meeting the Lord

It is a not unknown counterargument to the modern doctrine of the rapture to point out the precise first-century meaning of the Greek word apantesis, "meeting", in the context of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Even so, recent reflection on this text in light of my experience of certain African cultural practices of hospitality would seem to bolster just that scholarly counterargument.

The doctrine of the rapture, a sudden snatching away of believers to heaven to escape the destruction of the earth, is extrapolated from Paul's assurance to the Thessalonians that "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" (1 Th 4:17).   In the immediate background to this verse are "the dead in Christ"; those living, those remaining, those "left" are left in relation to those who have died.  Paul wants the living not to be "uninformed about those who have died, so that [they] may not grieve as others do who have no hope" (4:13).  Thus Paul informs the Thessalonians that their dead in Christ "will rise first", that is, just before or as the living "are caught up in the clouds with them" at the Lord's coming.  Together, the living and the dead in Christ will "meet the Lord in the air."  The Greek word apantesis which the NRSV translates as a verb, "meet", is actually a noun--the living and the dead in Christ will be "caught up . . . into a meeting of the Lord in the air" (4:17).  

The critical point is that Paul has appropriated apantesis, a word from the realm of politics, to describe in anticipation the scene at the coming of the resurrected Jesus.  Just as a delegation of representatives ventured outside their city to welcome an approaching dignitary in the Greek world of the first century, just as they held an apantesis with the king as he was coming, so the living and the dead in Christ will have "a meeting with the Lord in the air" as he "descends from heaven" (4:16).  As the initial reception of the king took place outside the gates of the city to which he was coming, so believers will welcome their Lord "in the air", in the middle zone between departure and destination.  For indeed, just as the purpose of an entourage is to accompany the dignitary to his destination, so believers will not remain with their Lord "in the air".  The middle space is but the point of reception; the goal is to bring the king into his city.

As I prepare a lesson on this text for teaching on eschatology to African church leaders, I am reminded of the welcome we and a group of American church visitors received from a rural African church last month.  Like the first-century delegation coming out to meet the arriving king, so these African Christians lined our pathway outside the gates of the homestead and church premises.  Moreover, just as 1 Thessalonians paints the scene of the Lord's coming with shouts, calls, and trumpets, so we too were met with singing and instrumentation (in this case, drumming).  Of course, the point of all this was not to remain with us outside the gate, never to enter the house; the inhabitants of this village were welcoming us in order to bring us in. Inside a banquet was prepared for us.

If therefore, both the first-century practice of apantesis and an African way of "meeting" in the 21st century shed light on the New Testament's description of the Lord's coming, then an escape of believers to their Lord before the earth's cataclysmic destruction seems not to be the stuff of Christian hope.  Rather, that hope which is truly Christian "catches us up" in making our world a place in which the Lord is pleased to dwell when he comes.

-Joe

occupational hazards

In the category of texts which my African friends are more likely to know than I know, I submit 2 Kings 7.

On Sunday over lunch, one man in the church applied this text to a humorous situation on the church grounds that day.  One particularly zealous young man took it upon himself to act as a security guard at the gate, not allowing anyone who hadn’t eaten to exit the property (He had heard someone remark that no one should leave without eating).  Another young man who had been eating near me, upon finishing, had gotten up to leave.  Within a minute or two he had returned, informing the pastor that the gatekeeper would not allow him through.  Apparently the security guard did not believe that the other young man had actually had his meal.

Chuckling upon hearing the news, another man arose to take care of the situation.  He returned with a report of what he had said to convince the guard to let the man pass.  He told him the story of 2 Kings 7.  When the pastor narrated the story to me, I could never recall having heard it before.  Yet immediately it had come to this man, so apparently versed in the books of 1 and 2 Kings is he (I have noticed a preoccupation with these books before among African Pentecostals).

So what is the story?  A certain captain of the Israelite king had expressed doubt during a time of siege and ensuing famine that food could be sold in the city of Samaria on the next day as predicted by the prophet Elisha.  In response, Elisha told the captain that the captain would “see it with [his] own eyes, but [he] shall not eat from it” (2 Kgs 7:2).  After the Lord caused the besieging Aramean army to quickly abandon the city, the people of Samaria went out to plunder the Aramean camp, bringing back with them the provisions the Arameans had left behind.  And so, on the next day, according to the word of Elisha, food was again sold in the city.  And, also according to the prophet’s word, the captain saw but did not eat the food.  For as he was the one whom the king had appointed to “have charge of the gate”, he was trampled by the people as they flooded into the city with the plunder—and died there “in the gate” (2 Kgs 7:17).

Just as the stubbornness (refusal to heed the prophet) of this “security guard” had led to his demise, so his counterpart in the form of a resolute young churchgoer was being warned to let the people pass.  I am happy to report that no similar fate befell him.

-Joe

warriors and women

In giving a word of encouragement before handing over to me to preach last Sunday, the pastor made a correlation between four women in the congregation and two other sets of people in the Bible.  The day before, I had preached on Mark 15, so that chapter was on the pastor’s mind.  In particular, his attention was fixed on verse 40 which tells of three women “looking on” at the death of Jesus.  These were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  This was the first set of biblical people to whom the pastor compared the four mothers in his church.  To these he added “the Three” warriors of David’s army—Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, Eleazar son of Dodo son of Ahohi, and Shammah son of Agee, the Hararite—whom David extolls in his “last words” from 2 Samuel 23 (2 Sam 23:8ff.).

The pastor’s point was that, just as Jesus had been attended by three women, and David by three warriors, so these four churchwomen in particular had steadfastly stood beside him in the ministry.  Comparing members of the body of Christ to warriors always raises my Mennonite (pacifist) eyebrows.  Yet the fact that these mothers could in no way be mistaken for soldiers of the flesh in the mode of David’s fighting men hinted at a beautiful transformation of the warrior-motif in the pastor’s interpretation.  What the pastor has in mind as the epitome of warrior-hood is not, in fact, those who fight—as did David’s men—with physical weapons, but those praying mothers who prepared a great feast for God’s people on Easter Sunday.  By using the biblical examples to point to the flesh-and-blood women in his church, the pastor cast the text in a new light.  For if these women count for genuine warriors in the pastor’s eyes, is another meaning of warrior-hood likewise intended beneath the surface of the text?  Must a text like 2 Samuel 23:8 be read to affirm acts of physical war, or does it rather commend that which both soldiers and “ordinary” women may have in common, namely, the dedication in giving one’s life to something greater than oneself?  Put another way, is what the text might commend not the cause for which one fights, but the manner in which one fights?  Indeed, I would argue that it is not the cause which unites soldiers and members of the church, for intrinsic to the calling of the former is protecting a geographic domain while the latter serves the kingdom of God (insofar as the latter does not conflate the two).  Rather, it is only to certain virtues which both soldiers and Christians might subscribe, and it is the calling of the Christian to know in whose service alone and how such virtues may be exercised.

The pastor’s way of reading scripture exhibited here I have encountered more broadly in these years of my African sojourn.  Indeed, I have often heard African preachers draw lessons for life from texts which do not seem to have an overlap in the literal sense to the real-life situations which the texts are used to address.  Thus one might find an African preacher using a battle text as a metaphor for perseverance or trusting in God when encouraging a person struggling with an illness.  By contrast, a western preacher might seek out a more literal correspondence between the text and life, so that when addressing a situation of disease one looks to texts of physical healing in the scriptures.  If it is thus fair to say that, in this sense, an African way of reading scripture is more metaphorical than a western one (undoubtedly it could also be more literal in other ways), then I as a North American have learned a lot from African ways of reading.  And if other western readers are like me, then this African approach can help us to hear more of the Bible speaking to our lives.  The pastor’s example above, for example, helps us to see the way in which Old Testament texts have meaning beyond justifying war and promoting a wrathful God—complaints I have frequently heard among North American Mennonites (and others).

I am persuaded that a closer examination of most biblical texts uncovers, in surprising ways, the voice of God speaking to the people whom God loves.

-Joe