REVELATION 7:9-17

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”

14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

It’s hard when someone doesn’t like you. After all, nobody wants to feel the way a teenager felt when she came home from school one day.  She walked into the living room and dejectedly threw herself on the couch.  “I’m never going back to school,” she moaned.  “Nobody likes me.  Everyone in the world hates me.”  As soon as he heard that her younger brother smiled and said, “That’s not true sis.  Everyone doesn’t hate you.  A lot of people don’t even know you.”

Yes, it’s hard when someone doesn’t like you.  That someone could be a neighbor or a coworker or a classmate.  Just look at what happened to poor Phoebe Prince.  She’s the high school student who committed suicide back in January after months and months of relentless bullying.

Christians in the early church also knew what it’s like not to be liked. That’s because the Romans weren’t overly friendly when it came to their new fangled faith. In fact, that’s why the Book of Revelation was written.  The key to understanding the Book of Revelation is right there in the letter’s opening words.  “I, John, your brother….was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (1:9) That’s just a nice way of saying John was a prisoner on that island off the coast of Turkey because the Romans didn’t like his Christian faith and beliefs. 

Things haven’t changed much since then.  That’s because we also live in a society that isn’t overly friendly to our Christian faith and beliefs.   Consider if you will Exhibit A. These days you’re not supposed to say “Merry Christmas.”  You’re supposed to say “Happy Holidays.”  Consider if you will Exhibit B. These days you’ll find more cars in the parking lot at Wal-Mart than you will in the parking lots of the various churches around town.  Consider if you will Exhibit C.  These days you parents have to choose between sending their children to Sunday School or baseball practice on Sunday mornings.

Then there’s Exhibit D.  Exhibit D is a prayer that was written about 30 years ago.  It was supposedly written by a high school student out in Bagdad, Arizona. Some of you may be familiar with the poem.  It goes like this:

Now I sit me down in school where praying is against the rule.

For this great nation under God finds mention of Him very odd.

………………………………………

Our hair can be purple, orange or green, that's no offense; it's a freedom scene.

(But) The law is specific, the law is precise. Praying out old is a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall might offend those with no faith at all.

(So) In silence alone we must meditate, God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, and pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.

We can get our (means of ) birth controls, study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.

But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, it's scary here I must confess,

When chaos reigns, the school's a mess.

So, Lord, this silent plea I make: Should I be shot; my soul please take!

These days, people who profess and practice their faith these days know what it’s like not to be liked.  Of course, it must be said that we’ve brought some of this unpopularity on ourselves.  The child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church hasn’t helped.  We’ve also made ourselves unpopular by being overly judgmental, at times, when it comes to people who disagree with us.  These another reason why we’ve become so unpopular.  Many years ago, I attended a seminar.  I forget who the keynote speaker was but I do remember what he said.  When he stood up to speak, he looked out at this auditorium full of ministers and said, “Congratulations!”  As we looked at each other and wondered why he was congratulating us he then said, “We need to congratulate ourselves because we have succeeded in doing the impossible.  We’ve succeeded in making Jesus Christ boring!”  He was right!  We’ve succeeded in making Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth who is the way, the truth and the light and God’s only begotten son boring!  You can see that sad reality in the announcement that appeared oneday in a church’s Sunday morning bulletin.  The announcement read as follows: “Barbara Williams remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions.  She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Bill’s sermons.”  Here’s another one for you to ponder. It’s a riddle.  Question: Why do Protestants have coffee hours after the Sunday morning worship service?  Answer: To make sure that people are fully awake before driving home.

When you come right down to it there are lots of reasons why people who practice and profess their faith know what it’s like not to be liked.  The most important question though isn’t why? The most important question is what.  What do you do when you know what it’s like not to be liked? 

The answer is right there in the Book of Revelation.  You put on your white robe.  You stay true to who you are and who God is calling you to be. At one point in his vision John sees a multitude of people wearing white robes and he is asked by an elder, “Who are these, clothes in white robes, and from where have they come?”  John has no idea who they are and replies, “Sir, you know.”  The elder then says, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Now the image of washing a robe in a basin of blood sounds like it should be in a Hollywood horror movie  but remember.  The Book of Revelation was written for Christians who were being persecuted and punished for professing and practicing their faith.  So, the people in the white robes were the people who held fast to their faith even though it meant that they knew what it was like not to be liked.  John  is saying the same thing to us today.  Hold fast to your faith even though you may end up knowing what it’s like not to be liked.  Live your life with integrity or as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light shine so that others will see your good deeds and give glory to God in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)

If there is any hope for this world it will be found in the people who profess and practice and profess their faith in the Jesus who is the resurrection and the life, the Jesus who said, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly,” the Jesus who said “love one another even as I have loved you.”  When you love even those who may not like you might just learn something about the people who are at Wal-Mart on Sunday morning and the people who say “Happy Holidays” and the coaches who hold baseball practices on Sunday morning.  It’s the same thing that Henri Nouwen learned while working at a construction sight at a monastery.  Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest who spent a year living  and working with a monastery full of Trappist monks in upstate New York.  He later wrote a book about the experience.  The title of the book is “The Genesee Diary.”  This is what he wrote in his entry for November 18.  “What do you do when you  are a monk and everyone around you is in the playful habit of (taking the Lord’s name in vain) when something doesn’t go as expected?  This is no theoretical question since this is the case at the church building site where monks work closely together with good-natured and good-cursing workers.  I wondered how I would react.  Probably I would not say anything but slowly get angry until I finally exploded and said, ‘Don’t you know you are not supposed to curse!’ Then we would all be angry, the air would be tense, and charity hard to find.  Well – (Brother) Anthony told me his response.  After having heard the name of Jesus used “in vain”…he thought, ‘Should I say something about it?’  He said to himself, ‘Why not?’  Then the next time someone dropped a beam or bent a nail or used the name of the Lord again ‘without effect’ he put his arm around him and said, ‘Hey, you know – this is a monastery – and we love that man here.’  The man looked up at him, smiled, and said, ‘To tell you the truth – I do too.’  And they both had a good laugh.”

(The Genesee Diary,  p.156)

It’s really simple.  There are going to be times when someone doesn’t like you and you’re going to be tempted not to like them in return. You’ll have a better chance of turning all that negativity around though if you put on your white robe and do what Jesus asked you to do at the Last Supper.  “Love one another even as I have loved you.”  (John 13:34)  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

April 25, 2010