Tag Archives: rapture

Caught With Their Lamps Down [OR Peace As A Destination]  Matthew 25:1-13, Wisdom 6:12-16, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on November 12, 2017

[sermon begins after two Bible readings; the Thessalonian reading is at the end of the sermon.]

Matthew 25:1-13  ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids* took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.* 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7Then all those bridesmaids* got up and trimmed their lamps.8The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids* came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.*

Wisdom 6:12-16 
12 Wisdom is radiant and unfading,
and she is easily discerned by those who love her,
and is found by those who seek her. 
13 She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. 
14 One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,
for she will be found sitting at the gate. 
15 To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding,
and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care, 
16 because she goes about seeking those worthy of her,
and she graciously appears to them in their paths,
and meets them in every thought.

 

[sermon begins]

Before the age of GPS and voice directions, there were TripTik maps[1].  A small, narrow flip map, spiral bound at the top, showed page for page how I was going to make the trip.  Paper TripTiks are still available although now there’s an app for that. In the paper version, you flip the pages as you drive the miles. Construction alerts, hotels, and rest stops were part of the trip plan. Over the river and through the woods, to Grandma Ruth’s house I drove. Each page flipped meant I was that many miles closer. Pit stops were strategic for food, facilities, and fuel.  Of course, knowing the destination is essential to receiving the right map.

Jesus has a destination in mind as he tells a story to his disciples about bridesmaids. The destination is the wedding banquet and the bridesmaids need enough oil for their lamps to follow the bridegroom. The oil fuels the lamps through the midnight-hour.  Five of the bridesmaids get caught with their lamps down.  They are the foolish ones.  I want to know what makes the foolish ones foolish.[2]  If we’re supposed to hear that people who aren’t ready, who miss the mark somehow, or who don’t have enough faith are the problem then that pretty much includes most of the disciples who were listening to Jesus. The same disciples who abandon him at the cross.  If that’s the definition of foolish then it also includes most of us which hardly qualifies as good news.

It may be more accurate to say that the foolish bridesmaids are accused of being passive and neglectful.[3]  All ten bridesmaids knew the bridegroom was coming. They all fell asleep in the darkness. Only five were prepared with lamp oil to make the trip. Up to this point in the gospel book of Matthew, Jesus talked at least three times about his death and resurrection.  He also repeatedly scolded the religious leaders about their priorities. Just a short time before the Matthew reading today, Jesus chews out the religious leaders for neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.”[4]  The religious leaders had lost sight of the destination.

In Judaism, there is a destination called the End of Days. The End of Days is a messianic era marked by world peace with no wars or famine, and enough for everyone to live on. Rabbi Dubov writes that “even in his darkest hour, [the Jew] hopes and prays for a brighter future – a world of peace and spirituality.”[5] Biblical prophets including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, and Hosea repeatedly point to the End of Days messianic era.[6]  Christians were the ones in the 1800s who concocted doom-filled rapture theology.[7]  Because, you know, that’s so much better.

Here’s why any of this matters. It matters because our understanding of God’s vision for humanity at the End of Days affects the many days between now and then. It matters because people of faith tend to interpret God’s will for today in light of what they think will happen in God’s tomorrow.  It matters because what we say about Jesus’ return impacts the lives of people here and around the world today – the very people Jesus tells us to care about because he cares about them.

In the 5th chapter of Matthew, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”[8] Jesus says this right after the Beatitudes.[9] It’s also right after he tells his disciples that they are the light of the world and that lighting a lamp gives light all around it.[10]  Disciples are the light of the world; wise bridesmaids have lamp oil to light the darkness. In a couple more passages after the bridesmaids’ tale, the plot to kill Jesus begins his trip to the cross. Dark times indeed. But the letter to the Thessalonians reminds us that we do “not grieve as others who have no hope.”[11]  There are things happening that cause grief that can lead to despair.  Whether it’s large-scale violence that sends refugees fleeing or interpersonal violence like the abuse coming to light in Hollywood and Washington, we can shut down in despair. Despair can lead to neglect and passivity. The very things for which the foolish bridesmaids stand accused.

The mapped history of humankind hangs in my kitchen. It’s four feet tall and two feet wide with vertical lines showing what was happening to world peoples at the same time. Who was impacting whom and the outcome of those impacts – whether or not a group of people ended up annihilated or subsumed into another group or whether they remained independent. Many victories are on the map.  Many dark times are on the map. Passive despair in the face of human violence is understandable. Jesus is a different destination.

In New Member class last week we talked about Christian freedom.  A great question was asked about personal responsibility when it can seem so easy to claim freedom by way of forgiveness. From that perspective there’s nothing to stop anyone from doing anything they want if they’re just going to be forgiven for it anyway. Jesus’ parable about the bridesmaids holds that tension between freedom and consequence, between self-determination and obedience.  He makes demands of the disciples through the parable and really through the whole book of Matthew. Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets so, by that measure, Jesus embodies peace. Not a negative peace that is the “absence of tension.”[12] Rather, Jesus is a positive peace that is the presence of justice.[13] Jesus creates plenty of tension by naming neglect and passivity as unacceptable and calls us to a positive peace as light-bearers in the world today.

Jesus’ call to urgency challenges church people’s quietism.  Quietism that looks like passive withdrawal from the world by relying on divine action alone.[14]  Quietism that sounds like when people say, “It will all work out in the end.” Quietism that simply watches events unfold without considering that our passive withdrawal amounts to complicity in what we fail to do. Quietism that puts foolish bridesmaids in tension with the wise.

This tension between the bridesmaids gives us a glimpse into the conflict of the first century Matthean Christian community as well as holds up a mirror to our time in history.  However, we are on the other side of the cross and resurrection unlike the disciples listening to the parable.  The very disciples who abandoned Jesus at the cross, whose lamps were empty when “darkness came over the whole land” as Jesus died.[15]  The same disciples who afterwards encounter the risen Christ and are given the destination of “all nations” for teaching and baptizing as they are reassured by Christ’s presence to “the end of the age.”[16]

One reason we worship is to remind each other what we so quickly forget in dark and confusing times. Ours is a world in need of constructive tension witnessing to the destination of peace. To the End of Days, Jesus lights up our discipleship, embodying peace and a living hope for the sake of the world God so loves. Thanks be to God.

_____________________________________________

[1] Here’s a link if you’re curious about TripTik https://midatlantic.aaa.com/travel/maps-directions

[2] Matthew L. Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary. Facebook post on the Parable of the Bridesmaids, November 7, 2017.  https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=matthew%20l%20skinner

[3] Ibid. Dr. Skinner’s comment to original post.

[4] Matthew 23:23-24 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

[5] Rabbi Nissan D. Dubov, Director of Chabad Lubavitch in Wimbledon, UK. “What is the ‘End of Days’?” for Chabad.org. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/108400/jewish/The-End-of-Days.htm

[6] Dubov, Ibid.

[7] Barbara R. Rossing. The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 178-181.  Rapture theology is a 19th century construct, a recent biblical interpretation.

[8] Matthew 5:17

[9] Matthew 5:1-12

[10] Matthew 5:14-16

[11] 1 Thessalonians 4:13

[12] Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963). https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

[13] Ibid.

[14] Quietism: Religious Doctrine. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quietism  “A doctrine of Christian spirituality that, in general, holds that perfection consists in passivity (quiet) of the soul, in the suppression of human effort so that divine action may have full play.”

[15] Matthew 27:45 [The Death of Jesus] From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

[16] Matthew 25:16-20

_______________________________________

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18   But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 5 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

 

#FanGirl and Forgiveness Luke 24:44-53, Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23

#FanGirl and Forgiveness Luke 24:44-53, Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on May 17, 2015 – Ascension of Our Lord

[sermon begins after 2 Bible readings]

Luke 24:44-53 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Acts 1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 

[sermon begins]

Over the last week, from Monday evening to Friday morning, I attended a national preaching festival here in town.  Nearly 2,000 preachers and church people from all over the country showed up to worship together and to hear other preachers preach and then talk about preaching.  The preachers covered the palette of skin color, gender, and denomination.  It was inspiring, humbling, and hilarious.

On Tuesday evening, I came home from the conference all pumped up after having heard long time Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann preach. In the time it takes you and I to celebrate another birthday he’s published another couple of books.[1]  He’s up to about 90 of them. If you’ve not heard his name, you’ve certainly heard his ideas preached.  Anyway, he was to lecture to us the next morning and I COULD NOT WAIT!

I went in to say goodnight to my daughter and told her all of this juicy news about Walter Brueggemann and told her I was fan.  Then, I’m ashamed to admit, I did a very uncool thing.  You can consider this my public confession.  I made a number sign with my fingers and said, “Hash-tag fan-girl” and made a double clicking sound. She smiled and shook her head oh so tolerantly at me and said, “Oh, mom.”  On the way to take my daughter to school the next morning, I’m STILL talking about Walter Brueggemann.  She told me that the conference was funny.  I asked her why it was funny.  She said it’s funny how much I liked it so much and that it was like a music festival for preachers.  I know, you don’t have to say it – I know how to take a few days and really have some fun!

A few of you turned up at the festival to hear some preaching too.  One of the amazing things to me is how many non-preacher church types attend.  I mean, for me it makes sense to hang out from time-to-time with other pulpit people.  It’s amazing that it make sense to people simply to come, worship and listen to sermons on their days off.  That’s a pretty powerful God we worship.

Two of our readings this morning come from the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Both of these books are attributed to Luke.  The verses we hear today are from the same author and come from the very end of Luke and the very beginning of Acts.  Luke and Acts are so closely tied together that they take on hyphen, becoming Luke-Acts.  Kind of like hyphenating two names into a married name…Luke-Acts.  The books are so wedded together in my own mind that I’m occasionally surprised to find the Gospel of John between them when I’m looking for Acts. Both books are written to Theophilus.  Theophilus means ‘friend of God’ in the Greek.

There’s a difference of opinion about whether Theophilus is an actual someone that Luke knows or if it’s used as a generic greeting to anyone who is a friend of God.  After last week’s story when Jesus blew our minds by calling us friends, I invite us to hear the gospel writer talking to each of one of us as friend of God.

So, all you Theophili, friends of God, Jesus has just had an intense, three year ministry of forgiveness, healing, and preaching; he was killed for it; he rose from the dead and hung out with his disciples for 40 days.  In the story today, Jesus makes a rousing speech to them about John the Baptist, then promises them that the Holy Spirit is going to baptize the disciples in a few days’ time.  These are his last words after putting his disciples through a post-resurrection, 40-day intensive.  What do those disciples do immediately?  They fail the final.[2] They ask the question, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

After all this time with Jesus.  And this is what they figure out?! In Luke-Acts, Jesus tells them that, “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” and that they “are witnesses of these things.”[3] He also tells them that they “will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”[4]  The disciples interpret Jesus’ words on the spot to mean Jesus is going to come back, take names, and wage war.  Except Jesus does NOT say this to them.  He talks about the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness and tells them they “will be [his] witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[5]

Christians throughout the ages flip Jesus’ message of repentance and forgiveness into the message that Jesus is going to come back with a big chip on his shoulder and you should be very afraid.  It starts with these misguided disciples in Luke-Acts and then with Paul in his letter to the Ephesians read for us today and it keeps right on going to now.  Is it possible that the human disappointment about Jesus’ actual ministry of forgiveness gets projected into a second coming worthy of the next blockbuster revenge film?

Notice that Jesus does NOT tell his disciples to run around and figure out who is responsible for his execution on a cross so that when the time is right, all heaven is going to break loose.  We can thank wild interpretations of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation for this line of thought.  We can thank our own human taste for revenge too.

I was on the phone with my mother the other day.  She had muted the news when I called and had been listening to the verdict coverage of Mr. Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.  As we spoke, she suddenly broke in with, “He’s been given the death penalty…He’s been given the death penalty…it’s in big, flashing, red letters on the screen!”  And then we were quiet.

My friends, there’s a fine line between justice, consequence, and the sweet taste of revenge. We crave it like the disciples and end up on the razor’s edge – teetering precariously between righteous anger and unholy retribution.  Let’s be aware of that razor’s edge as we talk about what’s going on for Boston, the bombing victims, and Mr. Tsarnaev.

Here’s something to consider.  The uber-angry God riding in on the clouds that gets depicted in artwork, novels, and films does NOT line up with Jesus’ words and ministry.  Again, Jesus is talking about repentance, forgiveness, and witnessing. It’s what he began talking about with John the Baptist, what he died talking about, and what he ascended talking about.  How are we not getting this?!!

After Jesus speaks with the disciples, the end of the Acts reading goes on to say:

“…as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

“…the same way…”  Hmmm….  Could the “same way” mean not on a cloud but rather mean publically and visibly?  Perhaps like the public and visible Holy Spirit swooping in with the sound of rushing wind and the likes of fire.[6]  Second coming and rapture theology is so pervasive in the culture-speak of apocalypse that it’s easy to miss Jesus’ words and miss Jesus altogether. Is it really so much easier to think that Jesus is coming again on a cloud rather than that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit just a week later, publically and visibly kicking off the ministry of the church to witness to the power of forgiveness?!

Friends of God, beautiful and flawed Theophili, we have been tasked to this ministry of witness.  Our witness of Jesus’ ministry of repentance and forgiveness.  The power and glory of Christ is revealed through the power and glory of forgiveness.  Forgiveness that is so threatening, so powerful, that Jesus was put to death for it.  This is the Jesus we worship, who draws us through our worship to joy.[7]  Jesus who is “the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”[8]

Friends of God, beautiful and flawed Theophili, this IS good news indeed!  Alleluia and amen.

 

[last Bible reading, sermon references follow]

Ephesians 1:16-23  I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

[1] Walter Brueggemann website: http://www.walterbrueggemann.com/resources/books/books-by-walter-brueggemann/

[2] Rolf Jacobson, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary.  Sermon Brainwave podcast for Ascension of Our Lord 2014 on WorkingPreacher.org – http://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?podcast_id=514

[3] Luke 24:47-48

[4] Acts 1:5

[5] Acts 1:8

[6] Acts 2:2-4

[7] Luke 24:52

[8] Ephesians 1:22-23