Musical Prelude and Service.

1 Timothy 6:6-19 & Luke 16:19-31
While I have resisted saying anything about the Rapture in the last few weeks, I suspect it is
probably important that I do say something.
Unfortunately, a preacher or pastor in South Africa declared that the Rapture was coming this past
week and it gained quite a bit of attention. It led to a great many jokes and subsequent laughter.
Once again someone got the date wrong.
Here’s the thing; the idea of a premillennial rapture is less than 200 years old. The belief that at
some point God gathers up all the true believers and takes them to heaven for safekeeping before
those left behind are forced to endure the chaos and violence and torment to come before the return
of Jesus Christ? That’s a very new idea that has become doctrine for a few churches. But it is not
part of doctrine or general belief in the United Church of Canada or the vast majority of mainline
denominations.
The image of a rapture was first written about by a minister in the Church of Ireland in 1830,
and it proceeded to gain some popularity. It caught on in parts of the United States over the coming
decades, and into the 20th century and became part of a theology popularized in some evangelical
circles and in other forms of media such as the Left Behind books and movies.
But it is not part of scripture and is denied strenuously by the vast majority of Biblical scholars.
In instances when Jesus talks about returning, he is very clear that no one knows when that will
happen, and people should go about living their lives and ensuring those are lives of faith centred
around love, mercy and justice. Paul may have been convinced that the end times and Christ’s return
was imminent but even he would not attempt to predict the date.
We may speak of being ready and expecting Christ’s return, but our focus as a church – as Christ’s
body, is expanding God’s reign of love, of peace, of generosity of justice and mercy.
Right here, right now.
I make note of that because the letter to Timothy makes note of Jesus coming in the end. Basically,
saying it will come about at the right time. But it also says so much more about how we are
encouraged to live lives of faith. How we are urged to put our trust in God and what God offers us.
It says so much about how to navigate a relationship with God as opposed to a relationship with
wealth. Or to be more accurate, the dangers of giving into a temptation to pursue wealth.
We need certain things to live; food, clothing, a place to live. But if we pursue wealth, we can very
easily fall into the trap of greed and covetousness. What the author refers to as senseless and
harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
What is not spelled out in those words but seems clear to me, is that the ruin and destruction is not
necessarily inflicted immediately on those who are wealthy. But in their pursuit of ever more wealth,
so many around them are forced to endure ruin and destruction.
Timothy is encouraged to find contentment with what he has. If he has food and clothing; if he has
a loving community and a place to find shelter, he has enough. We want to be careful here. I don’t
want to encourage people to accept lives of poverty, of want and hunger. What I think is happening
here, is Timothy – a leader in the church, is being told to model a life that does not step on others to
pursue a life of riches. To model a life of good works, generosity and a readiness to share.
Don’t put your hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God who richly provides us with everything
for our enjoyment.
We are called to live our lives in the here and now, with gratitude for what God provides, and with
generosity and love; pursuing righteousness. In other words, a right relationship with God and our
fellow human beings and all of creation, and with gentleness.
Live. Now.
Luke this morning warns us not to let chasms open up between ourselves and the rest of the world.
Luke starts his gospel with warnings for those who are wealthy and never really relents. Luke is clear
that God holds a special place for the poor, and demands that those with wealth open their eyes to
the reality of poverty in our world. But he also insists that those who are committed to pursuing their
own comfort through wealth tend to have a blind spot for the poor.
In this parable, we are given the name of the poor man – Lazarus. But the rich man who ignores the
pain at his front gate is never named. Furthermore, even after he has died and is experiencing the
torments of Hades, this man cannot see the world with new eyes. Jesus makes it clear, Lazarus is not
an unknown person for the rich man. He recognizes Lazarus and knows his name. And then asks
Abraham to make Lazarus give him water and then go and warn his brothers. He is still making
demands of Lazarus, even in death.
Remember, this is a parable. It is not a factual story. It is a lesson taught by Jesus, attempting to
shock his audience into a new way of seeing the world around them. To reconsider their relationship
with the world and with God.
So, what is Jesus trying to get across? There is poverty in our world. People are suffering. They do
not have enough food. They lack clothing, they lack shelter; and all too many people are doing their
best to ignore that reality or to pretend it is not their problem. It has created an immense chasm that
Jesus tells us is too wide to be traversed.
We get to decide which side we want to be on. Are we ready to listen to the warnings being offered?
Having died, the rich man pleads for Abraham or Lazarus to warn his brothers. But Abraham tells
him, they have already ignored the warnings of Moses and the prophets. Why would they listen to
anyone else?
What is this parable trying to tell us?
Pay attention? Open your eyes? B
e resurrected to a new life and see the world with new eyes?
It is challenging us to ask what it is we prioritize. The verses prior to this parable are Jesus
condemning those who prize money and see their wealth as a reward from God for pious behaviour.
But the beginning of chapter 17 is a lesson in forgiveness. It is a reminder that people can change
their ways and find forgiveness.
We are urged to be alive to the possibilities in this world – to truly see and experience our world in all
its beauty and its scars, and to love and care for our fellow creatures.
God keeps calling us to repent for our greed and the harm we have caused in our pursuit of comfort
and wealth. We as a society, have made it a point to ignore those calls. What is it going to take to
see and hear with new eyes and ears?, Jesus seems to ask.
But forgiveness and new opportunities are there, if only we will wake up and live new lives of justice,
of mercy, of gentleness and of righteousness.
If we are waiting on the rapture, proclaiming our love of Christ without opening our eyes and ears to
the pain all around us, we will have missed the calls to be part of God’s kin-dom, right here and now.
We are the church, the body of Christ. Let us truly live, right here, right now. And let us give thanks
to God with our gentleness, our love, our welcome and our compassion.
Thanks be to God. Amen
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789