So, either the rapture didn’t happen or we’re in trouble. I’m not surprised either way. Never thought the Lutherans had much of a chance. Rapture was only going to happen for the fundagelicals and Pentecostals. They have bigger churches and more money than we do, so they must be doing something right, right? Enough about them. What about us? To be perfectly clear, I am a complete skeptic about end time predictions. Not because I don’t believe the biblical worldview on such matters. I believe there is a beginning, a middle, and an end to God’s story. I also believe that we are closer to the end than to the beginning. I believe that because the first Christians believed that the death and resurrection of Jesus was the sign of the end of the ages. They believed that a new age was dawning, in which God’s reign of justice and perfect peace was coming upon all people. But there has been an unexpected delay in its coming. And so they had to adjust their thinking about the end of days. It’s the delay, coupled with the promise of the end and the reality of death that causes people to make false predictions.
Christian believers died. And they were not bodily resurrected like Jesus. So what happened to dead Christians? And why were they willing to die for the cause? Stephen was killed for his ministry of serving and preaching. He was one of the seven chosen leaders of the distribution to the poor. The first Christians enacted a kind of Peter’s Porch Project (monthly food and clothing distribution at Zion Lutheran, Akron, PA) where they protected the poor and most vulnerable by proving for their basic needs. They did so out of their own personal abundance. The church shared. The distribution became a massive undertaking in Jerusalem, requiring additional leaders. Stephen was one of them. But he noticed that some religious leaders opposed their work and their message. He noticed that some people did not understand why they were doing what they were doing. They were doing crisis relief work among the poorest and the most neglected. And people did not know why. So he told them. His sermon was especially fiery and critical of their powerful opposition. As a result, the opposition rose up, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death. He was making claims that Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified criminal, was the Son of God. He died with words of forgiveness on his last breath. How could he be so charitable? Why was he willing to speak so boldly and work so powerfully on behalf of the poor, the worthless, the dying?
From its beginning the church was a counter-insurgency, a counter-imperial movement that offered an alternative message of peaceful, compassionate justice. Imperial justice was established through military triumph and the arrest and execution of trouble-makers. Free speech was only free when it did not insight opposition to Rome. Wealth and power were signs of one’s blessing and self-affirmation. But the christians sided with the poor and the marginalized. The church protected the vulnerable and the suffering. The church provided food, shelter, clothing, water, and healing for needy people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or creed. They saw their suffering Lord Jesus in the needs of the stranger and they loved them. The first believers were servants, slaves, downwardly mobile men and women, creating community’s of grace and peace that welcomed all people. The church consisted of men like Paul, who once was Saul, a man who participated in Stephen’s stoning and threatened to undermine the Christian movement with his venomous attacks. Saul became Paul because Jesus came to him, changed his life and his direction, and sent him out as a builder of the kingdom of God and not as a destroyer of it. Nobody was beyond God’s reach; anyone can turn around and live for God. Those living for themselves, hurting others, and ignoring God can become part of God’s rescue operation.
The first Christians were bold in their delivery because they were not afraid. They were not afraid because they believed that Jesus, the son of God, was raised from the dead. Faith overcame fear. They knew that God would vindicate and redeem any suffering with LIFE. They believed that Jesus had made a place for them with God, a dwelling place where they and God can be one forever. They believed that the way Jesus lived and died was the truth. To live truthfully as a human being means to acknowledge your true place in the world. Do you know your true place? The lies we come to believe about ourselves are many. Life is brief and meaningless. I am but a small and insignificant creature. OR, the world revolves around me. All things are for me and I can have everything. I deserve to have it all. Death is the end, avoid it as long as possible. Violence and retribution are the only appropriate responses to perceived evils. To attain wealth is to live the best life. We make life what it is. We control life; my own and several others. So many lies.
Jesus’s way of life was to become empty, a slave, a servant. His way was to die, to surrender to death and to trust that true life is found in God alone. Jesus commanded that people divest themselves of the material possessions that hindered their path to God. He commanded that love for the other take precedence over selfish assertions of power that lead to abuse and violence. He commanded non-violent resistance to the regime.
The bible is not an evacuation plan for God’s chosen ones to escape the wrath to come on the world. There is no secret message embedded in the text predicting the future. The rapture is a misinterpretation of the biblical message, employed as a fear tactic, in order to scare people into conversion. It is not working because it is not true. God knows about the end. We trust that God is working toward an end that is good, that affirms life and fully reveals the love of God for all things. There is something hopeful about predicting the end, though. God promises an end to suffering and death. Who can argue with that? Most of us have seen and heard enough misery to long for a better world. But as church, as believers we must put our hopes and longings into action---making the world better in our service and advocacy on behalf of the vulnerable and the suffering. And we can make a difference. There is much to be hopeful about, from the Arab spring to progress in the global war against extreme poverty. This is not doomsday; it is the day for hopeful action, inspired by Jesus, that gives life and hope to those who need it the most. Peter’s porch is one part of God’s rescue plan. We are part of what God is doing to heal the world with love. So I’m glad the end didn’t come yet. There’s still more giving, serving, and loving to do here. With Stephen, Paul, and all the saints we persevere by faith. Amen.
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