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Gospel - 4/19/05 2005 Archive - 2006 Archive

The thought provoking statement for this week is, "When the church exchanges its eschatological expectation for institutional expectation, violence is done to the gospel and in the name of the gospel." "Eschatological expectation" is a fancy way of describing the future hope and focus of our faith. Eschatology is the branch of theological study which examines the corporate end of both humanity and the world as we know it. It is a study of the "end times." Given the radical sensationalism of some "end time" understandings (the "Left Behind" series is currently most popular), people are often surprised to hear that eschatology is actually a legitimate study among mainline scholars.

When the gospels were written in first century Palestine, the fledgling followers of the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ were enveloped in an urgency for their ministry and mission. Part of that urgency may have come from their belief that the "end time" events of which Jesus spoke only in vague, cryptic terms would take place within their lifetime. The gospel writer remembers Jesus saying that the end would come to pass before the close of "this generation." (Matthew 24:34) The clearest thing Jesus said about this was that even he didn't know when it would happen.

Another driver for their urgency was their fledgling status as a religious community. The life-changing experience of their encounter with Jesus of Nazareth and those who followed him had been too much for the entrenched, institutional religion of the day to handle, and a separation had occurred. The literal meaning of the Greek word ecclesia (the word we translate as "church") is "called out." The early believers left the synagogue, either by force or by choice. With limited resources, a barely-developed tradition, and no political or social power, they were very vulnerable. Their members were threatened on one side to return to the comfort and familiarity of their old religion, and on the other side to abandon faith and religious practice altogether and blend into the prevailing culture.

The final driver of their urgency may have been their deeply held understanding of the inseparability and congruence of God's judgment and love. In contrast to the legalistic ethical/moral one-upsmanship of most human judgment, Jesus had shown them a judgment that was grounded in genuine concern for the self-inflicted and other-inflicted harm that destructive behavior could cause. Unlike their experience of the possessiveness and incompleteness of human love, the Christ had demonstrated a selfless, sacrificial love that held judgment as a loving necessity.

As human beings, we often find ourselves becoming comfortable within the parameters of a dependable religious institution. We like to know what to expect, when to expect it, and how much of it to expect. The unexpectedness of the gospel can become uncomfortable. The unpredictability of faith and the coming of God's kingdom are threats to our religious control. Our challenge is to find a balance between the control of institutional religion and the freedom of unfettered faith.

We must never forget that our faith is in the power of the uncontrollable spirit of the risen Christ, and not in the confines of the institutional church.

© 2004 Todd Jenkins