Sermon 6/2/2019 “Let all who are thirsty, come!”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection at Immanuel Chapel, Virginia Theological Seminary
Text: Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21
Day: 7Easter Year C (June 2, 2019)
“…let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:17)
The words of our first reading—from the very end of the last book in the Bible—spoke to me this week. I KNEW I had to share about them today. First, these words ring true to the core of my being. Jesus of Nazareth had told his friends, he was going away to prepare a place for them so that where he was going, they could come also. (John 14:2) And here was a disciple named John, many years later, receiving a vision of Christ Jesus in that place he had told of, inviting all who were thirsty to “COME,” come receive the “water of life.”
Well, there’s another fundamental truth packed into this lesson. We KNOW this “water of life” of which Christ is speaking, we have received this water—and we are going to give Riley this “water of life” today. Our lesson even identifies the prerequisites for receiving this water: all that is required is to come wearing clean clothes. In other words, the coming must be intentional. “Let everyone who is thirsty come,” our lesson says. And, it adds, “Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a GIFT.”
Throughout Christianity we have argued about whether we should be baptizing babies. “Shouldn’t the people we baptize understand what is happening to them?” we argue. “Well, we counter, WHO understands what happens in baptism, really, except somehow saying ‘yes’ to God in baptism changes our very being?” In the end, we admit that baptism—indeed, all of God’s grace—is a gift, freely given to us. No one can earn God’s grace; like life itself, God’s gifts are freely given. “Let everyone who is thirsty come!”
Peta-Ann and Sam, by bringing your precious child to Church of the Resurrection, you are formalizing more completely the bonds you have already created with this, your church family. Just as you have chosen us to help nurture you and Riley, we have committed ourselves to you and we delight in you, and how you nurture us.
But there is a third truth for today packed into this lesson: Mark and Memella are here to renew their wedding vows. Like baptism, marriage is a sacramental act, teaching us about love. I’m sure you will remember from your catechism classes that a sacrament is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” […] Just as the water is the outward sign of baptism, the vows are the outward sign of marriage that tells us what’s going on inside. As they did for their 10th anniversary, Memella and Mark have written their own new vows, things they promise to do because of the inner grace of their marriage. By making new vows and sharing them in our presence, they are declaring us their family on a whole new level. Mark and Memella, we delight in you, individually and as a couple, as you teach us about love. “Let all who are thirsty, come!”
There are two more things I want to note about our Revelation reading today. If Christ Jesus is coming back, in person, “soon,” he is overdue, we think. Then we debate about the so-called “end times,” what the end-of-time will be like, and we wonder whether Episcopalians believe in the “end times,” when Christ will return in person and make all things new again. Some of us even wonder if there is a literal heaven.
Then we wonder “when”—when Christ will return as he promised. But this isn’t ours to know, either when Christ Jesus will return to us all or when we will go to him at our death. To all this, Christ simply says, “Let all who are thirsty, come!”
AnnaMarie Hoos taught us two weeks ago that all apocalyptic literature, such as the Book of Revelation, rips the veil from our eyes and reveals things as they really are. We kicked this around in Bible study this week. Is today’s passage from Revelation true reality today—not the “end times” but the “here and now?” Isn’t Christ Jesus with us, with and in each of us, working through each of us? How can we say he is in “heaven,” wherever THAT is?
A priest I know begins a prayer with those serving on the altar with him using the words of this ancient prayer: “Blessed, praised, worshiped, and adored is Christ Jesus on his glorious throne in heaven, in the blessed sacraments of his holy altar, and in the hearts and minds of his people everywhere.” The claim here is that Christ Jesus is in ALL of these places SIMULTANEOUSLY, right now, not “either/or.” And in each case, the invitation is the same, “Let all who are thirsty, come!” And we reply, “Yes, Christ Jesus, Come!”
