The Limits to Tolerance.

Revelation 2:12-17

February 10, 2019

I.

Pergamum was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia, and it was apparently full of pagan temples, including one dedicated to the cult of the  emperor.  This is probably why the Lord refers to Pergamum as the place “where Satan’s throne is.”

The congregation generally gets high marks for their faithfulness.  He especially lifts up a martyr named Antipas who gives his life rather than deny his faith.  

But he criticizes them for tolerating a leader he calls Balaam and the pesky group he calls the Nicolaitans.  Both of these are probably unflattering euphemisms for Christians who participated at least tangentially in the pagan cults by eating meat which had been sacrificed to idols and possibly engaging in sexual immorality, which are two often related things.  

The reference to “Balaam” refers back to a nasty episode near the end of the book of Numbers in which the Israelites, who are about to enter the Promised Land, allow themselves to get seduced into relationships with non-Israelite women and their deity, the Baal of Peor.  That doesn’t end well for anybody.

The Nicolaitans have come up before.  It is possible that their name, which is a combination of the Greek words for “victory” and “the people,” refers to their willingness to compromise the faith in order to gain popularity, both among the Christians and in the larger pagan culture.  These kinds of beliefs eventually degenerated into what we call gnosticism.  They were seeking ways for Christians to get along with and accommodate to the Empire.  

The apostle Paul deals with the same practical issue in his first letter to Corinth: what to eat.  Most publicly available meat had been slaughtered according to the rituals of some pagan temple.  The question then became whether partaking of this food was in effect a form of worship of the idol.  Paul advises against eating such food out of love for sister and brother Christians who do see it as a pagan practice.

The situation a generation or two later is considerably more dire.  The Nicolaitans are basically saying that “Hey, as long as I believe in Jesus in my heart, who cares what I eat?  Pagan gods aren’t real anyway, so what difference does it make?  Forget that love thing; I’m not going to let the Jewish superstitions of some in the church inhibit my freedom in Christ to eat whatever I want.  We’re not Jews anymore, yo?  They kicked us out.  Plus, how are we supposed to do business and get ahead if we can’t even have lunch with pagans, which is to say, just about everybody?  Plus if we don’t eat meat sacrificed in the Emperor’s honor it’s even worse; we could go to jail.  So there’s that.”

II.

In rejecting the practices and arguments of the Nicolaitans, the Lord is insisting on a clean and fairly absolute break between faith in him and participation in the Empire.  Christians cannot do both.  Much of the rest of this book will be graphic depictions of the ways the Empire is going down.  The Nicolaitans want to compromise with, and participate in, and retain some of the benefits of the Empire.  But Jesus says that’s like offering someone a ticket on the Titanic.  “No,” he says, “Don’t be fooled.  Don’t get on board the big, new, shiny, ‘unsinkable’ boat, where the oligarchs dine sumptuously under crystal chandeliers while the workers are locked below the water-line singing Irish folk songs with Leonardo DiCaprio.”

The whole essence of Christianity’s original message is about the Jewish Messiah who was executed by the Empire, yet who still lives!  Why would you cooperate with the bad guys in that equation?  Why would you seek to get along with the power that did its best to kill God?  Why would you want to associate yourself with its mass-murder, torture, theft, rape, conquest, and wanton destruction?  Why would you want to become complicit in all 

that and suffer its terrible consequences?  To join with the Empire is a categorical rejection of God and Jesus Christ.  It is to choose death.

The importance of these cities in Asia Minor was that they represented in many ways the heart of the Roman Empire.  The people there — at least the leaders and the establishment — were enthusiastic, patriotic, religious supporters of the Empire.  They profited and benefited from its order, stability, and administration.  They certainly didn’t think of themselves as colonized.  They were the colonizers, but they didn’t think of themselves that way either.  Rather, they were “bringing the benefits of civilization to barbaric and backward peoples.”  The brutal tactics of the legions were completely justified.  Slavery was necessary for economic growth.  Crucifixion was the only way to treat terrorists.

There are in these cities people, usually the ones languishing at the bottom of the socio-economic pile, who personally and directly understand what the Empire is really about.  These are the people who do all the work that makes these cities so prosperous, yet who are woefully under-compensated; whose lives are disrupted by the wars and whims of the rulers; who have no voice in any decisions of government or business.  They are the marginalized, disenfranchised, enslaved, poor, often migrant people who are attracted to the message of this odd sect preaching the continued life of a crucified man.  These people know what crucifixion is.  

These are the people who become Christians.  They have nothing to lose in the destruction of the Empire, and they gain real hope and courage from the proclamation that this Jesus and not the Emperor is really and truly the Lord.  He, the One who conquers death and sticks it to the Romans, is their God.

III.

When Jesus urges this church to “repent,” to change their way of thinking and acting, he criticizes their continued tolerance of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.  In other words, there is a limit to the diversity Jesus wants in his gospel communities.  He is demanding a single-minded focus that is un-watered-down by any openness to the values and practices of the Empire.  For them to repent means that the church would no longer have these people among them.  They will have to leave.

That doesn’t sound very nice to us.  We don’t like to hear that there are limits to diversity and inclusion.

When I was in seminary the women students advocated for a place where they could get together and discuss their concerns.  It took years, but finally the seminary gave them a small room in the basement of Stuart Hall to be the Women’s Center.  The women were happy, and so were the men who supported the idea… until the Women’s Center actually opened, and men were informed that they were not welcome.  

Some men decided this was an unspeakable crime against freedom, openness, and diversity.  How could the women complain about institutions that excluded them, but now establish their own place that excluded men?  It wasn’t fair!  Surely they could just exclude, you know, the bad men.  Why exclude us good men too?

The fact is that marginalized, excluded, disenfranchised, and oppressed people need dedicated space apart from the controlling, dominating voices of the ones who perpetrated, or benefited from, their marginalization and exclusion.  There are differentials in power and experience that make a huge difference.

You can’t attend a 12-step recovery group if you are not an addict.  Slaves in the south would conspire to meet together illegally for worship without the attendance of owners and overseers.  You can’t attend a divorce recovery group if you’re not divorced.  If you’re in a cancer survivors’ group, you shouldn’t have to accept the participation of a representative of the tobacco industry.  

And the early church also has definite boundaries.  They have to.  If you’re gathering around a crucified Messiah, it doesn’t help to have people there making excuses for and deals with the ones who did the crucifying.  If you are confessing that Jesus is Lord, it doesn’t help to have people saying that the Emperor can be Lord too.  If you’re advocating for the Kingdom of God, it doesn’t help to have powerful voices demanding continued allegiance to the reign of wealth and power.

Jesus says we may serve God or money, but not both.  Serving God is hard work requiring a lot of single-mindedness and mutual support.  For a gospel community to have to deal with the voices of those who serve money and power would be suicide.  At some point a choice must be made.

IV.

Every Empire is a projection of mass ego-centricity.  Every Empire is built on fear, anger, and hatred.  Every Empire is about gaining wealth and power, increasing inequality, dominating, excluding, extracting, exploiting, and using.  Every Empire is about crucifying, bombing, torturing, incarcerating, lynching, conquering, and killing.  And, for lack of a foundation in God’s Truth, every Empire always violently collapses in on itself, annihilating those loyal to it.  Always. 

Jesus Christ inaugurates and reveals the truth of the Kingdom of God, the anti-Empire, where love, peace, equality, and justice reign.  All who resonate with the message of oneness, welcome, and forgiveness get included.  Contrary voices expose, indict, and exclude themselves.  

A gospel community does not need any voice suggesting we hate, fear, or be angry with each other or anyone — for that is the mentality that crucified the Lord.  Rather, we are to fear only God; we are to hate only our own sin; and we are to be angry only with ourselves in not doing either one of those very well. 

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