Being in that number

Once again, the compilers of the Lectionary have seen fit to cut something out of a Scripture passage, presumably with good reasons.

While I truly respect these compilers, when I’m feeling my best, I prefer (perhaps foolishly) to tackle the challenging parts of Scripture that more cautious people may gloss or skip over.

Today’s first reading, from the beginning of the 14th chapter of Revelation, describes a heavenly scene enjoyed by 144,000 individuals who...

…had the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father on their foreheads;

…have been ransomed from the earth;

…are unblemished, with no deceit on their lips; and

…are virgins “who were not defiled with women.”

That last part is what got cut.

Obviously, there is more than a little symbolism involved in all of this. The number 144,000, for example, does not indicate the actual total number of people who will be saved (Revelation 7:9 tells of a great multitude which no one could count). It is a symbolic number, indicating a new and incredibly more numerous people of God (the number of Israel’s tribes – 12 – squared and multiplied by a thousand).

On the other hand, we cannot exclude the possibility that these 144,000 may be a special subset of the great multitude who will enjoy the gift of eternal salvation in Christ. The fundamental equality of those who are saved in Christ does not require uniformity.

Likewise, some scholars will say that the politically incorrect phrase “who were not defiled with women” symbolically refers to people who were never involved in idolatry (idolatry is symbolized as harlotry elsewhere in this and other books of the Bible).

On the other hand, there is much to be said for virginity - without at all denigrating the great natural and spiritual goods of Christian marriage. Virginity - for men or for women - can be a great symbol of a soul dedicated to God. Virginity is also a powerful witness of self-respect, as is faithful Christian marriage in its own way, in a world where so many people defile themselves at the drop of a hat with anyone and anything.

Most of us are not virgins. Many of us have committed some small deceit – or worse – sometimes in our lives (may God have mercy on us all).

In some way or another, most of us have incurred spiritual blemishes somewhere along the road.

Yet by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we can be restored to grace and brought into the everlasting Kingdom of his Father. Then, when we stand with that great joyful multitude at the end of time, where there will be no rivalry or envy, we will rejoice abundantly to see by the Throne those especially blessed by God: those who were heroically saintly in their life, those who bravely stood for Christ in their death, and those who were totally dedicated to God in their bodies.

Meanwhile, each of us need to be the best Christians we can be: in consecrated virginity, in Christian marriage, and every devout state in-between.