believed that Jesus would return. While he waited, John doubled down on caring for the people whose need just never seemed to decrease. Life didn't get any easier. There was no more food for the poor than there had been last week, but John continued to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus and His instructions. John doubled down on his love for his fallible and wavering little children. Including us.  

Second, when he was ready to be heard, he spoke up. He wrote and he wrote and he wrote to remind us, to encourage people about love. To encourage people towards hope. To encourage them in the hard work of faithfulness. Reminding them—and us two millennia later—that God is in control. Yes, Jesus will return. Yes, Holy Spirit is working. But while we wait to see what He is going to do—while we wait for Jesus to return—we have work to do.  

• We have been given by Jesus:
• The work of reconciliation.  
• The work of making peace.  
• The work of showing up where we're supposed to be.  
• The work of praying.  
• The work of worshipping.  
• The work of strengthening the things that will endure.  
• We have been given by Jesus the work of caring for people in need.  
• The work of loving our enemy.  
• The work of pursuing wisdom.  
• Of speaking with grace, especially online. 

 John lived and suffered and worked through decades of personal and political upheaval, no less than ours today, and he has left us with no excuse. 

We cannot ignore the fact that the work that matters in our world—the good things that most deeply impact the people around us, the good things that build for the Kingdom of God, the good things that declare the hope of the Lordship of Christ—those good things have never been, are not now, will never be the work of political power or big business. 

 

Those good things are the work of those of us who follow Jesus.

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