The Hope and the Promise

A Reflection on the Second Reading for April 28, 2019:
​2nd Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy

Revelation 1:9-13,17-19
My name is John, and through our union in Jesus I am your brother and share your sufferings, your kingdom, and all you endure. I was on the island of Patmos for having preached God’s word and witnessed for Jesus; it was the Lord’s day and the Spirit possessed me, and I heard a voice behind me, shouting like a trumpet, ‘Write down all that you see in a book.’ I turned round to see who had spoken to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands and, surrounded by them, a figure like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a golden girdle.
  When I saw him, I fell in a dead faint at his feet, but he touched me with his right hand and said, ‘Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and things that are still to come.’ New Jerusalem Bible

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Tucked between the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John, both of which report the earliest days of the Church, is this introduction into a much later chapter in the life of the Church.  John, the same apostle who is said to have written the Gospel for this weekend, is an old man.  Mary has been assumed into Heaven, and he is exiled to the island of Patmos for his faithful witness.  Of all the apostles, only John sees his old age.  The rest of the apostles find their end through martyrdom for Christ. ​

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How lonely must John have felt.  At that time, Christianity had begun to seize on the hearts and minds of many, but it was also a time of terrifying persecution.  So many brothers and sisters had perished and yet he remained.  After the news of the last few weeks, I can’t help but identify with what John was likely feeling in the time between the Acts of Apostles and the book of Revelation.  Hearing the news of out Sri Lanka, and the many other sites of Christian martyrdom around the world, it’s hard not to feel a certain amount of survivor’s guilt.  We are still challenged and persecuted, but we are not being martyred during our worship.  We arrived at our Sunday morning Mass last weekend and were able to shout our Alleluias, even though they were tempered by lamentation for our fellow disciples.

We will not always be in this tug and pull between good and evil. 
​God is coming with a promise of victory.

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Yet, John wasn’t left untouched by martyrdom without any purpose.  He was saved from that death for a reason.  God had a purpose for him.  God had promises He wanted to share with His children.  In the midst of the terror and martyrdom of the early Church, God chose to proclaim through John a message of tremendous hope — these days are filled with evil, but the victory of Christ which began at Bethlehem will come to full fruition.  We will not always be in this tug and pull between good and evil.  God is coming with a promise of victory.  The Resurrection of Christ broke the power of death.  Death has no sting.  Hell has no victory.  Victory belongs to the Lamb who was slain.


Right now, I think we’re called to sit with John and hear the promise of God.  We’re called to find out what our role is.  If God has saved us from martyrdom, He can and will use us to trumpet His message of victory.  As the Easter sequence reminds us…
…That Christ is truly risen from the dead we know. Victorious king, thy mercy show!

Stephanie Potter

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