The Message to Pergamum
Revelation 2:12-17
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. 15 So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Pergamum (present day Bergama, Turkey) was famous for: its medical school and healing centre and the dramatic altar to Zeus high on the hill/citadel overlooking the city. “Satan’s throne” (vs. 13) almost certainly refers to the altar to Zeus which dominated the city. Whenever something was being sacrificed on the altar, everyone in the city knew because the smoke from the altar could be seen from everywhere. The presence of this altar to a false God was an oppressive weight in the city.
The Christians in Pergamum had remained faithful to the name of Jesus even when the prominent church leader Antipas was killed for following Jesus. Neither Antipas’ death nor the presence of Zeus worship caused Christians in Pergamum to turn away from following Jesus. The threat the letter warns of was more subtle – a little bit of idol worship and a little of the pleasure-seeking connected to the worship of Roman gods and goddesses seemed okay. It was okay to mix Jesus together with some of the practices of the worship of the Roman gods. At least that was how some of the Christians in Pergamum were living. Such compromise was not living a pure life, a healthy spiritual life.
Part of the healing process taught at the medical school was a ritual in which patients receiving a stone which was said to carry spiritual power. Jesus says, he has something better, a white stone (white for purity) with a secret name written on it that would given to the follower of Jesus by God.
In a world where the temptations to have a Christian life of Jesus and something else are large, it is easy to think that we can do a little Jesus and a little selfishness; a little Jesus and a little showing disrespect to others; a little Jesus and a little of living as though the moral life does not matter. Jesus instead says the way of following Jesus matters, and he, Jesus, will keep us on the road, for he alone can call us by name, for no one else knows our real name – the name that is hidden with Jesus. When Jesus will call us by this new name, we will know that we are his people.
PRAYER:
Call us, O Lord, by the name you have given us. Keep us faithful and committed to living the moral life of the Jesus way above all else. Give us courage to not compromise with evil. In Jesus’ name. Amen.