“To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.” This one tiny verse in scripture today, could easily be overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Last Friday we had the same readings for mass that we do today and if you have been following the readings for mass each day, then you have probably already given some thought to the gospel reading for today.
The gospel reading today is one of the most beautiful stories in the bible though and not just because it shows how much Jesus loved his disciples, but also because of how much Peter loved Jesus. In spite of all of his faults, Peter loved Jesus with all of his heart. He loved Jesus more than all the others, more than anything else in his life. Jesus built the Holy Catholic Church on Peter’s love for him.
It is so easy to get side tracked from loving Jesus. Other things that we do in our lives seem so important at the time, but they are actually a lesser good than our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Building new homes, churches and schools are a concrete way of showing our love for Jesus and each other, but this is not the same thing as loving our Lord Jesus Christ himself. The buildings will eventually crumble and fall. We will all die sooner or later. The only thing that is truly of lasting value is our love for Jesus and for one another. How much of our thoughts, time and effort is spent on things that do not last? Yes, we need to do these things, we can not live without them, but we should never allow ourselves to spend more time on material things than we do in loving the person of Jesus Christ himself. We really should make an effort to live simpler lives in order to be rich in love, in order to have time for love.
How much time do we spend in prayer? Do we watch television or surf the internet more than we pray, read the scriptures, attend mass or go to confession? Somehow, many of us have fallen short in our relationship with the Lord and do not even really know him. Do you? Can you honestly say that you love Jesus more than anything else in your life? Do you love God too? Or is He just some far off being that is vague in your mind and you aren’t quite sure who He really is?
What happened? When did buildings and activities and even studying about Jesus become more important to us than knowing and loving the Lord himself? It’s one thing to know all about the Lord, to love our family and friends and community that we live in and to work for the common good, but it is a completely different thing to have a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And to not just know who God is either but to love him as a Father, who loved us enough to give us Jesus as a gift freely given, a gift from His heart. We are His children and he created us and we are more valuable in His eyes than all of creation. We are more precious than gold or silver or precious stones to Him, more precious than all of the Cathedrals in the world. He loves you and you are His own, you are a child of God.
Even Jesus Christ himself told us that he ascended to his Father, and to ours though. Jesus always put his Father first and taught us to love his Father too. In the end, Jesus did his Father’s will and not what his disciples wanted.
We all need to regain a sense of truly worshiping God himself, of giving Him glory and honor and praise and to love Jesus with all of our hearts and never lose sight of our love for him, just like Peter never did. Jesus is the center of our lives and we should love him more than anything else in our lives too. The reason the second reading from the book of Revelations is so easy to be over looked is for this reason.
This again, is what the inhabitants of heaven have to share with us and teach us in today’s second reading:
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing. To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever. Amen.”
The elders fell down and worshiped God and Jesus and may we do so as well. May every knee bend on the earth, in the heavens and below the earth, at the name of Jesus Christ, both now and forever.
