One of my Christmas traditions is rereading Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. It’s a story about the pursuit of wealth rather than the pursuit of relationships. Scrooge abandoned his opportunity for a relationship with Frannie and potential children in the pursuit of wealth. He poisoned his relationship with his fellow business colleagues and community because of his stinginess. And he made the life of his hard-working employee miserable because of his penny-pinching ways.
Scrooge was so blinded by the pursuit of prosperity that it nearly cost him everything that really matters in life.
Revelation Chapter 18 opens on the scene of the funeral for Babylon and the mourners who weep and offer their eulogies.
The first group who speaks are the kings of the world who mourn the loss of Babylon as an economic power and the collapse of their own national wealth. The second group of merchants grieve the loss of their income from selling luxury goods, not staples like food. And don’t miss that they mourned their loss of income from selling human beings!
The third group of sea captains and sailors weep that they’ve lost Babylon, their business partner along with their bank accounts.
Despite the cries of the mourners, it’s hard to feel sorry for Babylon, which was built on greed, oppression, murder, and military conquests.
John’s message for followers of Jesus is clear: we must resist trends and institutions driven by the pursuit of power, luxury, and wealth.
Scrooge was visited by three ghosts and that experience changed his life. Will we read Revelation and allow it to change ours?
Questions for reflection
- What seductive powers does our society have today? How do you resist them?
- How do the eulogies over Babylon speak to our own culture today?
- What is one behavior or thought pattern that reading Revelation is challenging you to change? What is the first step you need to take to change and when will you take it?
Old Testament reading: Nahum 1-3