There is a sense in which our understanding of the church as the Body of Christ revives the question of eschatology. Eschatology traditionally refers to the end time and what has been called the second coming of Christ. In its final sense, it is the conclusion of history. It is the point from which one can look back and finally see how it all fits together. From a faith perspective, it is that moment when the final triumph of Christ is apparent.
There is also a more immediate experience of this “second coming of Christ.” When we speak of the church as the eschatological community, we are speaking of the community that expects Christ’s coming. Charles Dodd articulated what has become known as the idea of “realized eschatology” in which the reign of God was a present reality both for Jesus and for us. (The Apostolic Preaching and Its Development, C.H. Dodd; NY 1936) While the Christian faith asserts that the culmination of history is realized in the final coming of Christ, this does not preclude our experiencing the second coming of Christ in interim moments in our own history.
One Biblical pattern for this is the story of Paul being addressed by Christ on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-9) If Jesus’ resurrection was only a past event, then this meeting with Paul could not have taken place. Paul experienced Jesus as a living reality so, in a sense, the Second Coming of Christ, or Christ coming again after the resurrection and ascension, was being experienced.
This pattern of realized eshatology experienced in the second coming of Christ is a continuing experience of the church. The church is the community that expects Christ to come and to address us as a living, present Lord. This living Christ addresses each individual in the present moment within the context of the gathered community of faith.
It was to the church that Jesus promised “For where two or three are gatherd in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) Each of us, each day, in each situation, is addressed and confronted by Christ as to where our heart lies. Each of us is asked to repent of inappropriate loyalties as we pursue our lives and to ask at each moment what is Christ asking of me in this situation. Yet, this is not a lonely decision but one that is made real and responded to in the community of Christ.
