The Church as a Pilgrim People
Hebrews-Revelation

Taken as a group, the books in the last third of the New Testament speak of the church as a pilgrim people. One way of trying to get at the message of these books would be to treat each one individually. Here we might try to determine the setting and objective of each writing as a key to understanding what the authors intended to communicate. We might also focus on the literary character of each book, noting the overall structure and the ways the parts fit into the whole of each writing. These ways of reading these books might help us capture some sense of each book’s distinctive message and would certainly be a worthwhile endeavor.

But, we can also consider the books as a canonical unit. That is, we can look at them as a group, a group that forms a distinctive part of the New Testament canon of scriptures. They are grouped in the canon as the final scriptural word about the significance of Jesus Christ. As a group, they can be viewed in terms of their different plays on a common theme, the idea of pilgrimage. From Hebrews to Revelation we have a symphony of movements playing this theme from a variety of perspectives. In a sense, each work picks up the theme and adds its own distinctive interpretation of the main theme. By listening to the different movements of these books, we gain a much fuller sense of the larger theme of pilgrimage. And, by understanding that each work is a part of a larger whole, we gain a richer perspective for reading each book.

A helpful way I have found to focus on the theme of pilgrimage in these books is to use the full title of John Bunyan’s classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, as a guide. Bunyan’s extended title was The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come, Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream, Wherein Is Discovered the Manner of His Setting Out, His Dangerous Journey, and Safe Arrival in the Desired Country. The last part of his title suggests three dimensions of the pilgrim life: (1) The Manner of Setting Out, (2) The Dangerous Journey, and (3) The Safe Arrival in the Desired Country. We have, then, a beginning, a middle, and an end to the adventure of pilgrimage.

The book of Hebrews, which appears first in this group, focuses on the beginning of the journey. While Hebrews deals with many subjects, its central theme is a call to pilgrimage. It is a summons to begin the journey. The books of James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude all focus on the middle part, the journey itself. They struggle with many of the dangers experienced on the way. The last book in this group, Revelation, focuses on the end. It gives a grand vision of the final destination and offers encouragement for safe arrival in the desired country.

Any journey is beset with difficulties. Fear and inertia may endanger the beginning. Pitfalls may lie along the trail threatening the journey itself. Some pitfalls may come from without in terms of wrong turns or dangerous terrain. Some pitfalls may come from within in terms of disagreement about directions or dissension among travelers. Even near the end, pilgrims may lose sight of the final destination or may despair of ever reaching it. Journeys worth making are seldom easy.

The same can be said about the journey of reading these books. Their presence in the canon involved a difficult beginning. Whereas the Gospels, Acts, and the letters of Paul early on received wide recognition among the churches, these writings were much disputed, some more than others. Questions were often raised about authorship. Who wrote Hebrews? Did Peter really write 2 Peter? Which “John” wrote Revelation? Questions were also raised about their messages. Does Hebrews teach apostasy? Does it exclude backsliders from readmission to the church? Does James have any truly Christian message, or does it actually promote a more Jewish lifestyle with a thin veneer of Christianity? Does Revelation encourage dangerous fanaticism about the Second Coming?

Such concerns about these books led many Christians and churches either to reject them outright or to use them only with extreme caution. Even after the full New Testament emerged from the debates of the fourth century, some branches of the Church continued to hold a few of these books at arm’s length. Some branches never accepted all of them. As late as the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, the legitimacy of some of these books in the canon was seriously debated.

Even when these books have been firmly accepted as valid scripture, the difficulty of reading them has not been resolved. In comparison to other New Testament books, they have been sorely neglected. Far more commentaries and sermons exist on the rest of the New Testament than on these writings. Partly this neglect has been due to the sense that these writings do not address the central facets of the Christian message. Whenever great attention has been devoted to these books, it has often been by fringe groups who have found support for their peculiar beliefs mainly in these otherwise neglected books. Revelation, in particular, has spawned so many unusual ideas about the Second Coming that more mainstream Christians have tended to avoid the book, not out of disrespect but out of fear for what it might say.

Thankfully, we have these books in the canon, and to ignore them or avoid them is to miss an important part of the total New Testament story. These books mark that point in the story where we, the readers, take up the challenge to enter the story ourselves. They alert us to our own struggles on the way and show us ways we can confront the dangers of pilgrimage. To take the time to read and try to understand these books is to respond faithfully to our own call to be pilgrims.