4 May 2025

4 May 2025 - Third Sunday of Easter

Transcript

Reading:  

Revelations chapters two and three

Write:  

The churches of the Book of Revelation

Reflect:   

I have a lot that I will be trying to share with you from my retreat, but not right away. I want instead to focus on the readings from the Book of Revelation for the next few weeks. It is not as scary of a Book as you might think. We started the series on the Book of Revelation last weekend. But of course, I was not here. Last weekend was a simple introduction to the Book. But then we have a skip over the “seven Churches of the Book of Revelation” and that is a shame. Last weekend the reading was from chapter one, and this weekend it was from chapter five. So… I want to spend some time this weekend talking about the churches that are mentioned in chapters two and three.

There are seven of them that are mentioned and, of course, the number seven is very important. But I do not want to make a mountain out of a mole hill – at least not yet regarding numbers. That will come later. But there are certain things about each of the churches that are important – even today. So let’s take a look at them one at a time.

Apply:   

I am not going to make very many direct quotes from the book of Revelation as I’m talking about the churches. Rather I would simply like to give my summary of each of the points for your reflection.

Ephesus is the first church that is mentioned and was the church that St. John was its Bishop. So it’s important that he lists that first I guess. But what does he say about it? St. John is writing from exile, which means the church at Ephesus is suffering without its leader. Jesus is quoted by John as speaking to all of these churches. And Jesus says to the church in Ephesus that they have lost their first love. I think what is meant by that is that they have walked away from the fervor of faith that they first had. That was under Peter’s leadership as a bishop before John. But Jesus warns them that they have walked away from their first love: a love for Jesus.

That seems to be a common problem for our own day. There are many who bemoan the fact that so many Catholics have simply walked away. The fervor that should be part of a Catholic’s faith seems to have died down in far too many people – otherwise they would be coming to Mass all the time.

The second church that is mentioned is Smyrna. Smyrna is encouraged to remain faithful in spite of persecutions. The promise they receive is that they will win “the crown of life.” This is true for us also. It is far too easy for us to… give in to the pressures of the world. Faithfulness requires us to not give in but to hold fast to what God has promised, and to how he has called us to live.

The third church is Pergamum. Jesus is pretty severe with this church. He warns them that they have allowed themselves to be seduced into a form of a heresy that the church condemned. It is a heresy that is filled with… immorality. I really don’t want to say anything more about that right now, except to note that there are many similarities to our own society. But, Jesus does give them a promise and that promise is that to the victor he will give some of the hidden manna – I don’t know what manna that means. But I do know that there is a danger of being seduced by the world around us. There are far too many people living in far too secular of a way and it was a danger to their faith, and is for ours.

The next church that is mentioned is called Thyatira. Jesus tells them that he knows their love and faith and endurance, but they are giving into some of the seductions like Pergamum had. He even go so far as to call it (and I will quote this) “the so-called deep secrets of Satan.” So he tells them part of what they are doing is good (love, faith, endurance) but they are allowing some other junk to get mixed in with their faith practice. Whoops.

There is always a danger when we think we are walking well in the Faith that we will do many of the right things, and seem on the outside holy and good, but inside of any one of us… it can be an unfortunate other story.

The next church is called Sardis. This one is very strange as far as a description goes. Jesus warns them that they have a reputation for being alive, but are in reality a dead church. Now, Jesus does say there are some who have not died spiritually. And they will walk with Jesus dressed in white. So there is hope – there is promise, but it takes a conversion of heart to allow yourself to be dressed in white – to throw off the stuff of the world and to cling instead to Jesus.

The name of the of the next church is a name we would recognize here in the United States. It is the church of Philadelphia. (No, not Pennsylvania.) And Jesus speaks… fairly nicely about their faith and about their commitment. He says they have endured much and that he will continue to keep them safe – so much so that they will be considered a “pillar in the temple of God.” What must we do to be considered even a small stone on the steps up to the temple of God?

Now, we move to the last one: Laodicea. It is probably the best known of the churches because of what Jesus says to them. And it is a great warning to all of us. Jesus tells them that they are lukewarm. He wishes they were either hot or cold, but because they are lukewarm in their faith, it makes Jesus sick to his stomach!

This is kind of the same problem as we’ve heard from some of the other churches. Jesus can work with people who are cold to him – who have actually rejected him. He loves it when people are on fire for him. But it is people who are lukewarm that he has a hard time breaking through to. “Oh, I know all that Jesus stuff… Don’t bother me with it.” These are the lukewarm people in our society today, and even in our church – our local church – here at Midtown Catholic – that are hard to reach because they have “heard enough about Jesus” – but they don’t know him, not really. How do we reach them? This is what it means for us to be evangelizing the world around us. And it is hard to evangelize those who think they know – but do not really.

In closing today, let me remind you – or rather ask you, do you have your faith story ready to tell? These stories of the seven churches do have warnings for us – even today. And I think for those of us who are struggling to remain faithful that the two churches most important for us are the last two: Philadelphia – with the promises that Jesus will keep us safe; and Laodicea because Jesus wants us on fire for him. Amen.

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