Open Door - by Rev.Fr.Zerah Paul, Gurukul

Text: Rev. 3: 7-13

The Author of the book introduces himself in the opening sentence of the book as “God’s servant John”. He frequently refers to himself in the work most commonly as a prophet, but never as an apostle. In this respect he differs markedly from Paul.

In the book of Revelation written by John, the second and third chapters deal with the letter to seven churches. The portion assigned for today’s meditation is Ch: 3.7-13. This text deals with the letter to the church at Philadelphia. Philadelphia was located 28 miles southeast of Sardis. Both Sardis and Philadelphia suffered extensive damage in a great earthquake in AD 17. The message to the church at Philadelphia is most probably an assurance of the entrance into a new age. Philadelphia gained a position of certain commercial importance in the politico-economic context of the Roman Empire. Yet it had many contradictions as some of the typical Greco-Roman cities. The actual town had few inhabitants but the majority lived as farmers in the countryside. Because of the rich volcanic soil available, the farmers of the place heavily depended on viticulture. Their lives were in fact a life of great endurance, for which they are highly commented in the letter. The whole letter is dominated by the sure and certain prospect of life in the Kingdom of God.

In this passage I focus only on one verse i.e. verse 8 “I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut”. This statement which describes how the exalted Christ has used his power of opening and shutting on behalf of the Philadelphian community may be an allusion to the introduction to the oracle about Cyrus in Isa: 45.1, signifying God’s ultimate dominance over the course of history in creating hopes for the broken and repressed people. This reflection is going to be focused on the question of the meaning of this “open door” metaphor?

 There are essentially 2 possible meanings.

1. Opportunities for effective evangelization, especially the conversion of Jews
2. Guaranteed access to eschatological salvation i.e. entrance into the messianic kingdom.

The metaphor of the open door is found twice in the undisputed letters of Paul (1 cor. 16:9, 2 cor.2:12) and also occurs in col.4:3 and Acts.14:27.In all these contexts it means that opportunities to proclaim the gospel have been made possible. It is therefore probable that the metaphor has a fixed meaning among the Christians and refers to opportunities for evangelization. However, the fact that missionary activity is never mentioned elsewhere in revelation and hence such an emphasis does not allow us to take this meaning as granted.

It is an open door that will introduce a new dimension of John’s vision. That privilege afforded John to enter, to see, and to enjoy the glory of God is now accorded to the least promising of the churches. It is a promise from Christ to a church which is weak. Christ is an open door to all people mainly for the weak, oppressed and marginalized. As disciples of Jesus we should imitate him in being an open door to help people have entry into God’s glory. When we examine the history of our communities we can see several men and women of God who have acted as open doors inviting people to come and share in the glory of God. Francis Assisi, Ambedkar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Mother Teresa etc...Etc…They helped the poor people by uplifting them from the marginal existence to a life with restored human dignity. Because of their willingness to offer themselves as a medium, revealing God’s will through their lives the poor could break all sorts of bondages. They in turn became open doors for others to reveal messianic kingdom experiences in our world today.

Let me conclude with an incident that happened in the life of the renowned saint by name Francis Assisi. One day he went to visit some leprosy patients. There he could see people who could not sleep, walk or even eat because of the severity of their diseases and rotting ulcers on their body. So he started going there every day and helped these patients by giving them food and cleansing their wounds. After some days of his visit many of the patients were getting cured. One cured person came to him and asked “Are you really the risen Christ”? Because he felt God’s healing and comforting presence in St.Francis Assissi. Do anyone, ever ask us a similar question? If the answer is no, why is it so?

So this passage challenges us to become open doors to other people who are weak oppressed and marginalised. We had such a person in our midst, who lived out his life as an open door showing people way to God’s liberating glory. It was none other than our former Director emeritus Dr. K. Rajaratnam, who as we all know was a champion of Dalit liberation. Let us all decide to follow Jesus as being open doors to guide people to realization of God’s kingdom in our midst.

 [Rev.Fr. Zerah Paul, the leader of this meditation, is a third year BD student in Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai, India.]