Some of you may not have heard that some folks anticipate the rapture tomorrow. They've done their best to get the word out, and have generated some media buzz, mostly derision.
While I don't necessarily share these folks' beliefs, I'm not laughing at them. That is because part of me secretly hopes that the beginning of the end could be tomorrow. Frankly, I'm eager for Jesus to arrive. I actually pray for his coming, as I believe all Saints should.
I've read these folks' arguments about how they can know it's happening May 21 -- despite Jesus' pronouncement that "ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 25:13) -- and I don't buy it. I don't buy it mainly because of the moral Jesus himself draws from this pronouncement: "Watch therefore"! The reason Jesus hasn't announced the deadline of his coming is because we are expected to be ready at all times. Read the whole parable of the virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13) and see if that isn't the conclusion you draw as well.
But I'm not making fun of these folks, and I won't laugh at them if they are disappointed on Sunday, May 22, because to a certain extent, I share their hope. I'm tired of war and wickedness, hate and fear. I'm eager for Jesus to move us on to the next stage. I'm ready and waiting.
But I also accept the burden of trying to make my own heart and this world more ready for his reign in the meantime. I accept the responsibility of trying to make more peace, more love, more hope. I accept that if God wants to try my heart (and my patience) a little bit longer, I must oblige him.
Waiting for Jesus to come again isn't about sitting on my back side and counting down the seconds until his arrival. It's about working. There is work to do! That's what faith and faithfulness is all about.
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3 comments:
interesting thoughts ob ths. thanks fir sharing.
I've always understood the pronouncement that no one knows the hour of his coming to be not just about a literal Second Coming, but also a reminder that none of us knows when we will die and meet our maker. What if today were your last day on earth? How would you spend it? What is of most value?
Leah, good point. Whether or not you believe in a literal rapture (that may or may not literally happen in the way radical evangelicals describe), every one of us has a time that could come quite unexpectedly.
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