OUR LIFE IN THE MIDDLE – Revelation 1:4-8

Today is known in the church calendar as Christ the King Sunday. It marks the end of the church year. When we consider the life of Jesus, we are reminded often that he is our Prophet, Priest and  King. First we come to know him as our Prophet as he brings the message of good news through his preaching and teaching. Second we come to know him as our Priest who offers his own body as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Today we come to celebrate him as our King – a title that he can only be granted once the roles of prophet and priest have been fulfilled. That is one of the reasons why our Scriptures today come from the book of Revelation – that vision John received while in exile on the island of Patmos – and a part of the trial of Jesus from John’s account. One of our readings today is from the trial of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Believe it or not neither one of these readings are out of place as we prepare to once again celebrate the season of Advent and Christmas.  We need to be reminded that the life of Christ was not just one of a new beginning that started in the manger in Bethlehem but that the trial and subsequent death of Christ on the cross also led to a new beginning.    But what makes connects these two beginnings is what happened in the middle.

We are a people who love to be reminded of the birth of Jesus Christ because it speaks to us of hope, peace, joy, and love.  But to be reminded of Christ’s death at this time of year as the trees lose their leaves and we get ready for the coming winter is a good thing because it speaks to us of a renewed hope, peace, joy, and love that comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus. The birth in Bethlehem marks the beginning of a new era as God breaks into the world in a way never seen before.   The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus take that new era beyond anything that ever could be imagined and gives proof not only of God’s desire to welcome and receive us as his children but God’s desire to bring us through this life and give to us a life with him that will never end. But as with any beginning and even with these beginnings with God, we cannot forget that it is not just the start or the end point that we are to focus on, we need to also focus on the life lived in the middle.

All of life is truly lived in the middle, is it not?  Each of us has a moment of consciousness that is our birth and each one of us will have a moment of loss of consciousness that is our death in this life. But if our lives are to have more meaning than two dates on a tombstone, we need to remember that the purpose of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection was made real by the ways in which his life touched and changed those he interacted with in the middle.  For it is the middle that our faith is built, strengthened and confirmed;  it is in the middle that our commitment to the way and will of God is lived.

It is interesting how we spend most of the church year in what has often been dubbed Ordinary Time. It’s like we get through the major events and then drift through the year until those special times come again. Iit is Christ’s life in the middle that really gives meaning to everything that happens at the beginning and at the end.  It is all the encounters Jesus had with people as he journeyed through the land, and it is all the lessons he imparted through different situations that shape and give meaning to his birth, death and resurrection.  Taken in isolation, the moment of his birth would just stand as a fact in history just as any other fact. His death would just stand as a statistic recorded in a book of ancient writings.  His resurrection might not have even made an impact if not for the witness of those first believers.  If all Jesus were remembered for was being born and dying, his story would be not unlike the story of anyone else who ever existed.

What gives real meaning to his life, his death, and his resurrection is the life he lived in the middle – the life he shared with those who were living their lives with him.  And as much as the coming season of Advent and Christmas may give us warm fuzzies and fill us with a sense of hope and mystery; as much as our reflection on the crucifixion of Christ may give us shudders as we reflect on the cruelty of that act; it is only as we live our lives between and around these events that we will find the real meaning and purpose to our own lives.

The book of Revelation from which one of our readings came today stands in the genre of literature known as Apocalyptic which means literature that speaks of a future time or end time.  It is intended to paint a picture of what the future will be for the people of God and the world in general. But while the Revelation of John follows that genre, it also departs from it as it also speaks of what is happening to the believers and their communities in the time when the text was first composed.   John ties together present and future as he addresses the seven churches in Asia.  He does this because he knows that while the people in the churches have a future hope that they are looking for and preparing to receive, they also needed to be fully alive in the present time.  They could not simply sit back and wait for the second coming of Jesus to put all things right. They needed to recognize their place as believers in their time and to witness to the message of God in Christ as they live their lives in their middle.

Like them we are living between our birth and our death; and like them we are living between the resurrection of Jesus and the second coming. Like them we face the daily, weekly, and even yearly challenges of life as Christians expecting the coming of the Lord. But even as close as they were historically to those events, even they were beginning to become weary of waiting.  As humans we can only hold our excitement for so long. Have you ever been part of a surprise party? Gathering for the event in order to surprise someone you know well can be a wonderful thing but if the person gets delayed for too long, the excitement can begin to fade, and interest wane.

John knew that life had started to lose its excitement for the people in the churches. The expectation of Christ’s return was so anticipated that they were on high alert. But time had been passing and nothing had happened.

John knew it was vital to encourage them to keep the faith, to encourage them to believe that their commitment to God in Christ was not in vain. It was vital for them to maintain their hope for Christ’s return by reminding them that the love of God in Christ was ever there. It was vital to encourage them and remind them that  the kingdom of God was real and would one day come; and that even though the time seemed long, they should not lose hope.

Using the Greek alphabet – which they all would be familiar with – he reminded them that as the Alpha stands at the beginning of the alphabet and Omega stands at the end, so Jesus who is the very creative Word of God from the beginning of time is also the same Word of God that will be there at the end.  The life they were living today was bookended by God himself in Jesus Christ.  It was for them to live their lives in their middle assured that the same God who began all things would be there at the end of all things. The same God who appeared in this latter time as a child in Bethlehem living, teaching, and healing was the same God who would come again.

He still is the Alpha and the Omega for us; he is the beginning and the end, but he is also the middle. He will be with us through it all so that we can live our lives now in the middle of our time with hope and strength and grace!

AMEN.