By Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson
“Then one of the elders addresses me, saying, who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from? I said to him, sir, you are the one that knows. Then he said to me, these are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”
First of all, the book of Revelation in the bible is not about the end of the world, the final judgment, or Jesus’ second coming. Please read Alan Boesak’s book “Comfort and Protest: The Apocalypse of John from a South African Perspective,” and read “Can I Get a Witness?: Reading Revelation Through African American Culture.”
What The Book of Revelation is about is the struggle of believers during the reign of the Caesars and the oppressive empire of Rome. It is written in allegorical apocalyptical imagery as code language so the Roman authorities would not know they were being talked about.
In the text cited above, the writer has been addressed by one of the heavenly beings who points out the souls dressed in white robes. After John cannot identify them, the heavenly being explains to him, “These are they who have come through great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.”
The chilling aspect of this text is that good people who tried to be faithful to God through their relationship with Jesus Christ by lifting up the downtrodden, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and advocating for the voiceless either suffered greatly or were killed by the empire.
It tells us that faithfulness to Jesus Christ comes with a cost. It costs relationships with people who believe that “might make right.” It costs friendships with people who believe that having more equates to having meaning in your life. It costs by being marginalized and ostracized by people who prioritize Government over God and who elevate culture over Christ. It cost opportunities because those who love Jesus raise the point that Archbishop Dom Helda Camara raised when he said, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” And in the case of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Medgar Evers, Viola Liuzzo, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Henry Schwerner, Dr. King, Malcolm X, or Jimmie Lee Jackson, or Michael Brown, or Sean Bell, or Oscar Grant, or Aiyanna Jones, or Tamir Rice, or Trayvon Martin, or Eric Garner, or Elijah McClain, or George Floyd, or Sandra Bland, or Breonna Taylor, or Sanya Massey, these are they who have come through great tribulation and have washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb.
The text teaches that this faith cost. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who stood against the regime of Hitler, wrote the book “The Cost of Discipleship,” and he, too has, washed his robe white in the blood of the lamb because he ended up having his life taken by another wicked regime.
This faith cost, it mostly will cost friendships, invitations, relationships, connections, opportunities and sometimes one’s life but the text shows us that true faith cost something.
Yet the lesson does not end there. The other lesson, and perhaps the most important lesson, is that God has not abandoned those who stand up for justice and who advocate for righteousness. God has not forgotten the poor and working poor who cannot make enough to live on because of the greed of the wealthy.
In fact, it shows us that God actually suffers with those who suffer and God is with them through that suffering.
Alan Boesak once preached a sermon titled “Where are your scars.” His focus was that if we who claim Jesus pass from this life without scars from standing up for the least of these as Jesus called them, we will not be permitted entry into heaven. Followers of Jesus will have to show the scars that cost you friendships with people who only want to worship on Sunday but act nasty on Monday. Scars that cost you relationships with people who demeaned you for serving in a ministry to the community and who refused to lend a hand to help. Scars that cost you opportunities because you preached, talked and spoke up about the injustice of elders being forced to decide between medications and groceries each month. Scars from those who labelled you, mischaracterized you, lied on you and participated in nasty gossip about you because you challenged the prevailing “TJ Max” Christianity of far too many in America where they want the max from God but are only willing to do the minimum for God. Bonhoeffer called it “cheap grace.”
Boesak said we will have to show the scars where we sacrificed for the least of these to help create a beloved community. The writer of revelation says it is those who will get a chance to “wash their robes white in the blood of the lamb and they are the ones who stand in the very presence of God day and night while God shelters them so that they will hunger no more, thirst no more, no heat will scorch them and the lamb at the center of that throne will lead them to springs of living water and wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Do you want to be one of the “who are these?”
Let those who have an ear hear what the Spirit says to the people.
Be Well, be Authentic and Stay Woke!!! Uhuru Sassa!
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.