This gentle cynic distinguishes the error of the church conceiving Jesus as a warrior king who through his church mingled with nation (America) snuffs out evil. On the contrary, Luke’s gospel makes clear that it was necessary that Jesus should suffer and then enter His glory (Lk 24.26). He is the kingly entity that rode into Jerusalem peaceably on a donkey (Lk. 19.35-38) and then laid His life down a ransom for all (Mk 10.45; 1Tim 2.6). The history of Judaism and Christianity have depicted Messiah (Jesus) with various terms that describe Him as a conquering divine agent; yet when He appears in Revelation in the throne scene, His true aspect is “a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered” (Rev. 5.6, 12; 13.8). Richard Hayes’ response is fitting, ‘The shock of this reversal discloses the central mystery of the Apocalypse: God overcomes the world not through a show of force but through the suffering and death of Jesus, “the faithful witness [Greek martys]” (1.5).’Not only is this vision to be held as accurate concerning Jesus Christ, but also accurate in how the church is sent out into the world as His faithful witnesses. Furthermore, the conquering image is more largely reversed through the revealing of His royal clothing and weaponry. The royal clothing is dipped or stained in His own blood (19.13); and the weapon that strikes the nations proceeds from His mouth, which is the Word of God (19.15). Our liturgy must place the Lamb at the center of our worship, and we must push out what this means now and in the end, i.e., our response in light of this great reversal—“Jesus stands as the faithful witness who conquers through suffering."
Quotations from Richard Hayes in The Moral Vision of the New Testament. New York: Harper Collins, 1996, 173-175.
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