25 May 2025

25 May 2025 - Sixth Sunday of Easter

Transcript

Reading:  

Revelation 11:19 – 12:1, 5

Write:  

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars… She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.

Reflect:   

This is the last verse of Chapter eleven and the start of Chapter twelve. Please remember that chapter and verse numbers were not added until centuries after the Bible was written. So it is an artificial break between chapter eleven and chapter twelve . We read this section of Revelation at a number of the feast days of Our Lady. I did not quote the entire thing, but I will return to some of it later.

First of all, the ark of the covenant used to be kept in the holy of holies of the temple. But in the time of Jeremiah, who died in exile in Egypt around the year five-hundred-seventy before Christ, the ark of the covenant disappeared from the temple. It is thought that Jeremiah knew where it was. But if he knew that information, it died with him. So for almost six hundred years, the holy of holies in the temple was not occupied by the presence of the ark. During some of that time, there was not even a temple in Jerusalem.

But then we move forward to the time of John’s writing of Revelation. Most Bible scholars believe that it was written just before the turn into the second century – around the year ninety-five. So for around seven hundred years, the Jewish people did not know where the Ark of the Covenant was. And John shows up and sees the Ark of the Covenant in the temple in heaven! Imagine the surprise! And the people would be interested in hearing more about this particular thing – understandably.

But what is it he tells them? He sees Our Lady as the ark because he goes from one to the next. She is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” In other words, Our Lady has been put over all of creation. That is why we call her the Queen of heaven and earth. She is the Queen Mother to her son, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Well, let us compare the two – the Ark of the Covenant and our Lady. Inside of the Ark were three things: A) the ten Commandments which were the word of God – Jesus is THE Word of God; B) some of the manna that the Israelites ate in the desert – Jesus is the Bread of Life; and C) the third thing was the staff of the high priest Aaron – Jesus is the True and Eternal High Priest. Which means that Mary is the True Ark of the Covenant.

Next, he also sees a Huge Red Dragon. It looks rather strange with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns or diadems. Seven, of course, is an attempt to mock God; and ten horns is an attempt to claim power. Verse four says that he swept a third of the stars out of the sky – this means that the Dragon is Satan and the third of the stars are the demons he took with him out of heaven. Later, he is thrown into the lake of fire along with his beasts and all those who want to fight against God.

But he does not succeed in attempting to devour, or destroy, the woman’s child who is “destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.” But the child was protected by God and taken up to God’s throne. All of the dragon’s plans are thwarted by God.

Now, what is with this iron rod? It comes from Psalm two which reads in part:

“ The one enthroned in heaven laughs; 

the Lord derides them, 

Then he speaks to them in his anger, 

in his wrath he terrifies them: 

“I myself have installed my king 

on Zion, my holy mountain.” 

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord, 

he said to me, “You are my son; 

today I have begotten you. 

Ask it of me, 

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 

and, as your possession, the ends of the earth. 

With an iron rod you will shepherd them, 

like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.” 

Do you notice this: God laughs at the fools, the Kings who try to fight against God, then he speaks to them in anger. Quite a vision isn’t it? God first laughs and then displays his anger at people who choose to fight him. Then his son rises with the “an iron rod …”

I told you the book of Revelation was not that scary. It is the story of the ultimate victory of our God – and we share in that victory! It is the story of our worship of God – the heavenly liturgy.

Well, there is one more place where an iron rod is spoken about in the book of Revelation. That is in chapter 19 after the description of the whore of Babylon which I talked about last week. Here is the victorious reading that comes later in nineteen:

“Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was [called] “Faithful and True.” He judges and wages war in righteousness. His eyes were [like] a fiery flame, and on his head were many diadems [or crowns]. He had a name inscribed that no one knows except himself. He wore a cloak that had been dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word of God. The armies of heaven followed him, mounted on white horses and wearing clean white linen. Out of his mouth came a sharp sword to strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he himself will tread out in the wine press the wine of the fury and wrath of God the almighty. He has a name written on his cloak and on his thigh, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’ ”– This is the victory of our God!

Funny thing here. Many years ago, in a different parish, I gave this series on the book of Revelation. When I told this part of the story, I said we were all going to ride white horses. A young boy came up to me and said, “I don’t want to go to heaven!” I asked why. He said, “I’m afraid of horses!” Maybe if John wrote the book of Revelation now, instead of horses, it would be Harleys – electric Harleys. Yes, I know: bad joke, bad father! But it is a true story!

Next week I will finish my series on the book of Revelation by picking up a couple of other odd stories that are described in the book. For instance, did you know that helicopters are referenced in Revelation? I will describe that next weekend.

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