Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, August 28, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Interpreting this is a delicate matter. I mean, it’s clear on the surface that “the rest of her children” are those Christians who are being persecuted in John of Patmos’ time. But there’s a serious danger in interpreting this literally for our modern context. Then you have people crying out that they’re being persecuted when non-Christians’ rights are being protected. If our laws uphold the equal rights of women, for example, when your religious tradition would prefer women did not have those rights, it is not an assault on your religious freedoms. If our laws say same-sex marriage is a human right when you think homosexuality is an abomination, it’s not an assault on your religious freedoms. No “dragon” is “making war” on Christians by allowing for the dignity and worth of every single human being. Clinging to such an illusion creates even deeper divisions among people.
In less obvious ways, we can get bent out of shape when we perceive someone’s way of being in the world as somehow counter to our own. We can be quick to judge, and to see their freedom as impinging on ours. It’s really important for us to be honest with ourselves about what we’re afraid of in accepting others as they are rather than as we would prefer them to be. This is how we can work toward the ideal of following Jesus’ way of radical welcome, which benefits everyone even if at first it might not seem that way. Open mindedness is a key ingredient in peacemaking.
When have I been perturbed by someone doing something I find uncomfortable or not what I would do? What is it about my way of seeing things that might be causing my own discomfort?
