You don’t want to be in the rapture

You read it right. You don’t want to be in the “rapture” Jesus described in the text for the First Sunday of Advent. You don’t want to be caught up or carried away when Jesus comes. That would be bad news.

Jesus and disciples were on the mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem and the majestic temple complex. The disciples admired it and Jesus prophesied its total demise, building and ministry, to come within their lifetimes. He described perplexities and confusion, natural disaster and famine, wars and rumors of wars. He said people simply would not know what to expect next. They would be “carried away” into the confusion and mayhem, clueless of what would happen next.

“Of that day and hour no one knows,” Jesus said. “Not even the angels of heaven.” Only the Father. Judgment will come at a time least expected. As in the days of Noah, Jesus noted, when people disregarded warnings of the flood to come and carried on “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark.” In other words, they thought life would go on as usual, unaware of emminent danger.

When it happens to you, Jesus said, you will be carrying on with everyday life, unaware of the danger. Two work in the field, one is taken, (raptured) into judgment, the other left, spared. Two work at the mill, one is carried away, caught up, the other escapes.

Throughout this discourse Jesus repeatedly warned the disciples to see to it they were not deceived. Watchfulness, alertness, and prudence are the words for the day. You never know when a moment of judgment will come, so be aware. Be ready to act. Don’t be caught up in it. When you begin to see the armies encircle the Holy City head for the hills. The end of the age is near.

So if not rapture, then what? How about gathering? Jesus told his disciples that as the Day of the Lord arrived in Jerusalem he would send angels, messengers, to sound the trumpet and gather together the elect from all over the earth. The church, the gathering of God, assembled to take on the strongholds of death and decay and begin rebuilding the world of the resurrection would be mobilized. The Jewish age ends, the church age begins.

The church in the American South is too preoccupied with fiction books describing a supposed rapture that will never occur. A seriously flawed 19th century doctrinal innovation has taken hold of our hearts and imaginations and we have been raptured into fanciful visions of being caught up and going to heaven. We misread Scripture and misinterpret facts, alleging that this pope or that president might be the anti-Christ and claiming that the rapture is about to occur. The consequence is that our disciple-making and world-restoring has been reduced to lengthy silly altar calls begging church-goers to “get saved” so they can “go to heaven when they die.”

Here is where discernment is required. While some sit on their blessed assurance singing of going to heaven one day, caught up into a series of Left Behind daydeams, those in the kingdom who are “left behind” are doing the kingdom work, rebuilding and reclaiming this world for eventual return of the King of kings and Lord of lords. They are watching for places the Lord is already at work, discerning where Jesus already comes. They are working tirelessly to feed the hungry, care for the sick, dig water wells, provide shoes, build adequate housing, advocate for the downtrodden and abused, and love the unloved. They are looking for those who have lost hope and working to restore them to Jesus Christ.

The message of Advent is one of awareness, alertness. It is one of faithful, watchful work. Don’t be caught up in the revelry of tall tales short on biblical fact, Paul might warn, but put on Christ. Wear Christ. Represent Christ. Jesus comes. Watch for him, work with him when he does.

This is not the time to think of a baby in a manger or to party to our heart’s content. It is time to watch, work, and wait for places Jesus comes into our midst now.

1 Advent A