“Be Faith-full to the point of death,
and I will give you the Crown of Life.”
~ unknown (Revelation 2:10)

 

Most Christians focus on the word “faithful” in this verse (which is the way the term is written in most English biblical translations), and this is why most Christians are so often and so easily misled thereby …

Now let me begin by noting that I am not claiming that the author of Revelation (who remains unknown to this day – in all probability not John the disciple at any rate, who would have died many decades before this tome was penned) believed any differently. For it is indeed possible that he (or she) did indeed mean that those who maintained a staunch, conservative, religious belief in Jesus as the only Son of God would receive a heavenly reward after their physical demise.  And even though such a celestial system of constrained & conditional reward is quite obviously patently unjust (and actually evidences a godhead who is both capricious & cruel), this might very well end up being the actual case (We’ll all just have to wait and see).

All that aside, what I am attempting to share here is a far deeper Meaning embedded within this verse – a Meaning that reveals itself when we have the humility to re-examine the word “faithful” and see it instead as Faith-full; indeed to redefine it in a way that harmonizes fully (and somewhat ironically) with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  For you see, in a much more “enlightened” reading (and in a much more reasoned one as well), “the Crown of Life” cannot come merely to “the worthy” after their death, but instead must be offered to all who are earnestly Faith-full – to all those who have exhibited both the humility and the courage required to live the selfless Love of Christ; even “to the point of death” (i.e. to all who are not only willing to sacrifice their own comfort for the benefit of others, but to those who actually do so) …

Remember, for Jesus at least, “Belief” was a verb (see John 13:15-17 & John 14:12 et al), and as such, it makes consistent sense that he would view Faith similarly – that he would view it like “James the Just” viewed it (see Gospel of Thomas 1:12 & James 2:14-17) – that he would view it in harmony with the fundamentally pro-active, fully service-oriented, unconditionally Loving teachings of all his sermons and every one of  his parables as found in the Gospels to this day.

 

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt