Epistle to Laodicea: A Call for Repentance (Revelation 3:14-22)

Let us pray: Almighty God, we believe that you are the one who transforms our life through your powerful words. This morning, we seek your guidance as we meditate upon the read passage. Speak to us so that we can genuinely commit ourselves to your voice. In Jesus’ name we pray Amen.

Good morning everyone. We have been meditating upon the seven letters written to seven churches. As we know Laodicea is the seventh church and today we are going to reflect on the message given to this church. The church at Laodicea was probably founded during the time of Paul. There is no evidence that Paul visited this church, but there is a reference in Colossians that he wrote a letter to them that was subsequently lost. Laodicea was in Southern Phrygia, midway between Philadelphia and Colossae. Laodicea was known as an independent and wealthy city where wool was a main source of commerce. Agriculture and commercial prosperity brought banking industry to Laodicea. The most striking indication of the city’s wealth is that the city was rebuilt without financial aid from Rome, following the devastating earthquake of A.D 60. The major weakness of this city was its lack of an adequate and convenient source for water. The water had to be brought in from springs near Dazili through a system of stone pipes. The revelation that John receives identifies Jesus as Amen exclusively to this church. The Amen insists that the church pay careful attention to what he is saying. From this letter, I would like to briefly share three points. 

 

Luke warmness: to be avoided

When we refer to verses 15&16, they say “you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” The church of Laodicea is like the water of Laodicea which is lukewarm in nature. In fact, water from the hot springs in Hierapolis, six miles away was brought to the city by aqueducts. By the time it reached Laodicea, the water was no longer hot, it was lukewarm. Cold water from Colossae was also piped in, by the time it reached Laodicea, this water was lukewarm as well and not very palatable. The therapeutic properties of hot water and refreshing quality of cool waters are missing in this. In the same way, the church in Laodicea was providing neither refreshment for the spiritually weary, nor healing for the spiritually sick. It was totally ineffective and thus distasteful to the Lord. Jesus expects his church to be a place of healing and refreshing or else he would abandon them.

What I would like to convey from this is that we are expected to take a standpoint. Double position, half-knowledge, half-truths, middle paths are always dangerous. Especially in our theological articulations and spiritual journey we have to be firm in our conviction and should not to be carried away by false doctrines and teachings. Let us examine ourselves this morning whether we are like the Laodicean church which is lukewarm.

False Perception: Way to Blindness

Verse 17 says, “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.”

 

The church of Laodicea is economically rich like the city of Laodicea. When the people looked at themselves they considered themselves as a perfect church. They were very proud of their riches and probably felt that they were above other churches. Moreover, they were famous for three basic things- wealth, fashion and medicine. Laodicea is a centre for banking and finance but Jesus says they are “poor”. Secondly, they are known world-wide for soft, raven-black wool but Jesus says they are “naked”. Thirdly, Laodicea is famous for its healing eye creams but Jesus says they are “blind”. The city and the church are wretched and pitiful because they do not know their true condition. They are miserable but do not recognize it. They think they need nothing but, in fact they need everything.

It is always good to know our limitations, so that we can improve and correct ourselves. The danger is to have a perception that we are perfect and we have accomplished everything in life while we are lacking the basic stuff. There is always a danger in a theological community to consider lay people inferior to us. Though we might be academically excellent, if we do not have the Christian virtues like love then we are poor, naked and blind in the sight of God. 

 

Earnest Repentance: The Need of the Hour

Chapter 3:19 says, “Be earnest, therefore and repent.” Although Christ’s language was strong, the condition of the Laodiceans was not final. Christ issues them a call to repentance in verses 18-20. The strong language is a stern warning to them to repent and return to their first love. They must overcome complacency and turn with joy to God. Christ challenges the Laodiceans to buy from him gold refined by fire. The language is clearly metaphorical. This is the gold of faith. The church is challenged to cover her nakedness with garments of purity and sincerity; in addition they need eye salve to anoint their eyes. We are in Lenten season and it is a time of repentance. Let us examine ourselves and repent earnestly. Many times we are worried about structural sin and also claim sin is relative, but our conscience says how much we have gone astray from the love of God. It is the right time to come back to the love of God. St. Maximus, the confessor, once wrote: God’s will is to save us, nothing pleases him more than our coming back to him in true repentance.

As future pastors and leaders of the church, unless we give up the lukewarm nature and realize our limitations and correct ourselves our churches are going to remain as church in Laodicea. May the God who has called us for ministry renew us through this meditation. Amen



T. Jebin
BD II

Groaning of Creation: Celebrating Life in the Midst of Death (Romans 8:22-23, 26)

Whenever we think of ecological concerns this is one of the portions that often come to our mind. Through this passage, Apostle Paul invites us to broaden our understanding of God’s salvific mission in our midst which includes the entire community of creation. The passage that we just read serves as a summary statement and the important message we get from it is that the saving purpose of God is not only for human beings but also for the entire creation. Creation and salvation are not contradictory terms. Most of the sermons that I have heard on “Groaning of creation” gave me the message that “the earth is going to die and the creation is groaning”. But, the re-reading of today’s text will help us to understand this Groaning of Creation in a different way taking the positive side of the groaning or the cry of creation.

The 2004 Nobel Prize winner for peace Wangari Maathai, founder of the green belt movement in Kenya, took the initiative to respond to the groaning of earth and women. She said, “It is the little things citizens do. That’s what will make a difference. My little thing is planting trees.”

By re-reading today’s text under the theme “Groaning of Creation: Celebrating Life in the Midst of Death.” We are led to ponder on three points.

1) The Groaning God: The Immanuel in Solidarity with the Groaning Creation:

As we know, the root word for the Spirit is ‘pneuma’ in Greek and the Hebrew equivalent for this term is ‘Ruah’ which is feminine in gender. So, when the Holy Spirit groans it is the groaning of the Divine feminine. When we take it in this sense, we can see an embodied God, who on her body, experiences the pain of the creation. In the groaning of the Spirit, we meet God in the midst of the sufferings and struggles of the creation.  For Paul, the groaning of the whole creation is for the freedom from the bondage to decay. We can see the pain of God in the cry of the Spirit. Here, God’s pain is described as silent cries that words have limitation to express, and the ineffable cry of the Spirit reveals the depth of God’s pain. (V: 26) The Greek term used here is ‘Stenagmois’ which means sighing or lamenting. The cry of the creation reveals the crucified God in our times. God gets wounded by the human sinfulness which causes  death and destruction, and the Spirit groans because of the human sin towards the creation and the creator. This cry of the Spirit is not to judge or curse the creation but for the redemption and the promise of ‘new-life’ or the ‘new earth’.

The groaning of the Spirit indicates that the divine is ready to give the creation, both humans and non-human beings the vocation of co-creators. Therefore, the Spirit groans because there is the possibility of transformation. In spite of our sinfulness, God allows us to participate in the divine’s creative work. We can see many references from the Bible which tell that the groaning of the creation is seen as the groaning of God. In the exodus event, God sees and hears the cry of the enslaved people. God groans for them and God prepares Moses to liberate them. Here, God is a co-sufferer in the midst of their struggles. God becomes Immanuel. I understand this term as ‘In-Manual’ that is God is in human form and with humans, participating in the suffering and struggles of the creation.  Thus, Groaning of Creation enables us to have an alternative understanding of God as the ‘Groaning God’. The groaning of the Spirit empowers us with the alternative that is not of defeat and death but, of the resistance and the assurance of new life. So, this passage gives us an image of the groaning God who takes up the pain of the creation and is always in solidarity with the groaning of nature and women. In the present scenario, the image of God as divine feminine has a greater significance where the atrocities against nature and women are increasing day by day.

2) Groaning of Creation: A Testimony of Resistance and Resilience:

In Verse 22, it is clearly mentioned that the creation is groaning like a woman in labour pain. The Greek words used to denote the groaning of creation is ‘Sustanase’ which means groan and the pain or suffering as of a woman in child birth is ‘Sunodenei’. The Greek word for creation is ‘ketasis’ which encompasses the whole world, human and non-human beings. These two groanings are connected with ‘khai’ in Greek which means ‘and’; thus we can see that the pain of nature and women are seen equally, leading to the ecofeminist view in the Bible. When there is any change, there is the factor of pain but the groaning is a symbol of resistance. Resistance overthrows the prevailing dispensation and leads to transformation. The whole world is crying for the release from pain as a woman cries during child birth. The groaning of the nature is seen as the sorrow of the nature i.e. suffering of the animals, destruction of the plant life, natural catastrophes and also the crying of the wind and sea. But the nature stands striving against the atrocities that human beings do against her and I would like to see it as the protest against the injustice, using the tool of resistance.

She is referred to as the illiterate heroine, her bold actions and expressions inspired the community. She led the protest which was the conflict between ecology and development, a quarrel between the rich and the poor, a clash between rural and urban, a conflict between the state and its people. She cried for the people and listened to the cry of the earth; and thus she started the campaign against Coca-Cola, in Plachimada. She is none other than Mylamma, the founder of the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti (Anti Coca-Cola Struggle Committee) who spearheaded the campaign. Her efforts succeeded in shutting down the multinational giant Coca- Cola. The shutdown of the Coca Cola bottling plant at Plachimada has made international news and is often characterised as a David vs. Goliath Story. The Coca Cola plant remains shut down since March 9, 2004.

Mylamma’s agitation illustrates the fact that women have brought a different perspective to the environment debate. Mylamma groaned for the life of Adivasis and for the life of other creations. She stood as resistance against the multi-national giant in renewing the life of the people and the earth which was destroyed.  Thus, the cries of creation and of women are not in vain but in gain. Therefore, we can understand this cry as cry of resistance and not surrender.

3) Groaning of Creation: A Labour Pain Giving Birth to Alternatives:

In verse 23, we can see that the new world comes through the glorification of God’s children. The redemption of the children of God in Romans also signals the redemption of the entire creation. We can see this also in Isaiah chapters 24-27.  It clearly says that groaning is for the redemption. In line with v. 22 a woman in the process of labour, sheds tears which results in a redemption - a new life. Women themselves also undergo certain changes with the pain. The groaning of women during the process of child birth is between life and death. There are opposing forces which prevent the new life from coming out the womb but women labour by resisting those forces and bring out the new life. The fulfilment of hope of the new life is accomplished through resistance. According to Barrett, the present labour pain is giving promise of the cosmic birth of the new age. This groaning results in victory and joy. So also, the cry we hear from the earth is not a cry that heralds death but a cry which leads to new life for the community of creation. This gives us the courage of hope to believe that “a new earth is possible.”

The Nilppu Samaram (Standing Strike) by the Adivasis demanding their land rights started on July 9 under the leadership of Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS). The protesters stood for 162 days in front of the Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The success of this agitation marks the channelization of the society’s demand for rightful living conditions for the minorities through peaceful persuasion.  C. K. Janu, who led this standing strike, was born in a tribal village in Kerala. She took up the cry of her people for their rights. Her cry was the cry of hope that the government would do the needful for their rights.

This example shows that the cry is not of defeat and death, but of hope. C.K. Janu demonstrated to the world that women take pain not for death or defeat but as a mark of hope and redemption. The pain of the standing protesters was with hope of a new life which will come into realization, when the clauses in their petition are implemented. Creation is a continuing process and that is the greatest mark of hope. Even the new heaven and the new earth vision in the Bible in Revelation 21 assures us of the element of hope and not the death of earth.

Dear Friends, groaning is commonly seen as result of failure, defeat and often despair. But this text says that groaning signifies the power of resistance and deep hope. The text also shows us a God, who groans along with the creation. The cry of the creation is an insignia of resistance. It obliges us to perceive it as a life-affirming process, to sustain the cosmos. Our cry becomes the emblem of hope when we regain our courage and faith in considering it as the cry for hope.

This alternative thinking helps us to join the creation in the process of resistance by standing against the unjust structures, with the hope of the new life.

It is our encounter with the Spirit that helps and inspires us to respond to the groaning of creation. Bishop Paulos Mar Gregorios considers human beings as the “priests of creation” with the role of interceding, sacrificing and enabling the creation in the process of liberation from groaning and death. Jesus’ main concern was life; here the life providers (women and nature) are discriminated and oppressed by the patriarchal society. When the life givers are liberated from the clutches of patriarchy, the life in abundance which Jesus envisages comes true. Churches are also part of this social system. As future leaders and ministers of the church, Friends, it is our ‘response’ and our ‘ability’ to make the church aware of the present scenario, and to liberate the life givers, the victims of patriarchy from their bondage. It is also our responsibility to be interceders, listeners and voice givers so that we can empower the creation in the process of resistance and fulfil the hope for a new life.

We can participate in this process by taking the groaning of creation as our own cry. We are called to be an advent community. It is challenging to be part of resistance because our unhappiness results in happiness.

We can make this practical, when we are ready to listen to the voice or cry of the creation for resistance and hope. Are we ready to discern the cry of the Divine feminine? Are we ready to voice out the groaning of the creation, which is celebration of life in the midst of death?

May the triune God help us to open our ears and minds to be partakers in this challenge to create a new world. Amen.

Leaha Susan John

BD IV