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Friday January 30 - The gentle knock
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with
me.” Revelation 3:20
Having survived his encounter with the bus my son grew up, went through school, and is now studying at Keble College, Oxford. When, each term, I come to pick him up or drop him off, we go into the college chapel where there is the original of perhaps the most famous English religious painting of them all: ‘The Light of the World’ by William Holman Hunt. The picture shows Jesus standing outside an old door (without a handle), a lamp in his hand, knocking. It is an image inspired by this verse. Jesus is looking at us, not the door, as if to say “It’s your heart that I’m knocking on. Will you open the door for me?” In the gospels Jesus has meals with all sorts of people: the tax collector Zacchaeus, Simon the Pharisee, and all manner of disreputable people. Jesus is not fussy about his dining companions! And so here he is addressing these same Laodiceans, whom he has threatened to ‘spit out of his mouth’. “If you let me in,” he says, “then I will eat with you also.” This does, however, involve two responses from the person inside the house. They must hear Jesus’ voice, and they must answer the door. Can the Laodiceans, distracted as they are by their wealth and pride, hear Jesus – and if they can, will they obey and invite him in?
Lord Jesus, you stand at the door of my heart and knock; please come in and eat with me. Amen.
Saturday January 31 - Victory at the last
“To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my
throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father...” Rev 3:21
Every Easter, I force myself to watch ‘The Passion of the Christ’, the Mel Gibson film. This sharp little letter ends with a promise, and what a promise it is! In a world dominated by images of the mighty Roman emperor dispensing justice from his throne, the promise is given to the church that, if they prove to be victorious, they can then sit alongside Christ on his throne as he brings justice and judgment to the nations. This promise, to share in Jesus’ authority to judge, is found elsewhere in the New Testament (Matthew 19:28; 1 Corinthians 6:2). It is an awe-inspiring responsibility.
But what does it mean for the Laodiceans to be victorious? For the other churches it may mean overcoming persecution, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue in Laodicea. For the Laodicean church to be victorious they need to overcome themselves, and that sometimes is the hardest battle of all. The Laodiceans must overcome their pride and discover humility. They must overcome their complacency and discover a radical trust in God. They must overcome their addiction to wealth and discover what it means to rely on God’s riches, and not their own. Do you think this sounds like the sort of struggle that our churches today must undertake? I think Jesus could be speaking directly to the church in the West. And that means that he must be speaking to me also. What challenge do you take from this letter?
Father, help me to run the race set before me, to make my contribution and hand over the church in the knowledge that you are working. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY