Catherine McNiel—Year C Easter 2

Anthony: We’re in the homestretch here. The final pericope of the month comes to us from Revelation 1:4–8. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the second Sunday in Easter, which is April 27. Catherine, read it for us, please.

Catherine:

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood ⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ⁷ Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. So it is to be. Amen. ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Anthony: You mentioned earlier in the podcast that you’re a pastoral intern and working in a local church and proclaiming the word of God there.

So, if you were preaching to your congregation, what would be the focus of that proclamation? Preach preacher. Let’s hear it.

Catherine: Okay. Well, wow. This. What a powerful text. It preaches itself. I’m tempted to just come up to the virtual pulpit and read this out and say, this is the word of the Lord and sit back down.

These are powerful words from the Spirit to John, to the churches, and to us. And I love how it is a capstone of everything we’ve talked about today, that it is Jesus who is the name above all names. It is in Jesus that we have, we see dominion forever and ever. He is the King over all the kings. He is the Lord over all the lords. And we are his kingdom. We are the priests serving him. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And he is coming. He is alive, as we learned from Mary.

What I love in these opening words in John’s letter to the churches, is that the focus is razor sharp on Jesus — not Jesus who lived for 30 years and is dead, but the Jesus who was from all times, and is, he is alive today, and he is to come.

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and the Almighty. If all power and dominion is given to Jesus, who has always been and will always be, then again, what do we have to fear? We can go forward joyfully proclaiming the resurrection, joyfully proclaiming that God, and goodness, and God’s view of the use of power is absolutely opposite of everything the world has to say.

And we can live lives of love and compassion. We can confront evil and overcome evil with goodness because we have the Spirit from Jesus, who is the almighty and everlasting. So, I would, I would preach to my listeners on this podcast or to those sitting in the congregation in front of me and to my teenagers as I hold their hands on these days that can be frightening and dark, scary.

We don’t know what’s happening. We don’t need to wait for an earthly kingdom or a community that is amenable to these ideas, to the way of compassion, to the way of sacrificial love. We don’t need to wait for a society that makes us feel safe before we love, because even though Jesus and his followers were killed by those who held power in their society, they were filled with joy.

They have been — Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father — and we believe that his followers have simply preceded us into the kingdom, and that he is the Alpha and the Omega. We have known, we have seen with our eyes, and we have touched with our hands, that there is no time or place where Jesus is absent.

God has given his endorsement solidly in Jesus. From everything that has happened, from what we are going through right now, and all that lies ahead, we keep our eyes on Jesus. Hallelujah.

Anthony: Hallelujah, amen and amen. That word was all eat up with hope, if I can say it that way.

Catherine: Yeah, yeah.

Anthony: And that’s, I mean, really isn’t that what we’re proclaiming — hope — and hope that does not disappoint, hope that doesn’t put us to shame, hope that doesn’t leave us at the altar alone and afraid, hope that is grounded in the person of Jesus who is our crown of glory? Hallelujah. Praise him. And this time went by quickly. Catherine, I’m so delighted you would join us. It’s wonderful to meet you and thank you for sharing the obvious gifts that God has given to you to articulate the good news of who Jesus Christ is. So, thank you for being with us.

Catherine: Well, I’m delighted that you invited me. I’m glad to meet you and glad to meet all of you listening.

Anthony: Yeah. And what we’ll do, friends, for those of you who are listening, we’ll put the links to Catherine’s books in the show notes so you can go and grab them for yourself and read them. I’m sure there are going to be many that do so. And thank you for supporting her as she supports her family and ministry in her context.

And friends, I want to leave you with an encouraging word from Richard Hayes, the late professor in my backyard at Duke Divinity here in Durham, North Carolina. He said, the church community in its corporate life is called to embody an alternative order that stands as a sign of God’s redemptive purposes in the world. So, I invite you, I think with the authority of Christ, to embody that alternative order, to be a culture of the kingdom that reveals the goodness of God, Jesus Christ.

I want to thank the team of people that helped make this podcast possible, Reuel Enerio, Elizabeth Mullins, and Michelle Hartman. We do it as a team and it’s such a joy to have friends and colleagues that you love and like to be able to do work with. So, with that, we say thank you to them.

And Catherine, it is our order here at Gospel Reverb, it’s our tradition to end with prayer. So, would you say a word of prayer for us?

Catherine: I would be honored to.

Heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we lift up our arms in joyful worship and gratitude that you are the one who was, and is, and is to com, that you have gone to such great lengths to communicate to us so vividly that you are not one who abuses power, but one who uses all that you have towards compassion, towards shalom, that you are making all things new, that your love had the first word, remains with us still today, and will have the final word.

We submit ourselves to you and to your kingdom. We look for your will and your presence in our lives today. And I pray for all those listening. I pray that they would feel your light on their face, that they would feel your hand on their back, that they would know your presence, and your love that surpasses knowledge, and your peace that passes all understanding. And I pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Anthony: Amen.