The following is a text of a sermon entitled 'Apathy, Complacency & Evil' preached by the Minister on 25th January 2009.
Our Text for today is our New Testament Lesson, taken from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 12, reading from verse one to the first sentence of verse five:
“A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birthpangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron”.
Putting it into Context: The Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is arguably the most misunderstood book in the entire bible; it evokes a sense of mystique and, in some quarters, fear. Within the Christian community itself, there is a wide range of interpretations as to how the book should be viewed. Some interpret the book as a prophecy restricted to events that were fulfilled in the 1st century. Others contend that it contains descriptions of events that were happening at the time of writing, but that it also provided elements of future prophecy. And the interpretations don’t stop there, because there is yet another view, called the ‘radical discipleship view’ that looks at Revelation as a handbook for radical discipleship; some Christians look to the Book of Revelation as a call to remain faithful to the spirit and teachings of Jesus in opposition to the prevailing norms of contemporary society. My own opinion, for what it’s worth, is that revelation can most productively be regarded as a piece of writing set firmly within the genre of apocalyptic literature that was common at that time. In other words, the book is not necessarily meant to be interpreted literally, rather the key to unfolding its richness of meaning lies in looking at the vivid imagery as symbolic. When we take this approach, we see what the writer is getting at; he wants us to understand the timeless truths that his word pictures describe; he wants us to understand the value of hope and warning; he wants us to understand that the forces of good will always be victorious over the forces of evil, however they manifest themselves.
So it’s against this backdrop that we now turn and contemplate the meaning of our text for today. We have three key figures in the narrative: the woman, the child and the dragon. The woman has traditionally been thought of as representing Mary, while the son represents Jesus Christ. Other interpreters have picked up on the symbolism of the twelve stars in the woman’s crown (analogous to the twelve tribes) and suggested that she represents Israel. In this line of thinking the imagery presents Israel’s sufferings as bringing forth the Messiah. Now you might be excused at this juncture for thinking that this is a quite complicated situation that we find ourselves immersed in. And you would of course be correct! Scholars have identified Jewish, Greek and Persian influences in this passage, and many more throughout the entire book. But what about the dragon, this enormous and frightening entity that is diametrically opposed to the woman? The dragon is presented as having fierce power, so much so that the text paints a stark and vivid picture of his tail sweeping away the stars and casting then down to the ground. The writer of the Book of Revelation is presenting the dragon as the epitome of evil. We have, in very simple terms, the light of good juxtaposed against the darkness and turmoil of evil.
Our passage fits in to the apocalyptic genre – the language, the imagery, it’s all there. Using metaphor and symbolism it takes us on a journey to a greater truth; it reminds us of the reality of suffering; it reminds us of the continual fight between good and evil, and it reminds us of something else, something I’ll return to in a few moments. But before I do I want to turn our collective thoughts to an event that is very important in our national calander - Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust and of other genocides. It is marked each year on 27 January – the anniversary of the date of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. On this day, people form all over the world join together to remember victims and survivors, but also to commit to rejecting prejudice, discrimination and racism in the present day.
The Holocaust is a story of incomprehensible tragedy, suffering and evil. Of course Jews were the primary victims of Nazi hatred, but there were a huge number of others killed or persecuted. We think of the European Roma and Sinti (commonly referred to as ‘Gypsies’), homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents and of course the Soviet prisoners of war. The staggering fact is that from 1933 to1945, it is estimated that 11 million people were killed by the Nazis…wiped from the face of the earth for simply being ‘different’ in some way. Eleven million people – equivalent to over six times the population of Northern Ireland. The statistics are staggering, but behind these statistics are people just like you and me – people with feelings, with fears, with hopes and aspirations – so it’s fitting that we now turn to those people who experienced something that we can even barely comprehend. I’ll read to you now the words of a poem called ‘Never Shall I Forget’ by Elie Wiesel, the holocaust survivor, writer and Nobel Prize winner:
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.
And now, turning to the testimony of a woman called Esther Brunstein:
“More than half a century has passed since the events I am going to describe took place, but for me not a single day has gone by without me reliving at some point the pain and the trauma. It just comes and haunts me. I still cannot come to terms with – let alone comprehend – the total, calculated destruction of the world I knew, and the life I was born into.
I was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1928 into a very closely-knit and enlightened working-class family. My parents were active members of the Bund (Jewish Socialist Organisation). Father was also very actively involved in the Trade Union movements and a one-time official. I had two older brothers, David, 18, and Peretz, 15 years old, at the outbreak of war. Peretz is the only other survivor, apart from myself, of my entire family, immediate and extended.
Life in pre-war Poland was difficult, and even as a child I was acutely aware of anti-Semitism and personally experienced many jibes in my direction. But my memories of childhood are happy, because I grew up in a home where there was love and understanding. I was fortunate to attend an excellent secular Jewish school which imbued me with a love of humanity, a strong sense of Jewish identity, security and belonging. I treasure those memories and drew strength from my background in the darkest moments of my life.”
I mentioned earlier that Holocaust Memorial Day didn’t just reflect on the atrocities commmited in Europe more than sixty years ago; it also commemorates the genocide that has occurred more recently in Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rawanda. So let us now reflect on the testimony of a young Rwandan survivor called Clare.
“My name is Clare. I am a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. This is my testimony.
I was born in Kibuye, Gitesi. I was married to Leonel. Both he and my two children were killed in the genocide. Only my brother and I survived. I am now 30 years old.
At the time, we were living in Muhima where my husband was a technician for Radio Rwanda and I was a trader. When the genocide began my daughter was away working in Kibungo. We waited for her to come home, but we ourselves were in danger. I found out later that my daughter had been killed at her grandfather’s home.
On the 11th of April, the killings began. I was taken captive, and experienced all forms of torture. I was beaten and hit badly. I was forced to drink blood from dead and injured people”.
An appalling story.
Back To Revelation
Now let us return to our text for today. I mentioned previously that Revelation focuses our minds on the reality of suffering and the reality of evil. It says much to us today, as we confront these issues. It sustains us through this suffering; it reminds us that good always prevails - God always has the last word. But it also challenges complacency and apathy; it warns us not to acquiesce with the things that are deeply flawed and wrong in our contemporary word. It challenges us not to stand back and allow others to perpetrate acts of inhumanity and injustice. These may of course manifest themselves in acts of petty intolerance and discrimination in our local communities here in Northern Ireland. But it may also manifest itself in far off places shielded from media attention and subject to widespread apathy. Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo immediately spring to mind.
Pastor Neimoller’s famous words remind us that we have a responsibility to all who are afflicted and persecuted, not just to those we identify ourselves most closely with.
So let us finish by joining together in a very short prayer of solidarity and reflection written by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland:
Let us surround our worship and our community with stillness, stillness to remember all those who died in the Holocaust; those before or since whose lives were brought to an end by genocide, and those still suffering or dying.
AMEN
