I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. – Revelation 6:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 2, 2021): Revelation 6

Shadowfax was the white horse that belongs to Gandolf in J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." The horse's great speed was instrumental in several of the Battles within the tale. The horse was a hero who belonged to another hero and an essential character in the trilogy.

But Shadowfax is not the first powerful, white horse. Mythology is filled with white horses who have become legendary heroes in their own right, often transcending the everyday world in which we live. They are fast, and sometimes, as is true for Pegasus from Greek mythology, they have wings. They are the bearers of kings and heroes. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus reports that white horses were held as sacred animals in the court of Xerxes the Great, who ruled during the 5^th Century B.C.E. And tradition says that white horses will carry the patron saints at the end of the world.

With all of the expectations, it would be easy to see Jesus as the rider on the white house, except that rest of the description doesn't quite fit. The rider seems to try to imitate Jesus, but he is not Jesus. And one of the reasons why we know this is that he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest, and it is not a conquest based on justice. The beginnings for the rider of the white horse seem to be filled with potential, but in the end, there is only division, war, and famine.

There is an interesting parallel to the mystery of the rider on the white horse, and, it is us, the Christian Church. Consider this. We started out because we heard the call of the Lamb, Jesus. He gave us authority, signified by a crown, and sent us out. But something happened. Everywhere that we went, we found reasons to be divided. Christian kings became conquerors bent on conquest in the name of Jesus, the one who sent us, but not necessarily with a tendency toward compassion and justice. It is the story of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, who was convinced, in a vision, to paint the sign of Jesus on the shields of his army. Then he was told, "to go in this sign and conquer."

Other kings seemed to have done the same thing, conquering in the name of Jesus. As a result of their conflicts, they brought division, war, and famine to the earth. Let me be clear; I am not saying that the rider of the white horse is the church, just that we have already lived through this story, so, in the end, it is not hard to imagine a rider who will rise because of the call of Christ, and yet act against the teachings of Jesus. We know our history and our current reality of division within the Christian faith.

Christ will ride on a white horse. John sees Jesus on his white horse at the end of his vision. "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war" (Revelation 19:11). But he is not this white horse rider in Revelation 6. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 7