Archbishop of Sydney

In this Easter season which is now approaching its conclusion with the feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, we celebrate not only the fact that Christ has risen but also that he has redeemed and saved us. What does that mean? How can the Christian claims to salvation and victory be reconciled with the struggles in our own hearts against selfishness and sin and the long catalogue of extreme evils throughout history? On last Sunday Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe preached in this Cathedral and he was active here in Australia with the media and speaking to the Prime Minister to denounce the violence and disorder in his homeland. The tragedy there is not unique, unfortunately.

 

While the Kingdom of God has its roots among us, it is always far from perfect and sometimes its fruits are smothered or destroyed by the spirit of evil. That is why we pray not to be put to the test, not to be placed in extreme circumstances.

 

The second reading at the Sunday Masses of this third Easter cycle from the Apocalypse uses a wide range of exotic symbols from the Old Testament to explain the struggle between good and evil which will continue until the end of time to explain the fuels which drive the contending forces of good and evil and then the final triumph of Christ’s forces of faith, hope and love. In other words the images often move between the present and the future. Incidentally it is useful for understanding the final chapters of the Apocalypse to refer back to chapters 55-66 of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and chapters 40-45 from Ezekiel.

 

Nearly all the spectacular and difficult passages about e.g. Michael’s battles with Satan, the sea of fire, the rule of the Beast and Armageddon, the final confrontation between good and evil are not included in the Sunday readings.

 

Today we have a vision of the New Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from heaven. It is full of God’s radiant glory, decorated with magnificent jewels and once again the symbolism of 12 is used with the 12 gates to symbolise the twelve Jewish tribes of God’s chosen people from the Old Testament and the foundation for the new People of God gathered around the Twelve Apostles and their successors the bishops. The New Jerusalem is beautiful, coming like a bride adorned for her husband about to participate in the heavenly banquet when there will be a final symbolic marriage between Christ and his Christian followers; or, to use a couple of crucial Apocalypse symbols, a symbolic marriage between the Lamb of God and the bride.

 

This overlapping of images and symbols is not the way we usually write and think in the English speaking world. As a child I remember being told not to mix my metaphors, not make the images manifold, much less contradictory, but the author of the Apocalypse comes from a different culture of 2000 years ago.

 

We must remember that this symbol of the New Jerusalem, like the other symbols in this book is not pointing to only one reality, but is complicated symbol of heavenly realities, which intrude into history, even into our daily lives, in an imperfect way. Obviously the New Jerusalem points to God and His mysterious work, which is being professed, brought out in history.

 

God’s victory is completed only at the end of time, but it is being brought about now to the extent that good people are battling effectively against evil in its many forms.

 

The New Jerusalem is a community of people, because we cannot live simply as individuals and we are saved because we are good community people, people who live by truth and justice and live in love.

 

The evil opposition to the New Jerusalem is symbolized by Babylon, the Middle Eastern Kingdom which destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in the seventh century B.C. and drove the Jews into exile. It epitomises evil, like Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt and the Roman Empire of the time of writing, which could not be mentioned explicitly. The memory of Nero’s persecution of the Christians in Rome was vivid and alive in Christian circles, even in the East at Patmos.

 

Babylon is evil, a harlot, rooted in the things of this world, with no heavenly dimension. It is a Kingdom driven by lies, violence and lust, bitterly hostile to love. Babylon has a pact with the dragon and is served by the two beasts, who come out of the sea, which is a symbol of chaos separating God from his people.

 

At different stages in history the Holy City, which will become the New Jerusalem, is trampled by the nations, suffers much, but the temple, the altar and a number of faithful worshippers are protected (11:1). The dangers for Christians are real, extreme in some periods, but the followers of Jesus will never be completely destroyed, never obliterated by satanic deceit and lapsing into the worship of false Gods.

 

The dragon with Gog and Magog marked with the sign of the beast have grisly fates. Gog and Magog are consumed by fire as they attack the city of the saints while the devil, the beast and the false prophet are thrown into a lake of fire and brimstone! The author of the Apocalypse takes evil seriously as it brings terrible and eternal consequences. 

 

But this strange book is ultimately a hymn to the victory of love, where the New Jerusalem is suffused with peace and light and the streams of living water flow from the throne of God and the Lamb.

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.