Saturday 03 September 2022

Psalm 38:9-22

Background

The church in Laodicea is one of those from Revelation chapters 2 and 3 which also appears elsewhere in the New Testament – Paul mentions an exchange of letters with them, and his comments about his companion, Epaphras, suggest that Epaphras started the church while Paul was staying in Ephesus during his third missionary journey (Colossians 4:12-16).

 The criticism of the Laodicean church is that it is both materially comfortable and considers itself to be spiritually rich, when in fact it is spiritually lacking (v.17). Verse 18 is an ironic use of images related to the wealth of Laodicea to illustrate this problem. Gold to symbolise the many banks based there, robes for the successful textile industry, and eye salve for its popular medical practitioners and products – which included a famous eye treatment.

The phrases about them being ‘lukewarm’ are memorable (vs 15-16), and in my experience, people have often found this idea helpful. It is actually difficult to work out why Christ would rather they were cold than lukewarm. Some argue that it is better to see this being about the activity of the church rather than individuals’ inner spiritual state. Six miles north of the city was Hierapolis where hot springs were used for healing treatments, whereas the water for Laodicea was brought in stone pipes from springs six miles to the south. Hot water for healing, cold water for assuaging thirst in the city, but lukewarm is not good for either task. Perhaps the church was failing to do any one thing well, and instead doing several things half-heartedly – in a lukewarm way?

 However we understand it, the church is called to repent, and the imagery of verse 20 is less ambiguous. The famous painting, 'Light of the World' by .William Homan Hunt illustrates the logic of this very well – Jesus is knocking at a door which has no handle; it can only be opened from the other side, by us – either as individuals or as a community. The result of us welcoming Jesus in is a shared meal – a common scriptural image for God’s heavenly kingdom.

To Ponder:

• To what extent do you think material wealth makes it harder to be spiritually rich?
• How do you respond to verse 20 and to Holman Hunt’s depiction of it?

Prayer

Welcoming God, thank you for the imagery in this passage. Help us to realise when we are being only lukewarm, and give us the courage to open the door when we hear you knocking. In Jesus’ name, Amen.