The Letters to the Seven Churches

Before the great visions, Revelation begins with very concrete words addressed to real communities. Christ dictates to John seven letters for seven Churches of Asia Minor, those that will receive the book. Each receives a tailored message, where the Lord shows that he knows its life, its struggles, and its weaknesses. These pages form a kind of examination of conscience of the Church, where praise and reproach mingle, always to call to conversion and fidelity. They recall that the highest revelation begins with a word addressed to each one.

Christ among the lampstands

The first vision sets the tone. John sees the glorious Christ, like a Son of Man, clothed in a long robe, his face shining like the sun, walking in the midst of seven lampstands of gold. These lampstands, the text explains, are the seven Churches, and Christ stands in their midst. The image is rich: the risen Lord is not far off, he is present at the heart of his communities, he dwells in them and holds them in his hand. Each Church is a lamp called to shine, but its light comes to it from the One who stands among them. Before this glory, John falls as though dead, and Christ raises him up, telling him not to fear. Thus begins every dialogue with God: in reverent awe, then in the confidence that his presence brings. This first vision is woven of the Old Testament. The Son of Man who appears is the very one Daniel had seen coming on the clouds; but John lends him traits that Daniel reserved for the Ancient of Days, God himself, hair white as snow, eyes of fire. In attributing to Christ the attributes of God, John states at once his divinity: the one who walks among the lampstands is the Lord. And he holds in his hand the keys of death, fulfilling the ancient promise of a God who brings down to the realm of the dead and brings back up from it.

The seven letters

Then come the seven letters, to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Each follows the same movement: Christ first says what he knows of the Church, praises what is good, then corrects what is wrong and calls for change, before promising a reward to the victor. To one, he reproaches the loss of its first love; to another, its lukewarmness; to yet another, its compromises with idolatry. But to the Church of Smyrna, tried by persecution, he addresses only encouragement: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10 The number seven, here as everywhere in the book, means totality: beneath these seven particular Churches, it is the entire Church that is meant, with all its virtues and all its temptations.

I stand at the door

The last letter, addressed to lukewarm Laodicea, contains one of the most beautiful words of the book. Far from rejecting this mediocre Church, Christ knocks gently to enter: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Revelation 3:20 If anyone hears his voice and opens to him, he says, he will come in and share the meal with him. This image says everything of God’s respect for human freedom: the Lord never forces the door, he knocks and waits for it to be opened. The shared meal evokes the intimate communion Christ wants to have with each one, which tradition has drawn close to the Eucharist, where he comes truly to dwell in the one who welcomes him. To the most lukewarm Church, God thus offers the most tender of invitations.

A mirror for the whole Church

These seven letters concern not only communities long since vanished. They are a mirror held up to the Church of every age, and to each believer. The faults they denounce, the loss of fervor, lukewarmness, compromise with the world, and the virtues they praise, perseverance in trial, fidelity to the name of Christ, run through all the centuries. Each one can recognize himself in one or another of these Churches and hear for himself the call to conversion. The refrain returns at the end of each letter: let the one who has ears hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. The word addressed to Ephesus or to Laodicea is addressed, still today, to whoever opens this book. At the end of each letter, Christ promises the victor a reward, and each takes up a great image of Scripture, now fulfilled: the tree of life of paradise, offered again; the hidden manna, that bread of the desert whose true face is the Eucharist; the morning star, which is Christ himself; the new name written on a white stone. These promises say one thing under a thousand figures: the one who holds firm will regain all that man had lost, and much more, in the communion of God.