The Economics of Faith: Revelation 17:1-18 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Albert Einstein famously said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I don’t claim to be smarter than Einstein, but I define insanity as forty percent of all food produced in this country going to waste while 821 million people in the world go hungry. 

Insanity is 34 billion pounds of clothing going into landfills every year. It’s the unaffordability of everything from homes and automobiles to healthcare, college tuition, gasoline, and food. It’s a $33 trillion national debt. It’s technology taking over our daily lives.

The prostitute we encounter in Revelation is a fitting metaphor for the global economic machine which drives our modern world. She is dressed in purple and scarlet robes, and wears jewelry made of gold, precious stones, and pearls. She rides atop a red beast, which we previously learned was the antichrist. She holds a golden cup filled with the filthy and abominable things she has done. And she was drunk on the blood of God's people who had given their lives for Jesus.

She is the Great City of Babylon, the embodiment of humanity’s lust for wealth, power, and dominance. Hers is the religion of the Almighty Dollar. She is worshiped in a chaotic liturgy of production, accumulation, consumption, and waste. Profit takes precedence over human lives and the wellbeing of the planet. A fortunate few enjoy the best of everything while the masses are imprisoned in poverty. In Babylon, money buys happiness. Might makes right. Those who die with the best and the most toys win. 

Early Christians would have quickly recognized Babylon as Rome, the city set on Seven Hills. To them, Rome was the embodiment of everything evil in the world. If Jerusalem was the city of God, then Rome was the city of Satan. 

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

That the drunken prostitute rides atop the beast demonstrates an unholy alliance between Babylon, a human empire; and the beast, the incarnation of Satan. They are united in their mission to turn the world against God. Their prime target was the people of God, because they’re bad for business! They store up treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth. They pursue justice over profit and peace over power. They worship Jesus Christ instead of money. They trust God instead of riches. 

It just so happens that the people of God are wise to know that when everyone pursues power and riches for themselves, disaster will result. They are wise to know that life cannot flourish when you refuse to love your neighbor as yourself.

We’re nearing the end of the Book of Revelation, which means that the earthly and supernatural powers opposed to God are soon to meet their demise. This is what happens at the end of today’s reading: when Babylon fails to deliver on its promises of peace and prosperity through wealth and power, Satan and antichrist will turn against it. After all, both Babylon and Satan want absolute power, and it’s not their nature to share! That’s how it works in Revelation: evil destroys itself. How fitting it is, then, that the mad pursuit of wealth ends in a garbage dump. 

Living, as we are, in a time of inflation and economic uncertainty, today’s prophecies come as a warning: if your life, your future, and your peace of mind depend on financial security in this economy rife with insanities, you’re building your house upon the sand. 

It’s true that our lives, our livelihoods, and our futures are inextricably tied up in the economic machine we call Babylon. But sooner or later, it will fail.

Even now, you likely feel like you’re under attack every time you go to the supermarket, fill up your tank, or pay your utility bills. But God’s love and God’s saving power do not depend on a robust economy. Neither does the health or the vitality of the Church.

Babylon’s persecution of the saints proves that real people are finding peace, purpose, and identity in the Gospel. It proves that the witness and testimony of the saints is drawing people out of Babylon into the family of God. People are turning from the Almighty Dollar to the Almighty God.

Today’s words from Revelation are not so much a doomsday prediction as they are a call to faithful resistance to materialism, consumerism, and waste. Baptized as you are into the Body of Christ, you become part of the heavenly economy where there’s no such thing as winners and losers or haves and have-nots. Whenever material and human resources or time become scarce, God’s grace meets the need. The impossible becomes possible when people like you trust God and resolve to do God’s work in the world. 

Furthermore, we do not allow our anxieties about the future to dictate what we will do with the gifts God has given us. God has provided us what we need to be faithful today, and God will do the same tomorrow and next year, regardless of who gets elected president or what happens in the stock market. 

Even if, God forbid, our homes, our livelihoods, and even our very lives are taken away from us, we will still belong to each other in Christ. We will still have the promise that we who lose our lives for the sake of Christ will find it. 

When that day comes when all earthly kingdoms fall and the Lamb delivers the deathblow to Satan and death, we will stand forever with Christ. 

One of the seven angels who had emptied the bowls came over and said to me, “Come on! I will show you how God will punish that shameless prostitute who sits on many oceans. ²  Every king on earth has [fornicated] with her, and her shameless ways are like wine that has made everyone on earth drunk.”

³  With the help of the Spirit, the angel took me into a desert, where I saw a woman sitting on a red beast. The beast was covered with names that were an insult to God, and it had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴  The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet robes, and she wore jewelry made of gold, precious stones, and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup filled with the filthy and nasty things she had done. ⁵ On her forehead a mysterious name was written:

I AM THE GREAT CITY OF BABYLON, THE MOTHER OF EVERY IMMORAL AND FILTHY THING ON EARTH.

⁶ I could tell that the woman was drunk on the blood of God's people who had given their lives for Jesus. This surprising sight amazed me, ⁷ and the angel said:

Why are you so amazed? I will explain the mystery about this woman and about the beast she is sitting on, with its seven heads and ten horns. ⁸  The beast you saw is one that used to be and no longer is. It will come back from the deep pit, but only to be destroyed. Everyone on earth whose names were not written in the book of life^[a] before the time of creation will be amazed. They will see this beast that used to be and no longer is, but will be once more.

⁹ Anyone with wisdom can figure this out. The seven heads that the woman is sitting on stand for seven hills. These heads are also seven kings. ¹⁰ Five of the kings are dead. One is ruling now, and the other one has not yet come. But when he does, he will rule for only a little while.

¹¹ You also saw a beast that used to be and no longer is. That beast is one of the seven kings who will return as the eighth king, but only to be destroyed.

¹²  The ten horns you saw are ten more kings, who have not yet come into power, and they will rule with the beast for only a short time. ¹³ They all think alike and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴  These kings will go to war against the Lamb. But he will defeat them, because he is Lord over all lords and King over all kings. His followers are chosen and special and faithful.

¹⁵ The oceans you saw the prostitute sitting on are crowds of people from all races and languages. ¹⁶ The ten horns and the beast will start hating the shameless woman. They will strip off her clothes and leave her naked. Then they will eat her flesh and throw the rest of her body into a fire. ¹⁷ God is the one who made these kings all think alike and decide to give their power to the beast. And they will do this until what God has said comes true.

¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city that rules over all kings on earth. (CEV)