One is Taken and One is Left

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

November 30, 2025

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Matthew 24:36–44 (ESV)

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Today as we work through the last remnants of our Thanksgiving feasts, as we mourn the Chief’s loss to the Cowboys. We enter in to the time of year where we wait with great anticipation. Today we begin that time where we look forward to that day every child in our society eagerly wishes for the gifts under the tree. But most of all we anticipate the moment God is not longer a vague abstraction in our minds, but Emanuel, God with us.

Early in the traditions of Friends, we did not celebrate Christmas, nor did most traditions that emerged from the Anglican branches of the Church. It was called the Christ mass. It is not that these traditions did not believe in Christ, they simply felt that it was a remnant of Catholic superstition that remained active within the Protestant expressions of faith. In much of American history Christmas was not a big deal, in colonial times it was actually forbidden to celebrate. Among Friends, we did not really care about the connection to Catholicism, we did not want to study world history and point out that in the Greek, Roman, and Nordic cultures they had holidays around the same time that celebrated their pagan deities. Just so you know there are several pagan holidays that are celebrated at Easter, Christmas, Halloween, and pretty much any other traditional Christian Holiday. This is because the calendar we use and pretty much every culture has ever used bases the months on the lunar cycle, seasons and years on the solar cycle so every culture will have traditions and holidays on certain days.

The point is not the day, but what it means. And for Friends this is a big deal. No, we did not celebrate many of the major holidays until recently in our history. And by recent I means in the past hundred years. We did not celebrate the holidays for much of the same reason we do not celebrate the traditional sacraments. It is not the day, it is not the ceremony, but what is most important is that we know what meaning lies behind those symbols. For Friends, every meal we eat should be shared and it should be eaten in remembrance of God. We eat to remind us who has given us life, who sustains our life, and who redeems our lives. This cannot be adequately celebrated in a ritualistic ceremony but should be shared each and every day, three times a day, and twice more on Thanksgiving because you have to let the food settle before you eat the pie. The shared meal is communion, it is shared life, it is the building of community and an act of peace.

Baptism is something we also celebrate a bit differently. It is often described that we do not believe in baptism, that is not accurate. We believe deeply in baptism, but our understanding is different than many traditions of faith. The idea of baptism comes from a couple of different places. The first is the ritual cleansing performed by worshipers of Yahweh, these rituals might be a simple washing of the face, feet, and hands before entering the place of worship, or it might be the elaborate cleanings that were done by the Essene sect on the eastern banks of the Jordan. But there is a second view. Baptism is used in the making of fabric as well. The threads or cloth is dipped into the dye and the fabric becomes saturated with this colorful stain. It is dipped and allowed to soak the liquid in until it cannot hold any more. After this saturation, the cloth or the thread has a new purpose, it’s life is changed. It is no longer common or generic, but it is renewed and fit for special service.

When Friends speak of baptism, that is what we mean. We are so saturated with the Spirit of God, we have been so stained by the life and lifestyle of Christ that we are no longer the same as we once were. We are a new creation and we have a new purpose and life that is visible for all to see.

We also have a similar take on holy days. There was a time where we did not celebrate Easter and Christmas. It might surprise some of us that we did not even celebrate Sundays. Instead we believe that every day is a day that God has made and we should use this day to bring glory and honor to him.

Somewhere along the line, in our three hundred or so year history, we began to realized in some of our factions, that we need days to remind us of things. We need to remember Easter, the day where Jesus rose again, and it is nice to celebrate that day in the spring as life emerges again. And as the days grow dark, and the air grows colder, we can be caught in the seasonal blues. We cannot go out and do what we do in the summer sun, instead we stay at home sitting next to the space heater. We begin to argue more with those within the house because they are not going out to work in the yard, and its dark and we are tired. We need something to urge us to get up and move. We need something to remind us that the darkness is only temporary and hope remains. We need to be reminded that God is with us.

But there is a darkness in the days leading up to Christmas. There is much to do, not enough time to do it. We just get finished celebrating all the blessings that God has provided on Thanksgiving and the very next day we are out shopping the Black Friday deals. We do this because Christmas is almost here. We have less than a month. Cookies need made, meats need purchased, presents need wrapped, and our cards need to be sent. We can get so worked up about the things that need to be done that we forget to celebrate, we forget to be merry and bright.

We often forget. God urged Israel to remember. And that is why they had the Holy days, they were special days to prompt and urge the people to remember. To remember how God had taken them out of bondage in Egypt. To remember the forty years in the wilderness. To remember the preservation during the exile. And to remember how God provided oil for the lamps when it was only enough for one day, and it would require seven days to bless new oil for the sacred space. Remember.

Today’s passage is one that we do not often think of when we anticipate Christmas. And when we do read it during this time our focus is often transferred to the second Advent the return of Christ in the last days. This has become more prominent in the past century as newer theologies emerged concerning the return of Christ. These newer theologies have become so widely accepted that it is difficult to read scripture without the ideas surrounding those teachings popping up. There is a problem though, often those teachings are taking the words of scripture out of context, twisting them to means something that most likely would have been complete nonsense in the era that they were written. The reason we have the scriptures is because they are the teachings of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they were given to humanity to help direct them in those ancient times, and today. We often forget that there was a historic framework, historic images that the authors were using to convey a message, and often those things are less common today so we consider them to point to something more contemporary. At times this might work, at other times we get the idea that the prophets were seeing helicopters instead of the throne of God.

Jesus in today’s passage is speaking to the people that had gathered around the temple. They had gone in giving their praises and offerings, and as they are leaving the disciples are in awe of the magnificence. They are walking away from the temple going toward the Mount of Olives, and the disciples keep turning back praising that they live in a place and a time where such a structure is available for them to worship in. And Jesus says to them as they praise the monument built by human hands, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

This got their attention. What was he saying? How could such a massive structure fall? We would not let it. At this point Jesus gives his apocalyptic teaching. Is it a prediction of the future? Yes. But what is he predicting? For any piece of spiritual literature to be saved for as long as this has, it had to be inspiring within that generation, but it would also need to inspire the generations to come.

Jesus was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. He was predicting the war that would decimate the people of Israel within the next forty years, and he was speaking of the time that many of them would face trials and tribulations. When it comes to prophecy like this there is the near, and there is the the far application. They will face struggle like they had never known before, but within that struggle they were told something else, “I will come back.”

The disciples were asking him, when will this happen, how will we know? And this is where the theologies diverge. “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” No one knows. No one can know. I want us to think about that for a moment. Jesus said that even the angels of heaven do not know. The angels are the messengers of God. They are the spiritual beings that go throughout the unseen realm in service of God, they are there with God. If they do not know the day or the hour, when they are with God in his very presence, why do we think someone with a calculator and some charts knows the day?

This is the problem with the newer end times theologies. It gets a great deal of attention, many people get excited, some get scared, everyone is waiting in anticipation, and then nothing happens. The prediction fails, and people look at our faith and they begin to mock. In my years here at Willow Creek the rapture was predicted at least three times, it might have been four. I have lost track. In my lifetime, at least ten times in forty-six years. And we are still waiting.

A friend of mine had an observation about this. He said that there was such a focus on the end times during our lifetime that we as a church were only focused on making sure no one was left behind, and when the the year 2000 came around and the end did not come we were in trouble, we forgot to make disciples, and now it is difficult to find pastors. We see this still. My generation was taught only to love Christ, but we were not told what it means to be a member of the church. There were thirteen students my age at my home church. Only I remain in the Friends Church of those thirteen. And I did not become a member of the Church until after I became a pastor. I did not know what it meant I did not care. But it is important because to be a member is to say to the community, this is my church and it is through this Meeting I will server my savior.

We had a generation of people trained to not be left behind, yet they were not trained to serve.

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”

We could go into mythology surrounding the era of Noah, it is very interesting, but unfortunately it is not based in scripture. Many across ancient Canaan have similar stories, which some believe discredits scripture. I personally feel that it intensifies scripture. If we read a news story from multiple perspectives, it will usually give us a broader understanding of the truth, but when we include the reporting from a news source outside of our society we gain an even greater perspective. This is why I will read news from multiple perspectives and will usually include BBC along with it. But those myths all speak of humanity seeking greater knowledge and power. They were looking for some way to give them some upper hand against their perceived enemies. Some even say that the gods came down and made children with humanity to bring up some hybrid creature to rule the nations. Scripture calls these creatures giants.

This activity, this urgent and reckless pursuit of power placed the world in danger. And God was saddened that he had created humanity, so he decided to call out to the one righteous family. He inspired them to build an ark and through this family all of creation would be saved. But what about everyone else? There were countless people just existing in the world, they did not have any political aspirations, all they wanted to do was survive.

This is what Jesus is speaking about. People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving into marriage. They were just getting by day by day. Yet they were not unaware. They knew what was going on in their nations. They knew the kings, and warlords were conspiring against each other. They knew that there were questionable activities going on within the circles of power. They also knew that there was a man building a boat. A man that was telling everyone that God was going to release the waters of the sky and flood the earth. That man urged the people to repent and the only ones that listened were his own children. And even they might have thought he had gone crazy in his old age.

They could not claim ignorance. They could not claim that they were good people. Everyone had an opportunity and they were to busy, to distracted, to consumed with their own affairs to recognize the dire situation they were in.

“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.” This passage is often used to justify the theological perspective of the rapture, it is not wrong to believe this, but I want us to be aware that these words can be taken in a couple of ways, and Jesus does not give any clear direction as to which is correct. The words for taken and left can be both positive and negative.

Taken can mean accepted or received. It can mean to be given authority or jurisdiction within the kingdom. Or it can mean can also mean to stand in judgment. As for left, it can mean to remain unaffected, left over, or not used. As you can see they can be positive and negative either way you look at it. Which actually supports most of the end times theological positions.

But I want us to look at this a different way. If taken is to be received, accepted and given authority we could seen as similar to the call of the disciples to follow Jesus. In fact this is often how it is used throughout ancient cultures, it is often used as a teacher accepting a student. Jesus is saying that the world you know might be falling apart. Everything you once built your life upon is swept away like the flood in the days of Noah. The worldly powers we once knew have fallen from their place of prominence and in their place various groups are emerging to become the new order.

One is taken and one is left. One is given authority, one is called, one has been given an opportunity to minister to the people, to participate in the Kingdom of God. These that have been taken in this manner are active in the world, they are ministering to those that are hungry, caring for those that are sick. They are providing shelter for those who are unhoused and orphaned. They are living the love of Jesus within the community. They are being light houses of hope in the midst of chaos. There is something else. One man is called and one is left behind. One woman is called and one is left behind. Jesus is telling us that both men and women have an opportunity, and a place within the kingdom. If God calls us, he will equip us and God will use anyone.

One is take, but the other is left. The other is unused. They remain within the chaotic framework of the fallen world. They are eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage. They are thoroughly consumed by just getting by. Like the people in the days of Noah, they have seen and heard. They have been given an opportunity and yet they are too busy to respond, to distracted to listen.

Jesus tells us to stay awake. Be alert, keep watch, because we do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

Stay awake. Be aware of what is going on, and respond. As people called and accepted by God, we have been given something important, we have been given his name to bear in the world. We have been commissioned to be his image bearers in the world. We are given a task to go into the world and bring all into submission to his authority. We cannot do this if we are unaware of what is going on. We cannot do this if we blindly accept one side of the political spectrum and condemn the other. We cannot bear his image if we do not actively advocate for all of creation as sacred and holy to our Lord.

This week as I considered this passage, I have been challenged. Are we eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage? Are we just getting by or are we awake? Are we sitting around waiting for the end to come, or are we actively participating and showing those around us that there is a different life and lifestyle that we could be living?

We look at this passage and so often we see it as a confirmation of our theological ideas. But I hope that we now see that there might have been something else in Jesus’s mind. There will be times where all is good, and there will be a time where nothing seems to be going right. Are we seeing where we are? There will be a time of plenty where we can share the bounty of the harvest with thanksgiving, and there will be a time where darkness seems to engulf the world, will we be beacons of light?

Will we in this moment become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Will we recognize that it is Christ through whom all things were created and sustained as we share a meal with one another. Will we encourage those around us to be saturated with the Spirit and the teaching of Christ, so that they leave our presence as something changed and something new? Will we celebrate this day as a day the lord has made. Holy and sacred not because it is Sunday, not because it is the first day of Advent, but because we are alive in Christ and have been taken, accepted, and commissioned to participate in his kingdom today and forever.

We do not know when Christ will return, but we can be awake and active in our lives. We can know his teaching, and explore how to express those teaching among the people we spend our days and nights. We can be ready, and we can help others as they too prepare.

As we go out today let us remember that we do not know, and we cannot know when the end will come for us individually or collectively. We do not know, but we can live with the hope and assurance that Jesus has come and will come again. He showed us how to live a life with God, and he provided a way through his life, death, and resurrection. And through Him we have the hope that the end is not the end it is only the beginning of something new.

Previous Messages:

Living Stones

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…

by jwquaker May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

Endure

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…

by jwquaker April 26, 2026April 26, 2026

Ransomed to Love

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…

by jwquaker April 19, 2026April 18, 2026

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