Left Behind?

The 13th Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 16C), Aug. 26, 2007

BCP: Isaiah 28:14-22; Psalm 46; Heb. 12:18-19, 22-29; Luke 13:22-30

RCL: Jer. 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6 or Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Heb. 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17

Tim LaHaye’s and Jerry Jenkins’ recent “Left Behind” book series clearly resonated with the psyches of a large number of Christian people. Unfortunately, the chord it struck was with a base form of religious arrogance.

It’s the sort of spirituality which enables folks to claim, “I’m saved and you’re not,” and to emblazon bumpers with the warning, “In case of rapture this car will be unmanned.” It plays out among Episcopalians today like this: “I’m privy to God’s truth and you aren’t.”

Someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He answers, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able’ (Luke 13:23-24). It’s easy to find fuel for our egos in the Lord’s response. Clearly those “many” who will “not be able” to enter the kingdom are those who don’t measure up to our own spiritual standards. We take comfort in believing that it’s they who will be “left behind.”

Jesus, however, continues by condemning religious arrogance. You will “begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’” Moreover, “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out’” (13:25, 28). So much for egotistical “blessed assurance.”

The prophet Isaiah envisions the eventual building of the kingdom. “See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.” The Lord, moreover, “will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies” (28:16-17). It is those, perhaps, whose arrogance is beaten into poverty of spirit who measure up to fitting in the kingdom’s walls. And maybe it’s those who treat their enemies with respect and dignity who aren’t left behind when the kingdom arrives in its fullness.

The Letter to the Hebrews describes being ready for the kingdom like this: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (12:28-29).

Look It Up

How does Jesus react to spiritual arrogance in Luke 18:9-14?

Think About It

What are some of the ways in which we personally might be guilty of spiritual arrogance? What can we do to correct those things?

Next Sunday

BCP: Ecclus. 10:(7-11)12-18; Psalm 112; Heb. 13:1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14

RCL: Jer. 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16 or Ecclus. 10:12-18 or Prov. 25:6-7; Psalm 112; Heb. 13:1-8,15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14