Reading: Revelation: 1:1-4; 2:1-5
Prologue
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[1] The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, [2] who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. [3] Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near.
Address and Greeting
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[4] John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.
Letter to the Church of Ephesus
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[1] "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
[2] "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and found them to be false; [3] I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. [4] But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. [5] Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
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Commentary:
1-20. After a brief prologue (vv. 1-3) and a letter-style greeting (vv. 4-8), St John describes a vision which acts as an introduction to the entire book; in it the risen Christ is depicted with features identifying his divinity and his position as Lord and Savior of the churches.
In the course of the book Jesus Christ will also appear as God's envoy, sent to teach Christians of the time, and subsequent generations (chaps. 2-3), and to console them in the midst of persecution by proclaiming God's design for the future of the world and of the Church (chaps. 4-22).
1-3. Despite its brevity this prologue conveys the scope of the book, its authority and the effect it hopes to have on its readers.
The "content" of the letter is a revelation made by Jesus Christ about contemporary and future events (cf. 1:19; 4:1). Its author, John, gives it its "authority": Christ's revelation has been communicated to him in a supernatural manner, and he bears faithful witness to everything revealed to him. The book's "purpose" is to have the reader prepare for his or her definitive encounter with Christ by obeying what is written in the book: blessed are those who read it and take it to heart and do what it says.
God made known his salvific purpose through everything Jesus did and said. However, after his resurrection Christ continues to speak to his Church by means of revelations such as that contained in this book and those made to St Paul (cf. Gal 1:15-16; etc.). These bring the Christian revelation to completion and apply the saving action of Jesus to concrete situations in the life of the Church. When revelations reach us through an inspired writer they have universal validity, that is, they are "public" revelation and are part and parcel of the message of salvation entrusted by Christ to his Apostles to proclaim to all nations (cf. Mt 28:18-20 and par.; Jn 17:18; 20:21). Public divine Revelation ceased with the death of the last Apostle (cf. Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 4).
1. "The revelation of Jesus Christ": The word in Greek is "apocalypses", hence the name often given to this book of Sacred Scripture. Revelation always implies the unveiling of something previously hidden--in this case, future events. The future is known to God the Father (the Greek text uses the definite article, "the God", which is how the New Testament usually refers to God the Father); and Jesus Christ, being the Son, shares in this knowledge which is being communicated to the author of the book. It speaks of "the revelation of Jesus Christ" not only because it has come to John from Christ but also because our Lord is the main subject, the beginning and end, of this revelation: he occupies the central position in all these great visions in which the veils concealing the future are torn to allow Light (Jesus Christ himself: cf. Rev 21:23; 22:5) to dispel the darkness.
"Soon": as regards how imminent or not all those events are, one needs to remember that the notion of time in Sacred Scripture, particularly in the Apocalypse, is not quite the same as ours: it is more qualitative than quantitative. Here indeed "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet 3:8). So, when Scripture says that something is about to happen it is not necessarily referring to a date in the near future: it is simply saying that it will happen and even in some sense is happening already. Finally, one needs to bear in mind that if events are proclaimed as being imminent, this would have a desired effect of fortifying those who are experiencing persecution and would give them hope and consolation.
3. The Book of Revelation is a pressing call to commitment in fidelity to everything our Lord has chosen to reveal to us in the New Testament, in this instance from the pen of St John.
The book seems to be designed for liturgical assemblies, where someone reads it aloud and the others listen. This is the preferential place for Sacred Scripture, as Vatican II indicates: "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord, in so far as she never ceases, particularly in the sacred liturgy, to partake of the bread of life and to offer it to the faithful from the one table of the Word of God and the Body of Christ" ("Dei Verbum",21).
"Sacred Scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from it that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung. It is from the scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that actions and signs derive their meaning" (Vatican II, "Sacrosanctum Concilium", 24).
The situation when St John was writing called for just the sort of exhortations and warnings this text contains. Its words call for a prompt, committed response which leaves no room for any kind of doubt or hesitation. They are also a dire warning to those who try to hinder the progress of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom which must inexorably come about and which in some way is already with us.
4-8. Following the prologue (vv. 1-3), a short reflection (vv. 4-8) introduces the series of seven letters which form the first part of the book (1:4 - 3:22). This introduction begins with a salutation to the seven churches of Asia Minor, located in the west of the region known at the time as 'proconsular Asia', the capital of which was Ephesus.
The salutation is in the usual New Testament style: it sends good wishes of grace and peace on behalf of God and Jesus Christ (vv. 4-5, cf. 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:2; etc.); it depicts our Lord and his work of salvation (vv. 5-8) and projects that work onto the panorama of world history.
4. Even though there were other churches in Asia Minor, John addresses only seven, a number which stands for "totality", as an early ecclesiastical writer, Primasius, explains. "He writes to the seven churches, that is, to the one and only Church symbolized by these seven" ("Commentariorum Super Apoc.", 1, 1).
Grace and peace are the outstanding gifts of the messianic era (cf. Rom 1:7). This form of salutation embodies the normal forms of greeting used by Greeks ("jaire", grace) and Jews ("shalom", peace); but here the words mean the grace, forgiveness and peace extended to men by the redemptive action of Jesus Christ. Thus, St John is wishing these gifts on behalf of God, the seven spirits and Jesus Christ.
The description of God as he "who is and who was and who is to come" is an elaboration of the name of "Yahweh" ("I AM WHO I AM") which was revealed to Moses (cf. Ex 3:14), and underlines the fact that God is the Lord of history, of the past, the present and the future, and that he is at all times acting to effect salvation.
The "seven spirits" stand for God's power and omniscience and intervention in the events of history. In Zechariah 4:10 divine power is symbolized by the seven "eyes of the Lord, which range the whole earth". Further on in the Apocalypse (5:6), St John tells us that the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth are the seven eyes of the Lamb, that is, Christ. This symbolism (also found in the Old Testament: cf. Is 11:2ff) is used to show that God the Father acts through his Spirit and that this Spirit has been communicated to Christ and by him to mankind. So, when St John wishes grace and peace from the seven spirits of God it is the same as saying "from the Holy Spirit", who is sent to the Church after the death and resurrection of Christ. Patristic tradition was in fact interpreted the seven spirits as meaning the septiform Spirit with his seven gifts as described in Isaiah 11:1-2 in St Jerome's translation, the Vulgate.
2:1-3:22. These chapters, which form the first part of the book, contain seven letters to the churches already mentioned (cf. 1:11), each represented by an angel to whom the letter is addressed. In these letters Christ (who is referred to in various ways) and the Holy Spirit speak: hence the warning at the end of each, "he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." The first part of that formula is reminiscent of things our Lord said in the Gospels (cf., e.g., Mt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mk 9:23), while the second part underlines the influence of the Holy Spirit on the churches: one needs to belong to the Church, to "feel with" the Church, if one is to understand what the Spirit says and what is being committed to writing in this book. The book, therefore, must be taken as the true word of God. All Sacred Scripture needs to be approached in this way: "Since all that the inspired authors, or sacred writers, affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures. Thus 'all scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work' (2 Tim 3:16-17)" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 11).
Although the letters are different from one another, they all have the same basic structure: there is reference to the past, which is contrasted with the present; various warnings are given and promises made; then there is an exhortation to repentance and conversion, a reminder that the end, and Christ's definitive victory, will soon come.
1. Ephesus, with its great harbor and commercial importance, was the leading city of Asia Minor at the time. It was also the center of the cult of the goddess Artemis or Diana (cf. Acts 19:23ff).
St Paul spent three years preaching in Ephesus and had considerable success there: St Luke tells us that "the word of the Lord grew (there) and prevailed mightily" (Acts 19:20). In ancient times it was the most important Christian city in the whole region, especially after the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70. St John spent the last years of his life in Ephesus, where his burial place is still venerated.
In these letters in the Book of Revelation, Christ is depicted with attributes connected in some way with the circumstances of each church at the time. In the case of Ephesus the symbols described in the vision in 1:12, 16 appear again. The seven stars in his right hand signify his dominion over the whole Church, for he is the one who has power to instruct the angels who rule the various communities. His walking among the lampstands shows his loving care and vigilance for the churches (the lampstand symbolizing their prayer and liturgical life). Because the Church in Ephesus was the foremost of the seven, Christ is depicted to it as Lord of all the churches.
2-3. In these verses the church of Ephesus is praised for its endurance and for the resistance it has shown to false apostles. These two attributes--endurance or constancy, and holy intransigence--are basic virtues every Christian should have. Endurance means doggedly pursuing good and holding one's ground against evil influences; this virtue makes Christians "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (Jas 1:4). Indeed, St Paul asserts, "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Rom 5:3-4). In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read, "For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised" (10:36). Endurance, patience, is also the first mark of charity identified by St Paul (cf. 1 Cor 13:4) and one of the features of the true apostle (cf. 2 Cor 6:4; 12:12). Our Lord has told us that by endurance we will gain our lives, will save our souls (cf. Lk 21:19). As St Cyprian puts it, patience "is what gives our faith its firmest basis; it enables our hope to grow to the greatest heights; it guides our actions so as to enable us to stay on Christ's path and make progress with his help; it makes us persevere as children of God" ("De Bono Patientiae", 20).
Another virtue of the church of Ephesus (mentioned again in v. 6) is firm rejection of false apostles. We know from other New Testament writings especially those of St Paul (cf. 2 Cor 3:1; Gal 1:7; Col 2:8; etc.) and St John (cf. 1 Jn 2:19; etc.) that some people were falsifying the Christian message by distorting its meaning and yet seeming to be very devout and concerned about the poor. Reference is made here to the Nicolaitans, a heretical sect difficult to identify. However, the main thing to notice is the resolute way the Christians of Ephesus rejected that error. If one fails to act in this energetic way, one falls into a false kind of tolerance, "a sure sign of not possessing the truth. When a man gives way in matters of ideals, of honor or of faith, that man is a man without ideals, without honor and without faith" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 394).
4. "He does not say that he was without charity, but only that it was not such as in the beginning; that is, that it was not now prompt, fervent, growing in love, or fruitful: as we are wont to say of him who from being bright, cheerful and blithe, becomes sad, heavy and sullen, that he is not now the same man he was" (St Francis de Sales, "Treatise on the Love of God", 4, 2). This is why our Lord complains that their early love has grown cold.
To avoid this danger, to which all of us are prone, we need to be watchful and correct ourselves every day and return again and again to God our Father. Love of God, charity, should never be allowed to die down; it should always be kept ardent; it should always be growing.
5. This is a call to repentance, to a change of heart which involves three stages. The first is recognizing that one is at fault--having the humility to admit one is a poor sinner: "To acknowledge one's sin, indeed--penetrating still more deeply into the consideration of one's own personhood--to recognize oneself as being a sinner, capable of sin and inclined to commit sin, is the essential first step in returning to God" (John Paul II, "Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia", 13). Then comes "love-sorrow" or contrition, which leads us to mend our ways. This is followed by acts of penance which enable us to draw closer to God and live in intimacy with him.
Evangelization is always calling us to repent. "To evoke conversion and penance in man's heart and to offer him the gift of reconciliation is the specific mission of the Church as she continues the redemptive work of her divine Founder" ("ibid.", 23). The church of Ephesus is given a warning that if it does not change its course it will lose its leading position and possibly disappear altogether.
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