think about…
Supernatural Excitement
The visions come to an end. St. John, dazed in adoration, falls at the feet of the revealing angel, prostrate in worship. The angel rebukes the misplaced devotion: “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God! (Rev. 22:9). This is the second time that St. John has tried to worship the revealing angel instead of the revealed God (Rev. 19:10). Why is he having such a hard time getting it right? Why do we? Because it is easier. It is easier to indulge in ecstasies than to engage in obedience. It is easier to pursue a fascination with the supernatural than to enter into the service of God. And because it is easier, it happens more often. We have recurrent epidemics of infatuation with religion. People love being entertained by miracles. A religion of angels is a religion of supernatural excitement, of miraculous ecstasy. It is heady stuff. Around it for very long, any of us are apt to get swept off our feet and carried along in the general delirium. Revealing angels have always proved more popular than the revealed God.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, “The gods have come down! These men are gods!”… When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them … “What do you think you’re doing! We’re not gods! We are men just like you, and we’re here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God.”
- Acts 14.11, 14-15a
* taken from Eugene Peterson’s, “Living the Message”
