‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Revelation 3:14-18, NRSV
Today, America celebrates the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As I've mentioned earlier, saints in the Catholic tradition are celebrated on the day they entered into glory. I will have a further reflection on Martin later.
But today, I'm forced to ponder something Martin said. A bunch of bishops, including some Episcopal ones, had written to reproach him for going too far. At the time, he was in the jail in Birmingham, Alabama.
"the Negro's greatest stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."
In the passage from Revelation, Jesus is asking John, the author of the book, to write to seven churches, rebuking them for their sins. The church in Laodicea is allegedly lukewarm - kind of like the "white moderate".
God, however, calls us to seek first the Kingdom of God. Like Jesus entering the temple and chasing the money changers away, what is unjust will be reworked.
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.’
Revelation 3:20-22, NRSV
Amen.
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