Reverse Rapture

Luke 12:32-40

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night or near dawn and finds them so, blessed are those servants.”

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Sermon

Alright. Who’s ready to talk about the end times?

So… when I use that phrase, “the end times,” what comes to mind?

Throughout the history of Christianity, there’s been a pervasive belief in nearly every generation that the world is ending immanently. Alongside this, there’s another pervasive, core belief: that Christ is coming again. We say that almost every time we partake of Communion.

But beyond a general belief in the end times, and that Christ will return, there’s a lot of gray area. A lot of that gray area has been filled with the rapture and the Left Behind books from the 90s or another book called The Late Great Planet Earth from the 70s. Both have an incredibly specific depiction of the end times, and one of the central ideas is called “the rapture.” It’s an idea that first appeared about fifty years after this congregation was established, and as these authors portray it, the rapture is when Christians ascend into heaven before the earth undergoes a host of evils.

I’m not here to talk anyone out of the rapture; I suspect there’s more than a few of us in the room who believe in it. But…! It’s really important that we understand something: no historic Christian tradition has ever found a playbook on the end times. Not Catholics. Not Orthodox Christians. Not the historic churches from the Reformation. In joining with the Church universal, not a single mainline denomination—not Presbyterians, Episcopalians, United Methodists, Lutherans, or the United Churches of Christ—believe in the rapture or the Left Behind books.

My point being, whether you’re someone who just can’t seem to muster up belief in the end times, or whether you’re someone who deeply, sincerely believes in a rapture, there’s something in here for all of us! None of us have perfectly figured this out.

One thing that isn’t as gray and murky though, is that Jesus teaches us that he is coming again. Not only is he coming again, but we had better be ready.

I frequently use a southern-ism: “don’t get caught with your pants down.” Jesus might be offering the same exhortation today and whenever he speaks about his second coming. Christ will come again, so don’t wait to clean the house until you see him; because he’s going to come again when you least expect it. Pick the pizza boxes off the coffee table, do the dishes, and try to fix that hole in the wall before mom or dad gets back. That’s what is pretty consistent through Jesus’ teachings.

But what’s incredibly fascinating in today’s passage is this: Jesus is simultaneously describing an end times of remarkable joy and peace. This is really what we need to hear, especially given our predisposition in America to believe in a violent, war-torn, vile end times: Christ will not come again as a militaristic punisher. Christ will come again as a guest from a wedding banquet — Christ will come from a place of abiding joy and unmeasurable love.

In fact, this is one of the common ways Jesus refers to the Kingdom of God and the end of all things: as a wedding banquet. Not an exclusive, VIP wedding banquet, but one where everyone is invited. In one parable, Jesus even tells us of a king who asks his servants to “invite everyone you [can] find to the wedding banquet.” (Matt. 22:9).

A Lutheran professor and pastor put it this way: she said that repeatedly in the New Testament, “it is God who is raptured down to earth to take up residence and dwell with us. [It is] a rapture in reverse.” (Rossing)

How would it change our lives if we believed that Christ was coming again in joy? If Jesus returned in the way he describes today: returning from a place of great celebration and love?

“Christ will not come again as a militaristic punisher. Christ will come again as a guest from a wedding banquet — Christ will come from a place of abiding joy and unmeasurable love.”

It gets even better though. What does the master of the house do upon his return? “[The master will] fasten his belt and have [his servants] sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.”

Not only does this master return from a place of abiding joy, but he returns so joyful, so gracious, that he turns the household upside down. He comes to serve them. To give them rest, and peace, and an unexpected meal of grace.

How would it change the way we do business, and manage our bank accounts, and navigate politics, and teach our children, and care for our neighbors, if we truly believed that Christ will come again to bring every corner of society into joy?

What if we believed that Jesus was returning to bring humanity into a banquet of his own love and joy? What if that plague, destruction, violence, hatred, global tyranny wasn’t a prerequisite to bring about Christ’s return and a new earth?

We start answering these questions with the ordinary, mundane parts of our lives. What we do each day in our personal lives, and what we do each day in our church life, is how we keep awake for Christ’s joyful return.

We keep watch and keep wait for Christ by passing a church budget that reflects our values and our hope in the future. Christ will come again, and we need a plan to keep oil in our lamps for decades to come. That requires more than financial viability, but financial health. Whether the Session gets things right the first time or not, every person here keeps this church awake and keeps this church alert. Understand; investigate; interrogate the financial decisions of this church, that we might keep our lamps burning for decades to come.

There’s another responsibility implicit in Jesus’ teaching today. If our facilities are a house of God, we must sweep it, tend to it, and put some love into it, because Jesus might show up to 54 High Street at any second. Jesus is going to do a check on his property, just as he’s going to do a check on us, his tenants. Will we be merely surviving, or will we be living with joy, eagerly waiting for Christ to see our ministry?

Finally, the most fun responsibility is this: Christ is throwing a banquet—a wedding reception—and we can invite as many plus ones as we want. There’s no guest list, no limited capacity, no attire requirements for Christ’s wedding feast. There's only free grace—buffet style—that never runs out.

All of this—discernment, discipleship, extravagant wedding banquets, and a deep-cleaned house of God—all of this is what Christ is drawing us to. Joy is the end game for God, and the end times for God. Peace is the end game for God, and the end times for God.

“Christ is throwing a banquet—a wedding reception—and we can invite as many plus ones as we want. There’s no guest list, no limited capacity, no attire requirements for Christ’s wedding feast. There’s only free grace—buffet style!—that never runs out.”

Whether we believe in a rapture or not, Saint Peter with a book of names or not, a booming voice or not, we can believe in something else, too: this reverse rapture; this joyful God; and this taste of banquets of grace.

Sources

“Where does the rapture fit into UM beliefs?” The United Methodist Church, accessed August 2 2025, https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-where-does-the-rapture-fit-into-united-methodists-beliefs

“Eschatology,” The Episcopal Church, https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/eschatology/

“Rapture, Violence, and Exodus,” in “Journeys Through Revelation,” Presbyterian Church (USA), 19 October 2010, accessed 2 August 2025, https://pcusa.org/sites/default/files/raptureviolenceandexodus.m4v

“Lutheran theologian featured in TV show on 'The Rapture'”, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 30 January 2006, accessed 2 August 2025, https://www.elca.org/news-and-events/7075

“End of the World | Catholic View on the Rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus,” Catholic Answers, accessed 2 August 2025, https://www.catholic.com/tract/end-of-the-world-catholic-view-on-the-rapture