tl:dr = You should Learn what ‘LUKEWARM’ MEANS AND then Stop being so God-damned ‘lukewarm.’ also,why aren’t you in the streets right now?
This card comes from John of Patmos’ message in the Book of Revelation to the church located in Laodicea. It is the last church addressed of the seven churches of Asia Minor that appear in Revelation 2-3. From the start, let us be clear that we are not going to delve into the end-times, conspiracy theories over these letters. We know they exist. We were weened on them as children. We grew up and read a book or two, including the Bible.
What is important of note at this juncture is that is the only one of the seven churches for which nothing good is said. This is the “lukewarm” church in danger of being spit out of God’s mouth (Rev 3:15-16). But more on that later. Right now we want to show the connection to a figure important to the story of this church: a man named Archippus.
Archippus Who?
While Church tradition names him as possibly one of the 70 disciples Jesus sent out in Luke 10:1-16, Archippus is only mentioned twice in the Bible. At the beginning of Philemon (1:2) he gets a typical, “say ‘h'i’ to that guy” from Paul, but in Colossians 4:15-16, Paul gets a little more personal writing:
Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea.
Then in vs 17 he drops:
And say to Archippus, “See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord.”
Imagine being Archippus at this moment. A letter from the great apostle Paul is being read among the congregation. You hear your name mentioned. Your head pops up, chest puff out for a second, and then you hear everyone hear Paul tell you to suck less and do the work you’ve been given to do (an admonishment no one else ever got in any of the Pauline letters).
Translations and interpretations of what Paul meant abound. We are a bit partial to how Wuest formulated it: “be ever keeping a watchful eye upon the ministry which you received in the Lord, that you discharge it fully.” The Ye Olde King James Version of the Bible (KJV) employs the phrase “take heed.” We like it, so we’ll be using it as a shorthand from here on out.
At its core, the Greek for “take heed” means to literally or metaphorically turn towards something, and to have intimate empirical knowledge of something because of use; to understand, weigh maturely, and consider in a very specific way. This is born out in its usage in other New Testament Scripture (e.g. Mt 5:28 & Eph. 5:15-21). Thus, Paul is calling to Archippus’ specific attention to complete some task, and Paul has publicly charged the community to push him toward its completion. Cool, but what does this have to do with our card from the Book of Revelation?
According to Tradition, Archippus was the first bishop of Laodicea. He helped start the church there and, by varying accounts, was later martyred during a pagan feast in Colossae where, along with Philemon and Apphia, their home was raided, they were captured, tortured, whipped, stoned, and then stabbed to death by children holding nails. It’s assumed that taking up the call to ministry was what Paul was telling Archippus to do. And even though it had dire consequences, he sacrificed to do the will of God.
So how did his church end up so “lukewarm” and God-damned (not a swear: we mean that literary)?
The Comfort of Laodicea
Laodicea (in modern Turkey) was initially a church-plant from the Christian community in Colossae. The Christians who lived in Laodicea resided in the center of one of the great economic powerhouses in the Roman empire.
Laodicea was a regional hub. The most important thoroughfare for trade and culture of the day—the road running east to west from Ephesus to Syria—ran through Laodicea. Another less-important, but pretty snazzy road also ran from north to south through the city. Laodicea was also an important clothing manufacturing center for the region. Not only did they cultivate and breed a strain of sheep whose wool was highly sought, they were also able to mass produce relatively inexpensive clothing and widely distribute it (they were Versace and Wal-Mart at the same). In addition, Laodicea was an academic and medical center for the region, boasting a prestigious medical school, as well as the production and sale of Phygarian Powder, an eye salve which was exported around the Greek world, and heralded by the likes of Galen and Aristotle.
As a result of these factors and others, Laodicea was the banking and financial center of the region, and one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world. So much so, that emperors were known to cash their checks there. An anecdote illustrates the level of Laodicean wealth: In 61 CE, an earthquake struck the region devastating everything. As a part of the Roman Empire, the Laodiceans were entitled to a government bail-out to help them rebuild this important cog in the economic machinery. The people of Laodicea did not want to be seen as beholden to the central Roman government. They were so rich, and so proud, that they pooled their resources and rebuilt without any assistance, creating a city more fabulous than it was before.
In short, the Christian community living in Laodicea were in very secure and comfortable place. But just like Archippus, they are the only church to receive an admonishment from John of Patmos, with nothing good being said about them (the others that got crapped on at least got a small pat on the back first). The ironic tragedy: the very things that they took pride in are the things that John says are holding them back from doing the work they were given to do.
A Message to the “Lukewarm” Church
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:
I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.”
~ Revelation 3:14-19
Some Sunday School lessons (and Sunday morning sermons) of this story, import a “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” mentality: Some things are too hot, some things are too cold, but the middle is juuuussssst riiiiiight! Apparently these people can’t read (but they teach our young and our adults. Cool. Cool. Cool.) Just as incorrect, some teach that ON FIRE CHRISTIANS are “good” and COLD-HEARTED CHRISTIANS are bad, again showing a lack of reading comprehension (but a good use of metaphoric thinking, so points for that). However, they fail to see that the metaphors could be changed: “hot” Christians are “backsliders” and “apostates” on their way to HELL! “Cold” Christians will be “chilling” in the clouds above with the Father. Whatever. Our metaphor doesn’t have to work because our point is that this line of thinking completely ignores both the biblical text and the geographic realities that they are based on.
In addition to the other historical features mentioned above,
an aqueduct that ran from a hot spring in Hierapolis, cut through Laodicea on the way to Colossae.
This is the source of the famous, though often misunderstood/misinterpreted passage. The hot spring at Hierapolis was healing; the cold waters at Colossae were refreshing. Both are good. Good. Not one good, the other bad. Both are good. However, The lukewarm sludge at Laodicea was pretty damn useless.
Which makes sense:
A critical writer can be effective in communicating her message if she is very hot or very cold to her subject—loves it or hates it—, but not in the middle. Some strong emotion must be felt or it is just a bland restatement of dry facts.
Meat in the freezer, good and safe. Meat, appropriately browned and finished off in the oven, good and safe. Meat, allowed to sit on your counter all day and then snacked on, God bless.
While some people love hot coffee, others iced coffee, but only a freaking monster loves a cup of tepid, room temperature, congealed, decaffeinated garbage. There is a revolting quality to those who are in this position, hence the illustration of being “spit out of the mouth.”
But how does a church community end up in this position? How does an individual? “Because you say I am rich, need nothing . . . blind, poor, wretched, naked, worthy of pity” (vs 17). John of Patmos takes direct aim at the things the city of Laodicea was best known for, the things that they took the most pride, security and comfort in. They are so far from the path that they are pitied by God, and admonished to find true wealth, clothing, and vision (vs 18). They are further admonished to “be earnest and repent,” to take heed, and change, before it is too late (vs 19).
And Here We Are
We write our Card Talks in a (relatively) timeless manner. Meaning, years from now, other than a few topical touchstones and pop culture references, the message should be unambiguous and clear without relying on contemporary tropes, people, events, or issues. At times we purposefully break this rule and write about things completely wrapped up in where we are. Right now we hope that this post is an example of that: a post that will make no sense in the future.
This Card Talk is being written in the midst of racial unrest in the United States. In recent days:
Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, was chased down by two white men and shot to death for jogging through the neighborhood. The prosecuting attorneys refused to act until after the video of the murder was released to the public.
Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman, was murdered in her home, in her own bed, when police executed a no-knock warrant in the middle of the night, without announcing themselves. They then arrested her boyfriend for “attempted murder” for defending them against the intruders. It is doubtful that the officers will face any criminal charges.
Christian Cooper, an unarmed Black man, survived a white woman’s attempt to weaponize the police to intimidate or murder him. He had asked her to leash her dog in a public park. She called the police, screaming in increasing hysterics, saying she was being attacked, while Christian recorded her lies from a safe distance.
George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was crushed to death by four police officers—two kneeling on his back, one on his throat, and one keeping onlookers at bay. After crying out for help, saying he couldn’t breathe, that he was dying, he gave up the ghost. The police continued applying pressure on his dead body for a while after. They had pulled him out of his car for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a store nearby.
We were going to include a list of the many, many, many others. But figured your eyes would just gloss over them. Just like they glossed over the descriptions we gave above, because you “already know” the stories.
But we hope future Bible nerds and lay people reading this post will look on these descriptions in shock and disgust. Not just at the horrors described, but at the very notion that such atrocities were common place. We hope that they will look at these events the was we (should) look at the (slightly) less government-sanctioned lynchings from only a few decades ago (“officially” ending in 1968). We hope this will be the case. But we have our doubts.
Such a change would require the Church in the United States to actually “take heed” to the ministry given by God to love and care for all of God’s children. The same Church who still (problematically) sings
“…red and yellow, black and white, they’re ALL precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
The same Church which seems happier, more content, when those red, yellow, and black children live in other countries which are not so “rich…prospered, and [in] need [of] nothing” as ours is. he Church, which will do mission-trips to ever corner of the world to spread clean water, the Word, or to simply do it for the ‘gram, seems to forget the people with similar skin tones here.
When will the Church in the United States realize how wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked we are when we deny the dignity of our sisters and brothers?
Look at this scene:
Click to see the origin of this photo.
We don't know the full context of this photo. We don't know the people at the table or in the background. They could be you. And that's the point.
This image shows the division
in the Church right now:
On one side, in the streets, you see a racially and socioeconomically diverse group, taking action against injustice.
On the other, at the table, a homogeneous group wondering what all the fuss is about, desperately wanting not to be bothered, and hoping none of this will impact their plans.
And, honestly, it makes us fucking sick.
Use your Sunday School training: where would Moses be, at the table or in the streets? What about David and Deborah? Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s crazy ass? John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Archippus? Jesus?
And let’s be fair to the table sitters: maybe he’s scratching his head because he is genuinely confused or has been living under a rock. Maybe red hat is sympathetic to their cause, but was raised not to make too much noise, so she’s “with them in spirit.” Maybe green shirt is wanting to get up and join them, but is afraid of what arms-folding and giggling will think and say. We can’t know what is in everyone’s head. But we can make a simple request:
Get up from the damn table, OR spit the bread and wine from ouT OF YOUR mouth;
stop pretending you break bread with Jesus or his people.
Stop posting more about “looting” and “rioting” than the murders that presaged them. Stop pretending like you give a damn about the corporate interest of Target or the small business that have been destroyed when you didn’t comment on the families burying actual human beings. Stop defending, once again, a president or pundit because…you know what, screw your reasons. Just stop doing it: you make all of us look bad.
Wipe the excuses and lies from your eyes. Trust less in the comfort and security of your skin (yes, talking to you white people). Be the damn Church. “Take heed” of the ministry we have been given.
Or never open your mouth in moral outrage ever again.
World without end.
