Alexander Pope said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
What a sad, cynical attitude. And yet, this just goes to show that it isn’t having expectations that are wrong; it’s having wrong expectations. So, the Church calls us to discipline our expectations by grounding them in reality, and reality is Jesus Christ! He is Real! And He promised us He would return! That’s an expectation that can radically change your priorities and your choices! Proper expectations produce Proper Preparations!
And that is exactly why the Lord taught His Church that He will come again. No schemes, no hidden agendas, no “blood moons” or “gnostic” secrets to be revealed only to the ones “really in the know!” Just the power of expectation and wakefulness to keep us ready for His return, whether it is at our own mortal death, or at the Parousia, the Second Coming!
Look at our Gospel Lesson this morning in Matthew 24:42-47:
The Lord said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.”
The power of not knowing when but knowing what will happen is the key to understanding the wisdom of the Church and Her teaching about the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus Christ is going to return, and that’s all we need to know. The reason for this isn’t so we will be ignorant, but because Christ is the object of our love and devotion. Whether His coming is preceded by “Great Tribulation” or the always present “antichrists” who have always tried to usurp the Lord’s place in our hearts, or whether we meet the Lord in our own mortal appointment in death; we love Him and we desire to be with Him and us long to go to Him, and that motivates us to be watchful for Him. The point of the lack of specifics is a feature, not a bug! You are meant to learn how to desire Christ above all things and above all others. If you are going to be ready for the Coming of the Lord, this is the path!
This is the significant and profound difference between what the Church has always taught concerning the Second Coming and the multitude of sensationalistic counterfeits that scream for our attention in this day and age. In fact, the more sensational, the more proof that their lack of sobriety and peace shows their incompatibility with the timeless message of the Faith! So, don’t be captured by “rapturemaina” and all the silly (and suspiciously complicated) popular “systems” being promoted by those only interested in capturing your attention. No matter how slick the presentation, the truth is better suited to make you ready for His coming again!
Today, are you motivated by love or fear? To be sure, fear may be the initial motivation for wakefulness. After all, most of us have alarm clocks to wake us in the morning. But the spiritually mature move quickly from the weak and unsustainable motivation of fear to the maturing and healing and sustainable motivation of love when they see just how lovely Christ and His message really is! The message of the Orthodox Faith isn’t one of sensationalism or fear, but the awe-inspiring motivation of God’s eternal and unchanging love for you and me. And being in love with Him means you will never be surprised by His return or your mortal appointment with death. You will be awake. No wonder it is precisely the LIFESTYLE and rhythm of worship, prayer, and practice that transforms our Christian faith from “something” we know to SOMEONE we love! This difference makes all the difference! It makes you Orthodox on Purpose!
P.S. Oh Lord of mercy, Your promised return is such a temptation to speculation. But all that energy we use to speculate only serves to distance us from You. Please give me the grace to ignore this dead end and look only to embrace the Orthodox Way of life so that I will desire You above all things. Then, when You return, I won’t be surprised at all. Amen.
2 Comments
Steve Price
2 minutes until 12. Are you trying to tell us something, FR. Barnabas? (wink, wink)
Erin
Thank you for this article. I have attended Protestant churches all my life, and the religious trauma that I experienced as a child in connection with rapture theology is actually what drove me to begin researching the Orthodox church. As a teenager I once thought I had been “left behind ” when I woke up one morning to a house that looked like everyone had been raptured. There ended up being a logical explanation but I’ve never forgotten that sinking feeling of terror.
It was a great relief to me to learn that the Orthodox (and Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican churches) generally do not teach dispensationalist theology, and that it is a recently developed idea.
Your post was a very timely one for me. I recently happened to mention to my (Protestant) friend that I no longer held to rapture/ left behind style teachings, and explained a view similar to what you described in this article. She was slightly horrified.
It was a balm to stumble across this article today and have that reminder of what the historic Christian church has taught regarding the return of Christ. It’s a message of hope and joy, not fear