Week 52: Jesus, Day 2

Read:

Revelation 3:1-6
Psalm 107

Reflect:
 The first chapters of the Book of Revelation declare Jesus to be the great Shepherd of the Church. The vision of Jesus in 1:9-20 leads into His letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor in chapters 2-3. He is the One “who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood.” He bore the judgment of our selfishness, and now as our Head He is the perfect one to continue to guide us in the life He purchased for us. Today’s passage, the fourth of the seven letters, allows us to look closely at a sample of Jesus’ shepherding style.
 The letter to the church of Sardis brings a wake-up call to the Christian community there. Sardis was built in antiquity as the fortress city of Croesus, by reputation the wealthiest man in history. Secure in his wealth and in the armies that it purchased, he grew lax at just the wrong moment, and the neighboring king, Cyrus, was able to conquer the unconquerable city. Croesus finished out his days as the pet advisor of Cyrus, spouting canned wisdom about fortune’s vicissitudes. This letter to the church implies that the Christians there have picked up the bad habits of the town itself. They have a reputation for vitality, but the Lord knows them to be spiritually dead. If they do not become alert to their situation, “I will come like a thief.” But the weakness that overshadows the community can be simply (but perhaps not easily) overcome: it is a matter of turning from the routine, and walking instead with Jesus.
 A wake-up call is by definition both uncomfortable and timely. To extend our theme of yesterday, Jesus again comes preaching God’s uncomfortable salvation. He does not here preach a return to thoughtless comfort, but rather delivers an abrupt challenge to the church’s entire way of life. The good news is not about “good times,” but about the demands of God’s salvation.

Respond:
Often Christmas has worked for me like a wake-up call, but never in any way that I expect. Usually I approach Christmas with the assumption that I will be contributing a lot more to Christmas than I am likely to get out of it. There is so much to contribute, after all, in terms of planning, and execution, and spirit, and readiness. But the best Christmases for me have been the ones that brought me more than I could have predicted – not of gifts, but of the Lord’s own goodness (not presents, but Presence). Once it was a dinner delivered to our door on a Christmas Day that our family was sick and couldn’t join others. Often it is the glimpse of some blessing in the lives of others. One year brought both a new child and the death of a parent; and the music of Christmas was permanently enriched with both joy and sorrow. The Lord may speak through a child, through a carol, or through a Christmas message. He may come in the gentleness of a Lamb, in the laughter of a Bridegroom, or in the snarl of a Lion. But He always comes to us for the same reason, and it’s not to coddle, to bemoan, to placate, and certainly not to lull. Jesus comes to save. It is not always comfortable. But it is always timely.

Pray:
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.” Psalm 106:1-2

- D.D.