There is one “ruler of the kings of the earth… him who loves us and has set us free… and made of us a royal house to serve as the priests to his God….” (Rev. 1:5-6, REB)
We must reconnect the main image of today's mass readings, the Son of Man “coming with the clouds of heaven” (Dan. 7:13, REB) with the false images it dispels: “four great beasts rising out of the sea….” (Dan. 7:3, REB) Each beast the form of a predator, each predator a conquering kingdom of the ancient world: Babylonian, Median, Persian, Alexander's Seleucid.
Cut loose from the preceding verses, the meaning of the Son of Man is obscured. This reading from the Jewish apocalypse of Daniel, interpreted through the Christian Revelation to John, hides behind the tenth trump card of the Tarot: the Wheel of Fortune. Humanity that lives for Empire descends into the subhuman. Humanity that lives for God is raised into the truest human form.
This is a stark warning to all who govern: you may hold power now, but you hold it for the one who holds you. Serve him, or become the beast. It is a consoling promise to all the misgoverned: there is only one true authority here, Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
Praise only him.
Serve only him.
Become only his.
Scripture quotations taken from the Revised English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1989. All rights reserved.
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