The first reading from the book of Revelation is filled with powerful images of God and His throne, but also of righteousness, of purity and holiness. In Saint John’s revelation, he saw a mighty angel proclaim:
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and examine it.”
This should give every last one of us some new insight into our own sense of holiness or goodness, all the way from the Pope to the common lay person. We are all sinners. There are absolutely no exceptions. Not a single one of us are worthy to stand before God’s throne.
Anytime other people look down on you, or judge you or your life, you should remember this. The one who does the judging is not righteous either. They have no right to judge. Only God the Father has the right to judge us, but He gave the power to judge His people, to His Son. The elders in heaven fell down before the Lord in the book of Revelation and said:
“Worthy are you to receive the scroll and break open its seals, for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.”
Jesus Christ is the only means of righteousness. We can not attain this on our own. We can not even attain holiness on our own. It is a sheer gift from God. Jesus Christ alone makes us holy. Even if we strive to overcome sins, both great and small, and work toward resisting even the slightest temptation to sin, we will still fail to do so. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to become better people, it just means that we were created to be imperfect by God, because He is the only perfect creature in existence, other than His son, who is also part of the Trinity. That is the reason Jesus was worthy to break the seal and open the scroll in heaven.
In today’s gospel, it says that Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and when he saw the city, he wept over it. The only other time we read about Jesus weeping, was at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, when he saw the suffering Lazarus’s family and friends were going through. Jesus’s empathy for people who suffer is so profound. He cried at the knowledge of the suffering that the people of Jerusalem would endure because of their own rejection of him.
He said, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Then he tells the terrible tragedy that would overcome the city in the future, because they “did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Notice that Jesus did not condemn the city of Jerusalem because of their sins, like God did with Sodom and Gomorrah. The only time that Jesus condemned entire cities, or even individual people, is because they did not acknowledge him as the son of God.
Sin is not the issue. Holiness and righteousness is not the issue. Christ never condemned people for their personal sins. What he did do, was condemn them for their lack of faith and belief in Him.
We have passed through judgement and condemnation, and have been made righteous by Jesus Christ himself. We are not made righteous by our own efforts – otherwise we would be our own God.
The first reading from the book of Revelation ended today with the elders in heaven saying, “You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.”
Jesus Christ is the source of all righteousness, purity and holiness. We do not achieve this ourselves, for not a single one of us are worthy to be called holy. Jesus Christ is worthy to be called holy. Let us truly acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the source of all holiness, goodness and purity, that has ever existed, or will ever exist, in the entire universe.
