Where to look

Luke 17:20-37
Deuteronomy 17:14-20

Yesterday's Gospel reading includes one of the great statements of collectivism in the Bible: "The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you." You could interpret this as simply 'there are some of you out there who have the Kingdom of God' but to me the much more appealing interpretation (and one I've heard from most of my preachers in sermons) is that the Kingdom resides in the spaces between people, in their relationships with one another. Its body is a social body. This passage is the strong case for churches, congregations, denominations, and for people committing themselves to each other over the long haul.

This passage, which says the Kingdom does not come with "things observed," without signs one can point to, it is followed by what? The rapture, of all things! Verses 22-37 start by picking up where these others left off, saying don't follow anyone who says "Look there" or Look here!" Then it runs through cases where some were saved, others destroyed: Noah and the Flood, Lot and Sodom. On the day the Son of Man is revealed, it will be like that. "I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left."

Jesus says there won't be signs, but is there anything that has inspired more sign-reading and Biblical divination than the Rapture? I know some people who have this humorous take that if the Rapture comes, no one will know because the people taken will be few and those will be people not much noticed, like homeless people. Waiting for Tim LaHaye to go missing is not a reliable sign.

The passage ends with the disciples asking where the people will be taken, and he answered "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." So a couple of ways to look at this. The rapture comes with death. Simple as that. Comes when it comes. Or: hasn't the Son of Man
been revealed, in Jesus Christ? So the rapture has come. It's here, among us, as is the Kingdom, Resurrection, grace, and all other good (and bad) things. Maybe the Rapture is more like rapture, that thing that happens to human beings from time to time, say when they listen to great music played, or spend time with their kids, or see their wife just as the light glints in her hair. Maybe there's more to that than we give it credit for. Maybe we shouldn't ask for so much more.

Final point: I think I have a different take on vultures than I am supposed to. I like the birds. To me they are resurrection machines, turning dead stuff back into life. They also have great social behaviors. They eat together, semi-cooperatively. Sometimes they will just hang out in large numbers, in trees or even in a pasture. I always think they enjoy soaring on updrafts the way they can. And as I understand it they are very doting parents (most birds are). So is it a bad thing to be where they gather?

Since this is about yesterday's reading, I'll do one thing from today. Deuteronomy is going through instructions to the people of Israel on how to govern themselves. It talks about how they can set a king over themselves, but he can't be a foreigner (the Brits would have failed that one), and it specifies that he will have a copy of the law written, and so on. Here's the part I enjoyed: "Even so, he (this non-foreign king) must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses..." Yes, I'd say that's a bad idea, appointing a king who is going to return the people to slavery so he can get a new horse. Why did it occur to Jehovah that he had to mention this? Had he had a bad experience with this situation before? It reminds me of a story my mother tells on me--when I was a kid, I stuck some beans up my nose and she had to take me to doctor (I think). She says "I never thought to tell him not to stick beans up his nose." I guess this is a story about how creative leaders can be in their stupidity. There's got to be an analogy to George Bush somewhere here, although I can't put my finger on it other than on general principles.