Revelations

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, May 25th, 2025:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

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Revelation
21.10-14, 22-23

​In the spirit the Angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.

It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Many years ago I was in Greece – the island of Patmos, to be exact. It is said to be the location where Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation, sometimes called the Book of the Apocalypse. I had made my way to the Greek Orthodox monastery at the highest point of the island, called the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian. As I wandered through its different parts, I ended up in the Cave of the Apocalypse – supposedly the exact place where God revealed to John the content of the book. As I eavesdropped on a tour that entered the cave before me, I saw the tour guide point to a worn, pillow shaped stone and say: “And this stone was the pillow upon which Saint John laid his head and had the dreams in which God revealed the Book of Revelation to him.” 


The skeptic in me thought: Seriously?! How do you actually know that?? Did John leave a sign that said: “God revealed himself to me here”? Yet a little later I found myself in a different part of the monastery looking out over the clear blue Aegean Sea, and I had an overwhelming sense of God’s presence with me. A profound sense of gratitude for all God’s revelations to me in my life until that point welled up in me. So profound was the feeling that I was brought to tears. 


The Book of Revelation is known to be the most fantastical – and hardest to interpret – book of the Bible. Those facts came to the fore as I sat down to reflect on this reading. But so too did my personal experience of being on Patmos. It was a reminder to me to not get so caught up in the details of the story, be it in this book of scripture or the stories of a tour guide. Rather, I need to get caught up in the glory and goodness God has revealed and continues to constantly reveal in my life. Because God IS here. Alive. Daily God seeks to show Himself to me if I but pay attention. 


Recently, I heard someone say our relationship with God doesn’t need a map because we already have a Guide. That Guide revealed to Saint John the Book of Revelation. That same Guide wants to reveal His dream for my life to me, too. In not getting stuck on the wild and wacky details of Revelation, I can recognize that hope surfaces as a key theme of the Book of Revelation. The hope of a future where “the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In this Jubilee Year of Hope, that is the aspect I hold on to. For when I have hope, I can see God present in my every day and dream with Him of the future He has planned for me. Without having to sleep on a stone pillow.




Aurea Sadi

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