Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, August 10, 2025
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Christ is the only one found worthy of uniting all people in worship.
In this vision, a question was raised, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” At first it seemed there was none on heaven or earth worthy of breaking the seals and uniting all peoples in one worship of the one seated on the throne. But it soon was revealed that there was one whose sacrifice of blood made him worthy. Through this sacrificial lamb the seals were broken and all things in heaven and on earth were freed to worship.
On one hand, most Christians know by faith and theory it is Christ that is worthy to look upon the message of God’s holy scroll. It is Christ that has offered himself as a sacrifice for us all.
On the other hand, many Christians believe in practice that the only one worthy is me, myself, and I. It is a hard truth to face, that most of us believe we were chosen while others were not. We were given the keys to the truth while others are misled.
We are living in a time of incredible turmoil and division. We are also certain that we are right, while others are wrong. (Even as this humble author writes these words, I am certain that I am more privy to truth and righteousness than those who opinions differ from my own.) This stubbornness makes the truth of these words of Revelation hard to stomach. I am no more worthy than my enemy to open the scroll, to look upon the truth it contains, and to break the seals that divide us.
So many of us are focused on being right that we have made it impossible to be united, even in Christ. We spin our wheels trying to figure out how to convince the other side that they are wrong. We dig in our heels, refusing to consider the ways in which we might be wrong.
The work of fixing our enemy is not ours. We are not worthy, nor are we capable of such a feat. Our work is to work on ourselves, both as individuals and as a community. Our awareness of our unworthiness in the face of the sacrificial Lamb is the first step toward healing our divisions. We will never be able to fix, change, or heal someone else. We only can make ourselves willing to be fixed, changed, and healed by Christ.
