Repentance - Revelation 3:14-22
This scripture story could be about what to do when you get lost.
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Repentance is the first word in a sort of ’spiritual GPS system.’ It is the first step of faith. It is the first step of how to go home.
The story of Laodicea illustrates how we might understand the word repentance.
For many the letters in Revelation are scary stuff. They point out our inability to be faithful and they cast doubt on our relationship with God. And of course in the last ten years Tim LaHaye has made a fortune scaring people to Jesus with the Left Behind books.
But closer reading of the Bible reveals that the book of Revelation is less about using a scary story to frighten people to Jesus – and rather more like a book of comfort for the remnant of the church trying to be faithful in a growing secular world.
But what do you make of Jesus’ discussion of hot and cold water, and spitting out lukewarm water? We’ve always associated a hot faith with someone spiritually alive – and a cold faith with someone in danger of losing their salvation. And so it appears to some that Jesus is telling the Laodiceans – and us – to get off the fence – be hot or be cold – but quit wasting my time with being in the middle. Some scholars even talk about area hot springs and cold springs that were refreshing – and the fact that the Laodiceans got their water from an aqueduct that allowed the water to become lukewarm.
A better interpretation that fits with the whole passage is one of refreshment. The Romans of Jesus’ day believed that civilized people enjoyed refreshing drinks. And the drinks that were refreshing usually were hot or cold. If it is the winter you want hot chocolate and if it is the summer you want an ice cold – er – lemonade.
Or to put it differently a cold beverage or a hot beverage – regardless – is a contrast to its environment. It is distinctive and recognizable. And it performs a job. It refreshes. But a lukewarm beverage does not do any of that. It is not distinctive it is not a contrast to its environment and conversely it does not refresh.
Maybe what Jesus is talking about isn’t a strange conception of being on fire for God – or not on fire for God. But rather maybe the issue is that Jesus wants their faith to be refreshing. And while we’re here lets talk about this translation of ‘spit out’. The Greek word here really is translated vomit- not spit out. The image here is not a dainty spitting of bad wine into a cistern – but the rejection of something foul, bad or distasteful. Think more of ‘hugging the porcelain throne with a stomach bug’ than a ‘high society wine tasting.’
In Jesus’ time it was a sign of friendship if you dined with someone. In fact Jesus got in trouble for who he dined with – he dined with those who no one interested in working the room and climbing the ladder would dine with … He dined with prostitutes, and tax collectors, men and women who were not cool, who were not considered dignified or moral. I imagine we might say that Jesus dines with the least, the last and the lost. Seems like after the last week – Jesus might sit down to the table with Kevin Federline, Britney Spears, and Anna Nicole Smith..
But to have someone into your home in Jesus’ day was both an honor and a responsibility – you were required to cater to their needs to show them the greatest hospitality. You had someone wash their feet, bring out refreshing drink and you cooked a meal that made them comfortable and cherished.
How does the scripture end? It ends with Jesus saying I stand at the door and knock – and if you will open the door I will come in and sit with you (some translations say and eat with you).
This passage is a call to repentance. It is a reminder to the Laodiceans that faith is about being refreshing – refreshing to each other, to the stranger and to God. When our faith sours – when we stop taking care of our spiritual lives – when we stop reading the Bible, stop praying, stop loving our neighbors as we love ourselves – we are no longer refreshing. We then become so distasteful and repulsive that the creator of the universe – the king of Glory – the God whose love is so deep and so wide as to rescue and welcome any repentant sinner – can’t stand the taste of us – and finds himself hovering over the toilet sick to his stomach.
Repentance is the act of stopping, turning around and heading home. It is the act of stopping and taking a whiff of our own faith – and deciding that we have gone long enough without bathing, or taking care of ourselves. Repentance is the recognition that we can’t do it on our own – and it is time to go home to God – to be refreshed so that we might be refreshing to others.
Repentance is a fancy word for ‘do over.’ Repentance is taking responsibility for how lost we’ve become. Repentance is the first step in the right direction, the first step home, the first step towards the God who loves us, cares for us and wants to be in relationship with us.
It isn’t the result of fire and brimstone preaching, it isn’t the result of high pressure evangelism – it isn’t the result of emotional or spiritual black mail.
Instead it is the result of someone who has reached the end of their rope – a person who doesn’t want to go it alone any more – a person who looks around and realizes they’ve been refusing God’s help for so long – having reached the bottom of the rope – they tie a knot – and ask for a lift.
(Source for exegetical material - Koester, Craig R. (2003). “The message to Laodicea and the problem of its local context: A study of the imagery in Rev 3.14-22″ New Testament Studies Vol 49 pp 407-424.)