20 November 2020

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, ‘Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.’ So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
Apocalypse 10: 8-11, NRSV

In today’s reading we hear about another scroll. This time the scroll is very small and John (the writer of the Book of Revelation) is given the unusual and very symbolic instruction that he should eat the scroll. It may be helpful to know that in the ancient Hebrew there was not the separation between the physical and the spiritual that we now have in our language. The angel is most likely telling John to read and reflect on (“chew over”) the text. He says the taste is at first sweet – this is after all the word of God. However, as he reads further, the taste becomes bitter as the scroll speaks about the destruction and suffering that is coming to the world. John knows that he will be required to tell people about what he has read – no wonder he is left with that bitter taste.

• • Why does God (through John) want people to know about the disaster ahead of them?
  • Have you ever had to impart information that was not welcome? How did you feel about this?

Pray today for those who have to impart bad or unwelcome news to others.