Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. – Matthew 24:40-41

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 11, 2017): Matthew 24

There is a long tradition of seeing a man in the face of the moon. This face is always turned toward the earth as the man in the moon watches over us, examining the happenings on this planet that the moon orbits. Of course, there is no man on the moon watching over us. The phenomenon with the moon and several other patterns that we see in life are actually a phenomenon that exists only in our brains. We tend to give order to the things that we see (including images of Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich.) We perceive unrelated patterns, and our brain works hard at presenting an image to us that makes sense – even though the picture is not really there. The man in the moon is nothing more than a series of hills, plains, and valleys that our brains imagine resemble a face, but the face is not there.

We see patterns everywhere. And we give these patterns meaning that might not actually be there. The phenomenon is present even in these words spoken by Jesus. We have built a theology, written fictional books and movies, around this idea that, at the end of things, “one will be taken and the other left.” According to our theology, the ones who are taken are the good ones. They get to escape this mess that we have created on the earth. The ones who are left behind are the ones who didn’t quite measure up. They are the ones who did not believe as they should and do not get to experience the rewards that come only from God. And that meaning measures up well to our escape theology which says that everything that is of this earth is evil. It is an extension of the gnostic belief which indicates that what is material is bad and what is spiritual is good.

But it is just our interpretation. It is just the pattern that we have perceived. The text doesn’t make a moral judgment. It just says that one would be taken and the other left. If the verse was quoted as some UFO theology, being taken might not be the desirable outcome. We might want to be the ones left behind.

And some theologians have begun to make precisely that kind of argument. According to them, as Jesus returns to the earth to initiate his reign, why would we want to be the ones who are taken away from the planet? Wouldn’t we want to be the ones left behind who get to see the New Jerusalem descend to the earth and be with Jesus as he sets up his throne here on earth? Don’t we want to take part in that kind of kingdom? Don’t we want to be the ones who are left behind as God continues his process of redemption for the earth?

I have to admit that there is something strangely poetic about this reverse thinking. And it seems to fit the grand theme of the Bible. God, as he creates Adam and charges him with the care of the planet, a charge that has fallen on us even as we have sometimes tried to ignore that responsibility, and then leaves us here to see the grand redemption of our planet. After all, God is the maker of the heavens and the earth, and, as we sometimes say, he doesn’t make junk.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 25