Sunday, 22 April 2018

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. – Revelation 3:2


Today’s Scripture Reading (April 22, 2018): Revelation 3

The Greek Historian Herodotus tells the story of Cyrus the Great, in 549 B.C.E., stumbling onto the city of Sardis. The Persian King marveled at the defensive position of the city. The cliffs that seemed to surround the city were too steep to climb. And so the king desired to make the city his own. He offered a reward to any soldier who could find a way into the city. One soldier was watching a guard at the top of the cliff when his helmet fell off and bounced down the steep embankment. He watched as the guard climbed down the cliff to get his helmet back. The Soldier recognized that there must have been a path to the top for the soldier to regain his helmet so easily. Once they located the entrance of the path, Cyrus ordered his army to climb up the path at night, under the cover of darkness. When they got to the top, they found the leaders of the city had not bothered to even posted a guard at the entrance. They were so confident that no one could reach them that there was no need to post a watchman. Within minutes, the city fell to Cyrus.

We might think that the fall of the Sardis to Cyrus would have cured the city of their overconfidence, but we would be wrong. In 214 B.C.E., Cyrus’s capture of Sardis replayed itself out one more time. This time the King was Antiochus III of the Seleucids, and once again the city was captured because of this same overconfidence.

It is this history that Jesus points to through John. If only a watchman had been posted, the city might not have fallen. No matter the strength of the attacking army, coming through the bottleneck of a path entrance at the top of a cliff is often an equalizing situation. It might not have taken much at the top of the path to dissuade the opposing forces from attacking. Even a meager defense would prove that the city simply could not be taken. But the people, and the soldiers, at the top of the cliff, were asleep and offered no resistance to the attacking army during either situation.

The message to the Christian Church at Sardis was a simple one. They, like the guards of the city, had fallen asleep. They were about to be defeated, and yet they didn’t even know they were under attack. They didn’t recognize that danger was near or that their task had not yet been completed.

The image of the Sardis Church could be compared to the Christian Church which is content to rest on its past accomplishments. This church believes that it understands everything. It is overconfident and often has accepted an easy faith. They are no longer watching out for evil because they believe that no evil can touch them. And for all of these reasons, they are a church which is about to die.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 4

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