"THEY WILL LOOK UPON HIS FACE."

Homily for November 29^th, 2014: Revelation 22:1-7.

          On this last weekday of the Christian year the Church gives us a reading from the last book of the Bible, called Revelation or Apocalypse. It is a notoriously difficult book, filled with symbols. The number seven, for instance, symbolizing fullness and perfection, occurs 54 times in the book. The number twelve, recalling the twelve tribes of Israel, having reached their final perfection in heaven, occurs 23 times. Revelation has given rise to innumerable fantastic interpretations by people who do not realize that it is poetry, not prose. When the Scottish poet Robert Burns writes, “My Love’s like a red, red rose” he is not saying that she has petals and thorns (which would be literalist reading). He is using poetic language to praise her beauty.

          Much of Revelation describes, again in poetic language, the worship of God in heaven. Today’s first reading for instance, speaks of a life-giving river, flowing from the throne of God “and the Lamb,” a reference to the risen and glorified Lord Jesus, now seated at the Father’s right hand. This river nourishes life-giving trees which bear fruit “twelve times a year, once each month.” And the leaves of these trees “serve as medicine for the nations.” God, the author is telling us, is the source of all life, and of all healing.

          “His servants will worship him,” the author says. “They will look upon his face.” That is remarkable. In the prologue to John’s gospel we read, “No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, ever at the Father’s side, who has revealed him.” (1:18). Not even Moses was allowed to see God’s face, though he asked for this privilege. “My face you cannot see,” God told him. “for no one sees me and still lives. … When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face you cannot see.” (Exod. 33:20-23)

In heaven, however, we shall see God’s face. That is why in the great Eucharistic Prayer, after praying for our departed loved ones, the celebrating priest prays in the name of us all: “Welcome them into the light of your face.” That, friends, is the privilege God promises for each one of us. And the only thing that can prevent us from receiving this privilege is our own deliberate and final No.