The Fate of Oppressive Power

Devotional Reflection, Monday, November 13, 2023

Proper 27, the week of the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

18:1After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendour. 2He called out with a mighty voice,

‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

It has become a dwelling-place of demons,

a haunt of every foul spirit,

a haunt of every foul bird,

a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.*

You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 992)

AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]

Neh. 9:1-15(16-25); Rev. 18:1-8; Matt. 15:1-20

David's Reflections

In today’s Revelation reading, the powerful image of Babylon as a prostitute who incites others to join in her sensual excess provides a cryptic image for the Roman Empire and her oppression of fledging Christian communities in Asia Minor. That persecution arose because of Christian refusal to worship the image of the emperor. A root meaning of adultery is unfaithfulness; hence, Rome is portrayed as Babylon whose persecution seeks to drive Christians into unfaithfulness by their loyalty oath to the emperor.

The Jewish people had been taken into exile in 598 and 587 BCE by the powerful Babylonian Empire and had experienced the oppression and persecution of their language and religious practices. Thus, Babylon became a symbol for oppressive political power. (Memories of that oppression find expression in the Book of Daniel, written three centuries after the Babylonian captivity, when Jews were being oppressed by the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes IV.)

The writer of Revelation has a vision of the final ruin and fall of Rome, an incredible cataclysm that did take place several centuries later. He knew from the biblical witness that oppressive political power always comes to ruin and finds itself oppressed by another. The Egyptian Pharaoh, the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire the Greek Seleucid Empire,—all had oppressed Israel and all had come to ruin.

Oppressors find themselves facing God's resistance to all the evils that wound and destroy God’s beloved creatures. That persistent resistance to evil has a name, the wrath of God. God seeks to resist oppression and evil in such a way that the oppressor turns to God and finds deliverance and salvation. In other words, God’s wrath has a redemptive, saving intent. However, oppressors who refuse to relinquish their oppressive power and place faith in God dash themselves on the unyielding shoreline of God's justice.

We witnessed the demise of the Soviet Union, as an oppressive empire died from within and crumbed under the weight of her injustices. What a reminder of God's ultimate rule of the universe and of God’s ability to maintain that rule while not disallowing people their freedom to hold God in contempt and to abuse their power.

What a sobering reminder I find here of our need to be vigilant about oppression in our own culture. Which minorities are being exploited? Which groups are being denied their dignity and their basic liberties? I have watched Hispanics being exploited as construction workers for wages well below those paid to American union workers while being hounded by the INS and local authorities when they became too visible in prosperous business districts in the city.

No culture that prospers at the expense of the powerless will endure. The Revelation reminds us of that. Our role as believing communities includes being vigilant as were the biblical prophets and joining the oppressed in their struggle for basic dignity and liberty. In so doing, we add our voice to that of the writer of Revelation as we sing, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great." We know that our prophetic advocacy for justice actually joins us with God in warring for the liberation of the oppressed and the ruin of the oppressor.

©David W. Perkins, 2023

Collect of the Day, Proper 27, the twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again

with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP, 236.

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)

For the Nation

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)

A Prayer for Light

Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)

Daily Office Epistle, Revelation 18:1-8

18:1After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendour. 2He called out with a mighty voice,

‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

It has become a dwelling-place of demons,

a haunt of every foul spirit,

a haunt of every foul bird,

a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.*

3For all the nations have drunk*

of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,

and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power* of her luxury.’

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

‘Come out of her, my people,

so that you do not take part in her sins,

and so that you do not share in her plagues;

5for her sins are heaped high as heaven,

and God has remembered her iniquities.

6Render to her as she herself has rendered,

and repay her double for her deeds;

mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.

7As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,

so give her a like measure of torment and grief.

Since in her heart she says,

“I rule as a queen;

I am no widow,

and I will never see grief”,

8therefore her plagues will come in a single day—

pestilence and mourning and famine—

and she will be burned with fire;

for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.’

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer