The first time I can remember Revelation 22:2, from our larger text Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5, registering on my young mind was its appearance at the ending of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, “And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” It’s quoted by Guy Montag, the protagonist who has fled a city which has just been destroyed by nuclear bombs. That sudden appearance of Christian hope, at the end of a terribly bleak story of dystopian ignorance and violence, lodged itself in my mind. I can’t read that verse without remembering Bradbury’s use of it.
(I think this image of a 1966 paperback version of Bradbury’s book matches the one I originally read in junior high and which may still sit on my shelf at home.)
In any case, verse 2 and the surrounding context are John’s expansion of a vision in Ezekiel 47:12 of a great river which flows from a rebuilt and purified temple and which heals the land and even makes the Dead Sea into fresh water. There too are trees which grow all sorts of fruits which are for food and “their leaves for healing.” John expands that to “healing of the nations.”
Throughout history this little promise for the healing of the nations must have been especially cherished when the world seemed bleak. The story of poverty, plagues, hatred and war seems to constantly repeat and we see it being played out again in current times, with even what had seemed to be the long-past threat used by Bradbury rearing its head as we consider Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons in its bid to dominate Ukraine.
So the hope expressed clearly here at the end of Scripture in Revelation is especially good to remember now. The Christian hope is not just the yanking from the fire of a few privileged folk who believe in Jesus. It’s the full restoration and healing of our world, including all peoples, “the nations” in biblical parlance.
The Gospel lesson from John 14:23-29 also offers the promise of peace from Jesus’ own lips. Though it might there be understood as only a private, personal sort of peace for those who trust in Christ, the vision of Revelation and Jesus’ own teaching in other contexts show that the promise of peace is for the world, for all nations.
As my wife taught this Revelation text in elementary Sunday School a few weeks ago, she asked me why that image was used, “Why are leaves from the Tree of Life for the healing of the nations?” I didn’t have a good answer for her then, other than that the imagery shows God’s care and restoration of our world. I think there may be a bit more to say about it and about how we Christians play a role in it, but I will leave that for Sunday. Bradbury’s book and the 1966 movie made from it will come back into what I have to say then.