The Second to Last Episode

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    Every once in a while I get sucked into a sitcom to the point where it tries to consume my life.  The miracle of streaming internet TV and Netflix allows one to watch two, three, four, even five episodes in one evening—all commercial free!  It can be terribly inconvenient especially when it comes to my sleep schedule.  Maybe you can relate.

            Anyway, Jamie and I recently found ourselves getting into a show called Parenthood.  The show centers around the life of the Braverman family.  The show offers comedic and emotional relief to anyone who knows what it is like to be a part of a big dysfunctional family that is held together by love.

            When I finally made it to the last season, the Bravermans were falling apart.  Just about every relationship was coming apart at the seams.  A part of me wondered how the dire situation could be resolved in just 20 episodes. 

            As I began to watch what I thought was the first episode of the final season, I was pleasantly surprised to see that things seemed to be getting better.  There was a light at the end of the tunnel.  Something miraculous happened off-screen between seasons.

When I watched the second episode of the final season, I noticed that life for the Bravermans was back to chaos as usual.  It was clear to me that the writers had employed the flash forward technique.  They snapped a picture of the future to give the audience reason to ask, “What could have possibly taken place so that the Bravermans had a happy ending?”  And this was the question that informed how I watched the last season.

The joke was on me because when I made it to the second to last episode I kept thinking, “Are they playing the first episode of the season again?”  Sure enough, I had accidentally watched the second to last episode thinking it was the first episode of the season.  Turns out the writers of the show did not want you to have a vision of hope going into the last season.

At this point you might be wondering why I just went on this rant about my experience watching Parenthood as it relates to the Revelation preaching series.  Good question!  Unlike Parenthood, the Book of Revelation wants readers to have a glimpse of the second to last episode of the series finale.  
The Book of Revelation is all about giving the readers a sure and present hope of things to come.  This book is all about inviting the readers to wonder how God can possible make good out of a terrible situation. 

As I have already mentioned in this preaching series, the people who first read the Book of Revelation are experiencing persecution and oppression at the hands of the Roman Empire.  For many of them, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  These readers are devoid of hope and struggling to worship the God of all truth.  The temptation to worship the false idol of Rome and Rome’s false promises is growing.

The part of today’s lesson that the first readers were most likely drawn to is the part where one of the elders asks John of Patmos, “Who are these, robed in white, and where did they come from?”  John deflects the question back to the elder, “Sir, you are the one that knows.”  The elder replies, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal.”  These are the ones who know victory through the Lamb who was slain.

This scene might be likened to a time when the Bravermans experience extreme dysfunction in their family life.  And during this time of chaos, someone comes to their house and gives them a video of the second to last episode of their series finale. 

Sure the family would be able to recognize their family members but they would have a hard time recognizing their family because things are so good.  They might wonder, “How can things be so good when things are terrible now?” 

The same must be true for John of Patmos and the first readers of Revelation.  Surely they would recognize their ancestors who have been persecuted for Christ’s sake.  But if they were persecuted, then why are they standing in heaven celebrating?  Why are they singing, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”?  How can they be joyful in the face of such oppression and violence?

The ones who have come through the great ordeal are joyful because they now share fully in the victory of the Lamb.  Their robes have been made white through the blood of the Lamb.  They have endured; they have persevered through the many assaults of the enemy.  They have resisted the evil powers of this world.  God has kept good on his promise to deliver the faithful from sin and death. 

This great assembly in heaven was able to resist because they clung to the sure and present hope of things to come.  They knew that in the fullness of time God would finally rid the world of all evil and death.  They were able to resist because they knew deep in their souls that God marks them as his own forever through the blood of the Lamb, they knew that their Good Shepherd would seek them out and take them to the place where God wipes away every tear from their eyes. 

In a few minutes, Michael Kyle Parks will be baptized.  And you will be called to renew your own baptismal covenant.  You will be asked to renounce the evil powers of this world and recommit to following Jesus as your Savior.  You will remember with Michael that you are marked as Christ’s own forever. 

Some of you might wonder, what’s the point of baptism?  Is life really that much different after baptism?  Billions of people across the globe have been baptized, and we are still in the same mess as we were in Jesus’ day.  Other than being assured of our salvation when we die, what’s the point of baptism?  Does baptism really change anything?  

For starters, baptism isn’t simply your ticket to heaven when you die.  Baptism is your ticket to live in the kingdom of heaven today.  Baptism calls the faithful to look at the world as though they are cast in the second to last episode of the series finale and this means that we can look at the mess of the world and our lives through a lens of hope versus a lens of despair.  Baptismal life means we live our lives according to the narrative of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 

Baptism acknowledges that God in Christ gives us a different reality to operate from, a reality that is firmly rooted in the narrative of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain and is risen from the dead.  God gives us a reality that says—no matter how bad your great ordeal, no matter how bad the world gets, the blood of the Lamb has and is going to set you and the world free. 

Whatever your great ordeal God is and has and is going to pull you through and lead you to the springs of life.  This is your new reality.  This is the reality of those who have been marked by the blood of the Lamb. 

As Bishop Sloan said on Easter Sunday, God’s new reality in Christ sets you free from the power of shame and the fear of death.  God’s reality tells you that there is nothing left to lose because in Christ you have won everlasting life.  There is no ordeal so great that God can’t overcome—just look at the risen Lord—the one who overcame death and the grave.

   Contrary to popular belief we are not asked to have a blind faith.  God gives us a vision of what life should and will look like in the fullness of time when all things have come to perfection.  In baptism, God shows us a world through and beyond the great ordeal, a world through and beyond death and the grave.  And to sweeten the deal, God gives us a way to live in that reality today.

In baptism, God is telling us that he has chosen us to both live in and point to the new creation in Christ.  God has chosen us, the baptized, to call a world who lives in darkness to come into the light we know in Christ.  We are the ones who God trusts will be moved to proclaim resurrection life.  We are the ones who God trusts will be moved to say, “Come and see, there is abundant life in God.  Come and let God’s second to last episode consume you and inform how you live your life today.”

And God sustains us in our faith by calling us to worship the Lamb who was slain, the Lamb who is risen to everlasting life.  God sustains us in our faith by showing us the second to last episode.  God calls us to this holy place where we enter into the unceasing song of praise with the countless who surround the throne in heaven, by our own ancestors who know the fullness of Christ’s victory.  God sustains us by showing us a reality that is and was and is to come.

Believe me; learning to trust in this vision does not come overnight.  Trust in God’s new creation is discovered more and more through a lifetime of worship.  Trust in God’s new creation requires us to watch the second to last episode again and again and again. 

I am still learning how to look at the world using a vision of hope instead of despair.  And I pray that God gives me the grace to continue to trust more and more this new reality until one day I know the fullness of Christ’s victory—a victory marked by Christ’s sacrificial love for all the children of God, a victory that goes beyond death.

Our prayer is the Psalmists prayer, Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with me.  Our shepherd is and will lead us beside still waters, our Good Shepherd is and will lead us to the springs of life and wipe away every tear from our eyes.  This is both our future hope and present reality.

(Children of St. Paul's sing "Jesus Loves Me"

Replay this Episode Again and Again!)

As we celebrate the baptism of Michael Kyle today, remember the claim of love that God makes on all his beloved children through the blood of the Lamb.  And to those who are godparents or parents remind the baptized of God’s everlasting claim of love again and again, replay this second to last episode again and again especially when all hope seems lost, and never despair because God is never, ever, no matter what, going to stop pursing you with his immeasurable love—a love made known through the Lamb who was slain.  Amen.