‘The Great Disappointment’ was the name given to the non-showing of Jesus on 22 October 1844 – the day many thousands in the Millerite movement in the US had expected Jesus’ second coming. On Friday last I posted a report about another, current, movement that expects the date to be the 21 May 2011. Over the centuries many groups have professed to know the day of Jesus’ parousia and all, so far, have got it wrong.

Of course, since the development of Israel as a fully functioning state in the 1940s many more groups have had eschatology as their primary focus and the second coming of Jesus has become almost an obsession for many, with Israel interpreted as a very significant sign in prophetic fulfilment.

But the German theologian Jurgen Moltmann reminds us that by focussing so much on his ‘second’ coming we are actually in danger of missing Jesus’ presence with us today. He offers three ways in which the presence of Jesus can be experienced: within the life of the mission-minded church; in the poor and disadvantaged; and finally in his parousia. He identifies the early church apologist Justin Martyr as the one who first counted the several parousias of Christ (he came in the flesh; he comes in the Spirit; he will come in glory). But Moltmann objects to the term ‘second coming’ because ‘through its use Christ’s parousia seems to pre-suppose a period of absence’. (Page 130.)

Though Moltmann believes that Jesus will present himself in glory at the end of the history of suffering, he calls on us not to loose sight of the fact that we can find Jesus today in both the church and in the poor in a very real way. He is not absent from his creation but through his Spirit is still present.

This post forms part of a series on Jurgen Moltmann theology of the church based on his volume ‘The Church in the Power of the Spirit’. Photo is of William Miller, leader of the Millerites.