"Who are these wearing white robes?” says an elder in heaven
to the narrator in today’s First Reading from the Book of Revelation. The elder
then answers his own question, “Why, these are the ones who have survived the
time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the
Blood of the Lamb.” Now anyone who has ever tried to remove even a small blood
stain from a piece of clothing can understand that it must have been a near
impossible task in first century Palestine, long before OxyClean, Spray
and Wash or Shout. And so we can only wonder at the perfectly
ridiculous image of robes made radiantly white by washing them in lamb’s blood.
But this is not just any lamb. And the offbeat beauty of these words reveals
the truth of the dazzling, unprecedented victory of the Lamb of God, which he
has “achieved not by domination and aggression” but by his loving acquiescence
even unto death.* It is Jesus’ self-forgetful love that has created
this radiance.
He is the radiant, blood-stained Lamb, who is seated on the throne
at God’s right hand. We live now in the period of his sovereign rule over
us. But it is a reign that is, nonetheless, far from complete. And ultimately
the Beatitudes describe those who are putting his reign into effect, making the
kingdom happen. And as all the saints would remind us, it’s all about
Christ Jesus - losing ourselves for him, in him, and ultimately becoming
transparent to him. Today is this great feast of transparency and
transformation.
Jesus tells us, “How blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven;” he invites us to recognize ourselves among the
lowly and insignificant - those who look to God for
everything. The Beatitudes are not Jesus' philosophy but his way for us to become kingdom, a way to live as if
God were truly in charge, the way to live in him, who is our Beatitude, our way
to true happiness.