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Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Revelation 14:1–3, 4b–5
Saint John sees the Lamb
standing on Mount Zion.
This is not only the earthly mountain in Jerusalem.
In the language of faith,
Mount Zion points to the heavenly Jerusalem,
the city of the living God.
There, before the throne,
John sees those who belong to the Lamb.
They have His name
and the name of His Father
written on their foreheads.
Earlier in Revelation,
others were marked with the name of the beast.
Now we see another people,
marked with the name of the Lamb.
This is the great division in the Book of Revelation:
Between those who belong to the Lamb
and those who belong to the powers of the world.
The mark on the forehead means belonging.
It means identity.
It means loyalty.
It means worship.
Who do we belong to?
Whose name is written on our lives?
The world also marks people.
By success.
By money.
By ideology.
By fear.
By public opinion.
By the need to fit in.
But the followers of the Lamb
carry another name.
They belong to Christ.
They belong to the Father.
They do not follow the beast.
They follow the Lamb.
Saint John hears them sing a new song.
Only they can learn it.
It is the song of those who have been bought by the Blood of the Lamb.
It is the song of those who know
that salvation is not their achievement,
but God’s gift.
It is the song of those who have passed
from slavery to freedom,
from fear to faith,
from death to life.
John calls them first fruits.
This means they are the beginning of a greater harvest.
More will follow.
More will be redeemed.
More will join the song of heaven.
Then we hear a symbolic number of those ransomed from the earth - the hundred and forty-four thousand.
It speaks of God’s people,
sealed,
protected,
and gathered.
It speaks of those who remain faithful
in the middle of spiritual battle.
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
This is the heart of Christian life.
Not only to admire Christ.
Not only to speak about Christ.
But to follow the Lamb.
Wherever the Lamb goes.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Mark
Year of Mark - Get it from Amazon
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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