Text: Revelation 5:1-14

I truly hope that this week’s sermon will feel like somewhat of a reprieve from the terrifying beasts and somewhat sobering message of last week. We’re jumping around in the book of Revelation a bit but I zoomed in on the beast chapters first because a) that’s kind of what people think about when they think about Revelation and b) those images sum up the depiction of the Roman Empire – the evil against which the church must resist and to whom John is offering an alternative vision and Way.

That’s what we’re going to cover today – this alternative idea and vision to what is so prevalent in the culture of Rome and those under its thumb. A vision that also includes numbers and images and codes that would have been understandable to John’s audience but need a little de-coding for us. If you didn’t listen to last week’s sermon – I unlocked absolutely all of the secrets of the beast and the sign of the beast and the dragon and the whore. We solved it all.

In the intro to Revelation in the Anabaptist Community Bible, Nelson Krabill says, 

“From start to finish, Revelation is about worship and allegiance to Jesus Christ. With dualism common in apocalyptic books, there is no middle ground: either you are worshiping God and the Lamb or you are worshiping the beast. Exuberant praise punctuates Revelation…”

So while it is known for the darkness and the beasts, what is more of a thread through Revelation is joyful praise.

I met the church relations person for World Relief last week – Hannah Snelling – to learn more about what they’re up to these days and what it’s like to be an agency that works with refugees and asylum seekers in an environment that’s pretty hostile to welcoming non-Americans. One of the things that she observed about the current administration is how little joy it both expresses and elicits.

She put her finger on one of the things that I hadn’t been able to express but I had felt. Even when ‘victories’ are announced – whether that’s how many ‘criminals’ have been deported, or how high tariffs will be, or ‘destroying’ Iran’s capacity for nuclear development. There’s plenty of spite and triumph and smugness and pride, with motivations of pettiness and fear. But no joy.

What this week’s passage does have in spades is joy. Deep joy. Reverent and loud and contagious. The exuberant praise that Krabill talks about spreads wider and wider and wider until there are infinite angels praising god. And ending with shouts of ‘Amen.’ 

John Yeatts of the Believers Church Bible Commentary Revelation commentary says that this is like a ‘Yes!’ and it made me think of a camp song I learned at Camrec. The chorus goes, “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, yes, yes Lord.” And I picture groups of youth bouncing joyfully and doing the actions and ending with the loud “Amen!” Truly joyful in the knowledge of their own belovedness and their togetherness in community. 

But that song is called “Trading My Sorrows” and it starts, “I’m trading my sorrows. I’m trading my pain. I’m trading them all for the joy of the Lord.” This passage that ends so full of joy actually does start with John’s sorrow and grief. 

There he is in heaven. Surrounded by angels and the four creatures – a representation of all of living creation, and the twenty four elders, who are stand-ins for the churches, and even God, seated on a throne. And in God’s hand is the scroll – written front and back with means of redeeming all creation. 

But, John thinks, maybe there is no one who will be able to step forward into the role of ‘scroll breaker,’ the one who can lead and redeem the churches, who can read and reveal God’s plans for the world and for those who dwell in the Reign of God. He begins with hopelessness and loss and sorrow and so he weeps.

Ah, but then! The lion is coming, the angel announces. Woohoo! All is not lost! A lion of the root of Judah. We know – John knows – that this at last is Jesus.

A lion would have been an ancient symbol of Judaism – in fact still used in the Jewish tradition today. A lion is a protector, a fierce defender, a powerful force. But there is a surprise! When the ‘lion’ appears, he looks like a lamb – and not only that a lamb that has been slaughtered but is somehow still living. And filled with God’s Spirit, whole and perfect in sight (the 7 eyes) and in power (the 7 horns).

This idea of a lion – a victor, a conqueror, a leader – that appears as a sacrificial lamb (with 7 eyes and horns), in addition to being somewhat gruesome, turns the whole idea of what power and victory is on its head. The theme of power through non-violence, through willingness to suffer, is absolutely antithetical to the understanding of the conquering Roman empire – and to almost any political system – where power is based on force and threat and coercion.

That is the Christ around whom all of heaven and earth and multitudes and scores of angels sing joyful praise.

When I was in college, way back in 1996, composer Victor Davies was commissioned to compose an oratorio based on Revelation and I was a part of the 300 voice choir that performed its debut along with the Winnipeg Symphony. I don’t remember much of the music but the lines from this passage in particular resound in my head when I read or hear the words, “You are worthy, to take the scroll, and breaaaaaak the seal!”  The sound resounded, starting in unison and breaking into harmony as the line ended. 

Mennonites don’t totally have a monopoly on singing in resounding four part harmony. It’s there in other traditions. But we are pretty good at singing when we get together. I am often moved to tears when I hear a big old group of Mennonites singing a beloved hymn with gusto. My highlights of convention were the morning hymns sings and several more spontaneous gatherings coordinated by BMC and Mennonite action, singing songs of liberation and joy and justice.

Those times of song, because they were spontaneous, because they weren’t on the schedule, started somewhat small, including those in the know or the initiators and grew and grew as people heard the singing and packed into the exhibitor lobby space where ‘Lord, Listen to your Children’ and ‘The World is About to Turn’ was echoing through the hotel and convention center. (video here)

Song has been critical to the movement of social change. South African theologian and anti-apartheid activist Allan Boesak wrote that that movement would have been “inconceivable” without them. He wrote in 1987:

Others join us as we march, singing and dancing, back into the church. This is a new song, a freedom song, and the power of it…[inspired] thousands upon thousands in South Africa. For although the seals of the scrolls must still be opened, the scroll is not in the hands of Caesar but in the hands of the Lamb.

Those words, written before the fall of apartheid hold the hope and ultimately the prophetic power of worship and song in the non-violent way of Christ the lamb.

Whether that’s the singing revolution of Estonia or the freedom songs of South Africa or the church music of the civil rights movement here in the US, or singing ceasefire carols outside of the Westlake Center.

We worship the lamb of God, who leads us in joyful non-violent love. Nelson Krabill writes:  

“To give allegiance and worship to God alone, even in the face of martyrdom, is to “emerge victorious.” For the small Christian minority, it must have been reassuring to see all creation worshiping God and the Lamb in heaven, where prayers (and I’ll add: the songs) of saints on earth are reaching the divine presence. Christ himself stands amid the congregations to encourage, bless and empower.”

May we continue to be empowered by our joyful song to the Lamb of God who is our one and only Lord. Amen.