“Shape up, or else”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Revelation 3:14-22 (Forward, p. 46) CEV p. 1298

I’m not sure whether it is only in my imagination, or whether it is true, but when it comes to the angel’s letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, they seem to run from bad to worst.  This is especially concerning given that this last letter, the one addressed to the church in Laodicea, seems to most closely align or fit with our modern times and situation.

However, as with much of the book of Revelation, any straight-forward or easy reading and understanding of the passage is obscured by symbols that are unfamiliar to us, some of which don’t even make sense initially.

Take for instance, verses 15-16: I know everything you have done, and you are not cold or hot.  I will you were either one or the other.  But since you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  To us, at face value, it makes no sense at all.  We would naturally see hot as being good, as being on fire, passionate, for the Lord and for His work.  Cold would be the opposite, opposed to Christ and cold to His pleas to love and follow Him.  So, why would the angel want these people to be either one or the other, rather than being caught somewhere in the middle?

Here, however, a bit of an historical and geographical lesson is of help.  Nearby were the waters of a cold, refreshing river, the pure waters of Colossae.  Surely, as drinking water this was certainly to be desired.  And also nearby were the hot springs of Hierapolis, the waters of which had healthful and therapeutic qualities.  If enjoyed in situ, at that very location, they were very beneficial.  However, someone had constructed an aqueduct to carry these self-same waters the five miles to Laodicea.  However, this adventure was quite misguided for by the time they reached that city, they were tepid, lukewarm, and no longer any good to anyone.  That, it would seem, is the image that the angel is drawing upon here.  Sadly, I would suggest that the same could be said of far too many Christians today.  They simply do not make much of an impact and simply slide, shuffle through life with scarcely any effect at all.

The angel then goes on, in verse 17, to say: “You claim to be rich and successful and to have everything you need.  But you don’t know how bad off you are.  You are pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”  About his references to being blind and naked, I will refer to shortly, but will deal first with the idea of the riches and success.  Laodicea was the centre of a vast trading network and as such had become quite rich and successful.  It became a place noted for its great finance and banking establishments.  So strong was it in this, that in 60 A.D., when it was devastated by a major earthquake, it refused all outside help (like that from the Emperor) and did the rebuilding entirely on its own.  So, while the angel may well have been referring to the seeming ‘spiritual’ riches of that Christian community, and their apparent self-confidence, and self-assurance that they were ‘okay, very well, thank you’ (which can happen so very, very easily), it more probably refers to their material wealth, which can so easily displace true worship and snuff out proper devotion to God.  Alternatively, the angel says to them, “Buy your gold from me.  It has been purified in a fire, and it will make you rich.”  And, if that reliance upon either ourselves or on own wealth and possessions was true back then, how much truer this might be true in our complacent, prosperous, self-satisfied Western world and Western church?

Now, to return to the comments about being naked and blind: both of these also have a connection to the local situation.  Laodicea was noted as a centre for the wool trade, especially for a kind of heavy black wool.  So, note that in contrast to the ‘black’ wool that they produce, God is offering something different, something better.  He tells them to ‘buy white clothes from me.  Wear them and you can cover up your shameful nakedness’.

With regards to their blindness, historians tell us that there was a medical school in Laodicea and that a famous ophthalmologist practiced there.  Furthermore, this area (Phrygia) produced an important ingredient of eye-lotions called “Phrygian powder.”  So, the angel is suggesting something better than anything they have previously known and relied upon, namely something from God Himself.  “Buy medicine for your eyes, so that you will be able to see.”

So, what the angel is counselling is for his audience at Laodicea to turn from their sins and return to the Lord.  Even now, our Lord is described as standing at the door of their hearts, knocking and waiting for admittance within.  Indeed, that is exactly what our Lord wants with each and every one of us: to find admittance to our hearts and lives, to make His home there and to be part of everything that we do, say or think, and not just now during Advent and Christmastide, but always.  Amen.

Forward notes: “For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’  You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (verse 17).

“Although it’s been nearly a year since 2020 came to a close, living through a global pandemic, racial inequality, civil unrest, financial insecurity, food scarcity, and unforeseen death and sickness was not for the faint of heart. Even as I type these words, I nod my head, remembering.  It was a hard season for many of us; none were left untouched. 

“But if pressing forward, day in and day out, through a year that never should have happened taught me anything, it’s this: ours is sometimes a paradoxical, upside-down kind of world.  As John of Patmos writes, just as we are rich, have prospered, and need nothing, we find that we are actually ‘wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.’  Ours is a both-and existence, a time of flipping the coin from side to side and realizing that both can be true. 

“Just as we wonder when our next paycheck will come, we see that our bank account is filled with more than enough to share.  May it be so as we move forward in darkness.”

Moving Forward: “In the spirit of both-and, consider pairs of opposite words and ponder how God can be in the midst of both of them.”