Slay The Beasts

“I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses:  These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. 

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified…”

Our first reading is from Revelations, again.   Bizarre reading.   I always refer to Elaine Pagels book, “Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation” to get the so-called inside story.  What does the author mean? 

According to the book jacket: “…Pagels returns to 66 C.E.   In the waning days of the Roman Empire, militant Jews in Jerusalem had waged an all-out war against Rome’s occupation of Judea, and their defeat resulted in the desecration of the Great Temple in Jerusalem.  In the aftermath of that war, John of Patmos, a Jewish prophet and follower of Jesus, wrote the Book of Revelation, prophesying God’s judgment on the pagan empire that devastated and dominated its people.  

Soon after, Christians fearing arrest and execution championed John’s prophesies as offering hope for deliverance from evil.  Others seized the Book of Revelation as a weapon against heretics and infidels of all kinds; the book has fascinated saints, mystics, and artists to this day…Throughout the centuries, readers and artists have taken John’s Book of Revelation seriously without taking it literally, as each generation sees its own conflicts, sufferings, and hopes reflected in John’s powerful images of cosmic war and divine victory.”

With today’s world-wide political conflicts with far right pitted against far left, the Book of Revelation’s prophesies should be taken seriously especially that part about water being turned into blood.   A voice from heaven needs to speak to all of us, and it might say, “Slay the dragons of evil within you – the beasts of envy, violence, hate, and pride.”  Otherwise, blood will flow.

Deacon David Pierce