Today's Scripture Reading (June 9, 2021): Revelation 13
In
"The perks of Being a Wallflower," Stephen Chbosky comments that "things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for
anybody." Change is a reality, but not necessarily one that we
like. For many of us, change is a nightmare. And anything that forces us into
some sort of change is automatically evil. I believe this is one of the fundamental
issues behind the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The pandemic is new; well, at
least we haven't seen anything like this in the past hundred years. The technology
in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine is also unique. The technology behind the
vaccine is something scientists have been working on for a few years, but that
technology was just fine-tuned during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is still
change, and for some, that means that it is still evil.
John's
vision continues, but sometimes the vision seems to be more of a nightmare. And
in this installment, John sees a dragon come and stand on the shore of the sea.
And if that wasn't scary enough, a beast comes out of the sea to meet the
dragon. And the Beast, there just isn't a better name for it, was a strange-looking,
well, Beast. It had ten horns growing out of seven heads. That meant that the Beast
would be difficult to kill because you couldn't just try to "cut the head
off of the Beast;" seven heads meant the loss of one might be
inconsequential. While crowns are typically worn on the head, in the case of
the Beast, the crowns were worn on the horns, while each head had a blasphemous
name, indicating a different personality. All of this seems to describe some
sort of composite animal or, more likely, organization.
The
nature of the beasts, there are actually two of them, is that they are aligned
with the dragon in opposition to God's purposes. But the Beast that comes out
of the sea is the best described and known, but rarely understood. And I think
there is a reason for that; we aren't supposed to understand what the Beast
signifies. Everything will be understood when we get to read the last page of
the story, but John's Revelation is a good mystery story that will keep us
guessing until the end.
But
that doesn't stop us from making our suggestions about the identity of every
aspect of the mystery. And usually, our guesses are directed at things that are
different or evidence of change because change is evil. White Christian Evangelicals
during the depression believed that the emerging labor union movement, and specifically
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, were evidence of the Beast. Interestingly,
Black Churches tended to see the Congress of Industrial Organization more
positively and as a welcome change, reflecting the diverse economic reality of
the various sections of the Christian Church.
Growing
up, I remember the emerging European Union was supposed to be the Beast. The European
Union was a unique mixture of nations pursuing a single financial model, with
the development of a unified currency, and a united trade structure, both of
which were evidence of a single organism or a beast. But the European Union was
also a mixture of nations with authority over their own national desires, which
would be an excellent example of the separate heads, horns, and crowns. Not all
are equal within the union, just as not all appear to be equal within the Beast.
I
don't believe that either of these organizations is actually the Beast. The
Congress of Industrial Organizations dissolved in 1955; the European Union has
grown past the place where any accurate comparison between the Beast and the Union
makes sense. But the one thing both of these organizations hold in common with
many of the new suggestions for the Beast's identity that are rising today is
that they all are a reaction to change. And change is evil.
But
change is also natural, and we need to be very careful when demonizing anything
just because it is different. Because change will always be with us, but it
does not have to be part of the nightmare.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 14
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