I Thessalonians Common Time (October 16-November 12 )
Paul visited Thessalonica, as recording in Acts 17:1-10, during his second missionary journey, in the summer of 50 AD. After his imprisonment with Silas and miraculous release in Philippi, Paul moved on to Thessalonica. He was there only a brief period before persecution by a portion of the synagogue began. As he journeyed to Athens, he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how this new community of believers fared, worried that persecution could crush their new faith. Paul eventually went on to Corinth, a much greater challenge than Thessalonica, where Timothy found him with the encouraging news of how well the young church was doing, as well as the persecution that they were facing. The visit of Timothy made Paul encourage them concerning their persecution and counsel them concerning the Parousia. Paul wrote I Thessalonians in the winter of 50-51 AD. With Paul are Silvanus and Timothy. It certainly is one of the earliest Christian writings available to us today. Just a few months later.
As the first of the letter that are canonical letters of Paul, it is addressed to a struggling yet spirited community, barely established by Paul when he needed to leave for Athens (Acts 17:15). This charming letter reveals Paul’s feelings toward the new congregation, yet also reveals the struggles that were part of this young community. Written around the year 50, this letter is likely to predate even the gospels.
Paul adopts elements of the classic Greek form of paraenesis, or moral exhortation, and weaves them into one of his most pastoral letters. He manages to hold himself and his comrades up as examples for the church to emulate and at the same time proclaims his love for the Christians of Thessalonica. In chapters 1-3 Paul describes and emphasizes the relationship between himself and his readers in Thessalonica as a basis for his instructions to them in chapters 4-5. This is a typical paraenetic pattern — holding up an example and describing it in detail to list characteristics that the reader is to emulate — and it is not unusual for the writer to use himself as the example to follow, just as Paul does here. However, while the goal of the classic philosophical argument is to guide the reader into the “good” life, Paul gently moves his readers into the way that is appropriate to God (2:12).
Living a Christian life in Thessalonica was not an easy task. In fact, it drove Paul away. Following the gospel would take hard work and perseverance. Paul knew the pain and conflict that the community faced, and due to his short stay, the unanswered questions that the believers must have. Yet word that they were remaining faithful leads Paul to give thanks for God’s presence being among them and the love that holds them together. Not only has the fledgling community survived, but also it is thriving, even under various elements of persecution. This early letter of Paul demonstrates his excitement about his work as a “missionary.”
The whole ancient tradition of sending envoys, or messengers, who bore the full authority of their sender was based not just on the physical unavailability of the sender, but on the level of effectiveness the sender wished to accomplish. Paul realized that sending a trusted envoy was sometimes better than if he himself addressed a certain community. This was obviously the case in II Corinthians, where Paul depended on Titus to act as an intermediary between himself and the crusty Corinthians. When Paul had been there in person, disastrous clashes had resulted. When Paul sent Titus with his "letter of tears," the relationship is finally patched up. There is textual evidence to suggest that Paul preferred to send his personal envoy ‑‑ instead of making a personal appearance ‑‑ to the communities at Galatia, Rome and Thessalonica.[1]
The literary evidence we have, both from Paul’s hand and from testimonies of others, suggests that he could be a passionate and prickly personality. It made sense for such a man to send a carefully composed correspondence with a trusted, respected representative when situations seemed precarious or delicate. There is no explicit evidence in the Thessalonian correspondence that details one particularly troublesome issue. However, the Thessalonians' mistaken eschatological expectations may have been reason enough to keep Paul's preaching and personality at a distance. Paul's envoy Timothy succeeds in not only delivering Paul's message of praises and cautions, but he functions as a return envoy for the Thessalonians. Our canonical texts are thus twice‑removed from the first communiqué Paul sent to Thessalonica.
Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica comes at a time when the gathered faith community needs a word of encouragement. The Thessalonians are practicing their faith in a city of considerable cultural, political, and economic importance - the capital of the province of Macedonia and a seat of Roman administration, a port city located on the Via Egnetia, a major Roman highway. Because of their loyalty to the Roman emperor Augustus (Octavian) and his successors, the city was rewarded with an independent government.
The religious life in Thessalonica was varied. The Greek god Dionysus was prominent, as were the Egyptian deities Isis, Osiris and Serapis, as well as the Phrygian god Cabirus. There was no lack of options for the religiously minded of the city, so why not welcome another one - the worship of Jesus Christ as promoted by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy?
However, there was something different about this religion, and those who were involved seemed different. No longer were their values, outlook on life or religious interests influenced by the surrounding community. These new believers saw themselves as subjects of God's kingdom, not Rome's; they showed allegiance to Jesus, not to Augustus. Little wonder that some were alarmed by their behavior. Support for Jesus meant less support for Rome. All this caused conflict between those in the church and other Thessalonians.
This new religion also called for an exclusive claim on the lives of believers - a claim foreign to most Gentiles. Civic life in the Hellenistic world was defined, in part, by cultic memberships. No truly committed Gentile Christian could remain loyal to the many cult memberships and to Christ.
I Thess 1:1-10 (Year A October 16-22) introduces the senders, the recipients, and an opening expression of gratitude.
The senders are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Silvanus shared in evangelizing Corinth (II Cor 1:19, Acts 18:5), evangelizing Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), and bringing the Apostolic decree to Antioch (Acts 15:27, 32). He may have been a Roman (Acts 16:37). Timothy is one in whom Paul had complete trust. They worked as a team as they introduced the gospel. They joined him in the initial work in Thessalonica and continue to join him in prayer and concern for the Thessalonians and their ongoing life as a Christian community. The recipients are a gathering of the Thessalonians centers around the presence of the God of Israel as the Father and Jesus Christ as Lord. The phrase reveals much about the relationship between the writers and receivers of this letter. Whatever Paul, Timothy and Silvanus began, and whatever the Thessalonians have continued - none of it is understood apart from the presence of God and Jesus Christ. He concludes with a common Greek greeting of grace and the common Jewish greeting of peace. While such a greeting is familiar to people who read the New Testament and many official church documents since, Paul is the first person to use the words in this combination. We have already learned that this gathering of people exists only in relationship to the God of Israel as their Father and to Jesus Christ as their Lord. It begins with the implied promise of grace and peace.
In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul addresses two issues: the hostility they have experienced from their neighbors because of their embrace of the gospel, and a concern for stability. Given the hostility they experienced, it would be easy for the Thessalonians to abandon their newfound belief, but Paul calls on them to stay the course. To this new, beleaguered church, Paul encourages commitment to a new way of life, despite the difficulty they have experienced.
The theme of I Thess 1:2-10 is that of thanksgiving in prayer, congratulating them for becoming examples, and identifying the message of the gospel. This passage is going to remind us of some basic truths, like the importance of gratitude, prayer, faith, hope, love, and the message of the gospel. None of this is new. It will raise the question of whether radical belief in them would change our experience of the vitality Christian life and community. In this letter, “we,” recognizing the co-authorship of the letter, is important. It is a product of the missionary team. The authors begin with their offering of gratitude to God our Father for the people gathered in Christ in Thessalonica. Paul wants them to know they are a regular part of his prayers and offering thanks to God for them. Yet, in making the content of his prayers available to them, he is also thanking them in specific ways. He focuses upon their faith, hope, and love, and he focuses upon their adherence to the gospel. What later Christian tradition would refer to as the theological virtues are alive and well in this community. They give thanks for the work of faith, which involves transmitting that faith to others. They are thankful for the labor of live without limits exhibited in this community. The love of neighbor was important to Jesus, and it was important to Paul. Such love supported the well-being of others. They are thankful for the firm hope they have, which is without delusion because it is in Lor Lord Jesus Christ. Human life always gives people reason for despair. Such hope does not have its root in human experience but in coming rule of God. The community guards its hope as it faces the tragic character of life. Hope says that regardless of circumstances, our lives remain in the hands of God. The task of the community is to nourish hope, for hope is vulnerable. The authors offer gratitude because the community is beloved by God and chosen by God to belong to Christ. [2] They use language familiar within the Jewish tradition. In Deuteronomy 33:12, the text refers to the tribe of Benjamin as “the beloved of the Lord” and that “the beloved rests” on the shoulders of the Lord. Nehemiah 13:26 refers to King Solomon, despite his sin, as “beloved by his God.” The team applies these terms to a non-Jewish community, affirming that God values them and loves them. The team has this confidence because of the basic plan or economy of salvation contained in the gospel, a preached word that came to them in power and in the Holy Spirit that stirred in them conviction of its truth. The apostolic message mediates the glorifying of Jesus by the Spirit, for its content goes out in the power of the Spirit.[3] This gospel does make known the once-for-all act of salvation in Jesus Christ, of course. However, the authors indicate that the act of proclamation is itself an act of salvation on the part of God.[4] The authors are thankful for the extraordinary change that has taken place in the lives of these people. Yet, the weakening of such conviction is always a danger to such communities. Today, the power of secularity is not one that many in the community of faith are willing to engage. Re-thinking its message considering such challenges is not a process that attracts many. Allowing the modern Christian community to become little more than a tool for a progressive or conservative political agenda makes discipleship hardly worth the effort. The challenge today is that to regain lost vitality, directly addressing the theological issues would seem an important part of the strategy. Such an address will need to provide compelling answers to the questions of why Christ and the community of followers of Jesus still commands special attention from people so embraced by the secularity of the age. The authors then remind the recipients of the example they set while with them. If the messenger is not believable, the message may not be either. They exhibited faith, hope, and love while among them. In fact, the authors seemed amazed at the response of the recipients to the persecution they encountered that arose from their faith. The evil that arises out of religious conviction is appalling. Yet, they received the word with a joy that Holy Spirit inspired in them. Therefore, they in turn became an example to the believers in Macedonia and Achaia, for the word of the lord has sounded forth not only there, but in every place their faith in God has become known. The change in their lives was the form the reception of the word had among them.
The text concludes with a summary of their preaching among them, as they summoned them to turn from idols to the God of Israel and to turn toward serving the living and true God, stressing the monotheism of the early proclamation of Paul. If people believed in many gods, it would be difficult to raise the question of the totality of the world and the totality of a human life. To move to an affirmation of one God also points us toward a discussion of the totality of the world and of human life. Israel moved from the belief that it had “one god,” monolatry, to the affirmation that only one God exists, monotheism, preparing the way for the preaching of the team led by Paul. In addition, Greek philosophical theology made such preaching intelligible to non-Jews.[5]Thus, any Christian mission to the Jewish people must begin by recognizing that they already believe in the one true and living God. Christian mission at that point would say that this God, the God of Israel, has offered a definitive revelation of who God is in Jesus Christ.[6] All of this should remind us that a general idea of God is the presupposition of ascribing qualities based on divine revelation. In this case, of course, Paul is proclaiming the message of the gospel that includes the notion that the God of Israel, the living, and only true God, is also the Father of Jesus Christ. Thus, they make an important reference to Jesus as being the Son of the Father, for whom they wait, stressing the coming again of the risen Lord. Basic to the Gentile mission was the belief in one God entering a world of popular polytheistic ideas. Yet, reconciling this belief with the Christian confession of the divine sonship and deity of Jesus Christ would be a central theme of the message of the gospel and a problem in early Christian thought as it developed beyond Paul.[7] The role of the returning Christ is the salvation of believers from future judgment that puts the present age to an end.[8]
I Thess 2:1-8 (Year A October 23-29) Paul offers some autobiography of his team that he intends to use as an example for his readers. In verses 1-4, Paul offers an account of the visit his missionary team made to Thessalonica. He reminds them of the context of his visit to them. He refers to a shameful mistreatment while at Philippi. Reading Acts 16:11-40, Paul makes an understatement. Due to the conversion of the slave girl who was a source of income through her divinization, authorities arrested them, flogged them, and threw them into prison. Despite this, when the team arrived in Thessalonica, they had courage in God to declare the gospel of God despite opposition. In Acts 17:1-17, we see that Paul still had the missionary strategy of going to the synagogue first, from which he received opposition. He found willing converts from the Gentiles and formed a new community out of that base. The cultural context of traveling teachers in Greece allowed for the possibility of hidden motives and underhanded methods. Charlatans are present in every age. People may have accused his team of being like that, but he affirms that their motives, far from being deceitful, impure, or trickery, showed them to be approved by God with the message of gospel that established the congregation,[9]pleasing God rather than human beings. In verses 5-8, Paul offers an account of the behavior of his missionary team in Thessalonica. Paul expresses himself in a personal way, emphasizing the integrity of his team, contrasting his team with other travelling teachers who took advantage of people. The reputation of traveling teachers was poor, so people in the city may have discredited his team with such words: flattery, greed, and desire for praise of human beings. He reminds them they know such qualities are untrue of them, and that God is their witness as well. As apostles of Christ, they could have made demands on them, but they were gentle among them, using the female image of maternal affection, nurturing, loving, selfless, caring for children. The image suggests leaders who patiently overlook the faults of others, gently guiding and encouraging so that others may grow gradually into understanding and maturity. He relies upon the image of the conversion process resembling the education of children. Such an image was common in the Greek world. Offering some autobiography like this was typical of Hellenistic philosophers.[10] They offer the best motive for ministry and witness in saying that they deeply cared for them and were determined to share with the gospel of God, which established the congregation, [11] but in the process they shared their time and lives for the conversion of these people. They were not sitting on the sidelines of the lives of these converts, telling them what to do. Rather, they offered love and attention. They offered a piece of their hearts and souls. In that context, true education could take place. As teachers, they lived alongside them, becoming examples and companions. He wants them to grow and thrive. He wants them to follow the example of his team in its slow, steady, and gentle instruction of others. Such instruction was pure, upright, and blameless. They were neither aggressive nor violent. His team is an example of how to face adversity.
I Thessalonians 2:9-13 (Year A October 30-November 5) show part of the pattern of the paraenetic style in which the authors hold themselves up as an example. Paul is emphasizing the relationship between his team and the readers. This will establish a basis for his instructions to them in Chapters 4-5. He wants to guide them into the way that is appropriate to life with Christ. The lives of his team are an authentic example of the life he wants to commend to them. Their manual labor among them provided the funds necessary to sustain them, which allowed them not to be a burden to the early believers. We know he also received financial support from the believers in Philippi (Phil 4:15-16). This method of support allowed them to focus upon their proclamation of the gospel of God. They communicated the message through the way they lived as well as by what they taught. Thus, the community can testify to the purity, uprightness, and blamelessness behavior toward them. The way they lived was part of the argument that commended their message. They nurtured them like parents nurturing their children (I Cor 3:1-2, 4:15, Gal 4:19, Phile 10). Throughout the letter he addresses them as brothers and sisters, binding the team to the community. Inspiring such closeness may help replace the loss of the biological family because of their embrace of their new faith. His autobiographical style was typical among Hellenistic philosophers.[12] As a loving parental team, they used the power of words to guide their spiritual children away from harm and toward a good and healthy way of life worthy of God, who is calling them into the rule and glory of God. They cannot see the end, but the end is certain as the promise of God. The team gives thanks for them in their prayers to God. When they received the word of God, they accepted it as the word of God, which is at work among them as believers. Christian preaching must show itself to be the word of God to hearers.[13]
Spiritual parenting requires that we walk with Christ ourselves while we walk alongside others. An African proverb says that if you want to travel fast, go alone. If you want to travel far, go together. It clearly involves work. We parent with our words. We parent by offering the gift of our time. We have chosen to spend the precious and finite time we have with these people. We parent with the character we have built and continue to build in the relationships and circumstances of our lives. Could we say that we “catch” spiritual life as much as someone teaches it to us?
During World War II, there was a village called Le Chambon in France. Unlike other towns, this one did not allow the Nazis to take the Jewish people from their midst. Rather, they hid them. They were ordinary people. The one experience which united them was their attendance on Sunday morning at the little church where pastor Trochme preached. He believed that over time, the people came to know what was right, and then they did it. When the Nazis came into town, they quietly did what was right. One lady said: "Pastor always taught us that there comes a time in every life when a person is asked to do something for Jesus. When our time came, we knew what to do."[14]
One day, St. Francis of Assisi said to several of his followers: "Let us go to the village over the way and preach. As they went, they met someone loaded down with a personal burden. Francis was in no hurry. He sat down and listened. When they arrived in the village, Francis talked with the shopkeepers, spent time with the farmers as they were selling their fruits, and played with the children. On the way back, they met a farmer with a load of hay, and Francis spent time with him. The morning now gone, they reached the monastery from where they ha set out in the early morning. One of the followers was disappointed. "Brother Francis, you said, you were going to preach. The morning is spent and no sermon has been given." Francis replied, "But we have been preaching all the way."[15]
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Year A November 6-12) is a discussion of the hope they have as believers, following a discussion beginning in 3:6 where Paul commends them for the abundance of their faith and love. The community has communicated their concern regarding his teaching on those who have died ((κοιμωμένων, fallen asleep) in Christian faith. The poetic image of death as sleep suggests that for the faithful, death is an entirely natural. As in John 11:11, the friend of Jesus only sleeps. Paul will say that some of the witnesses to the risen Lord have fallen asleep (I Corinthians 15:6). The local church can look back on several of its members who have fallen asleep (I Corinthians 11:30). Such a metaphor points to the process of dying. It relates to the experience of the surviving friends. From the standpoint of hope, however, the metaphor has a deeper meaning. The believer has done nothing more than fall asleep. Survivors cannot see what lies beyond. The metaphor is deliberately mild. It suggests peace. It suggests the freedom of faith, hope, and love. The real conflict with death occurred in the cross. In the presence of death, believers simply fall asleep. Even Stephen, dying amid stones hurled at him, falls asleep.[16] Paul will make it clear that the resurrection of Jesus means participation already in the salvation of eternal life. [17] He wants them properly informed so that they do not grieve as those who have no hope. Death is departure. We appropriately long for the person who has died, but such a perspective as Paul offers here suggests tempering our grief with patience. Our moderation in grief reminds us that the one gone is the one whom we will soon follow.[18] Death is a teacher. Death stands at the podium in the classroom called life, ready to teach us. We need to be willing to learn its lessons. For too many people, however, we do not listen and learn until life forces us to sit in the front row.[19] The life of each person touches the lives of so many others. When that person is not around, it leaves an awful hole.[20] Thus, it seems as if St. Benedict offered good advice: keep death daily before your eyes. The future is uncertain, so we are rightly cautious about what we expect from the future. Paul is also right to inspire confidence as believers approach the future with a hope that has a structure provided by what God has done in Christ. [21]
Paul will appeal to a common teaching of the early church. Death is a force against God, who has taken proleptic action against death in Jesus of Nazareth. The structure of Christian hope begins with the affirmation that the Father, through the life-giving Spirit, awakened Jesus from sleep of death,[22] connecting this event of the past with believers who experience the sleep of death, for the Father through the life-giving Spirit will bring such believers with the Son into the presence of the eternal life of the Trinity. The awakening of resurrection in Jesus becomes a promise for all believers. [23] Paul understands the Jewish apocalyptic expectation of the resurrection of the righteous to life with God in eternity as applying first to Jesus as fulfillment and to believers as a promise. Paul has confidence in the future of those who have fallen asleep now because of what God has done in Jesus, a thought he will develop in I Cor 15. Since what he says is by a word of the Lord, it is not distinctive to him, but a common teaching of the early church, which is that those who experience the sleep of death now will be the first to be awakened with the future coming of the Lord, who will give a command, with the archangel calling, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and then descend from heaven (Mark 13:26-27, Matt 24:31), the dead in Christ will rise first, and then, we who are alive, Paul including himself, will be caught up, snatched up, or kidnapped (ἁρπαγησόμεθα), suggesting a violent action, with the newly awaken dead in Christ to be with Lord in the air. Here is the only place one can base a theory of the rapture as part of a theology of the end of human history, but it was unknown until the late 1870s. The point here is not the rescue of the living from evil on earth, but the coming of the Lord to redeem and rule with the dead in Christ who were first awakened and then those raptured. The first generations of believers had a strong belief that the final salvation of humanity would be soon. For the living to meet the Lord in the air, there will be some type of transformation even for them, one that may well include their death so that they can participate in eternal life with God. [24] Resurrection to life means continuation and renewal of fellowship with the risen Lord.[25] The future reality of believers is not fear, emptiness, and nothingness, but to be with the Lord forever. Paul reveals his heart when he concludes that they are to encourage each other with these words. He has found in the resurrection of Jesus a source of hope for himself, so he communicates the hope he has with them. If we follow Jesus, then what we have as we consider death is a confidence that the world as we know it is not the whole story, a confidence that the love of God does not leave us even at the graveside or even in the grave itself.
Death is a natural part of the life cycle of all living things. When a lioness kills an antelope or water buffalo to feed herself and her cubs, she is not being evil. The herd will stop and look upon the death of one of their own and walk away. This loss to the herd was natural, even as the killing was natural. Even with higher order primates, going away to die alone, leaving the body in the open, is all natural. The dead body becomes food for other creatures. Yet, human beings have an instinct or intuition that there is something distinctive of their death. Even the most primitive of human beings will bury their dead and discuss the meaning of the life of the person who has died. Death discloses the harsh reality that our lives have their broken and fragmented character. Death means our loss of those whom we have loved and the projects to which we have devoted our lives. When we die, we are torn from those who have loved and cared for us. For that reason, death will always be an enemy. Contrary to Heidegger, our own death cannot provide our lives a context within which we can grasp the meaning and significance of our lives. However, we have lived our lives with openness to the world that transcends us, and that participation has given our lives meaning and significance. The fragile flower that represents our brief blossoming will pass cease blooming, returning to the earth from it came. Death remains an end that becomes an enemy of the meaning and significance with which we have lived our lives. It is an enemy for those who have loved and cared for us. Yet, this enemy, this negation of our lives, compels those whom we leave behind to ponder the meaning and significance of our lives to them, to ponder the brevity of this life, to have courage to lead a meaningful life despite the nature of their end, and to ponder the influence we desire our brief lives to have. There is no reason to think that our lives our meaningful only in the light of eternity.
Death is a natural result of being a living creature, but for human beings death is a “limit experience” (Ricouer) in that it lays beyond the limits of normal life. It is the experience most of us spend much of our lives avoiding, dreading, and defending ourselves against. Beyond the limit, we often think is nothing but emptiness and loss. Death is closer to us than we realize. Death is the last enemy of all things. Because it stands an enemy to us and to those dear to us, fear of death pierces deep into life. It motivates us to unrestricted affirmation of ourselves. We grab for everything and everyone we can, clinging to the things around us as if doing so will keep death away from us. Death also robs us of the power to accept life, and thus we can see a close link between sin and death. The fact that we do not accept our finitude makes the inescapable end of our lives a manifestation of the power of death that threatens us with nothingness. The fear of death pushes us more deeply into sin.
The only basis for Christian hope is what the Father has done through the life-giving Spirit in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as the Son.
“We do not grieve as those who have no hope.” Yet we still grieve. I am going to offer some reflections upon grief. I will focus upon death since that is the context of our passage. However, many of these reflections can easily apply to other grief experiences. I am thinking particularly of the loss of a friendship, a romance, a marriage, and other such losses of intimate relationships. Our grief is testimonial to what a gift God gave us in the life of the one we love. We grieve because the loss is real. Those whom we love slip away from our loving embrace and journey into that unknown land. Elsewhere Paul calls death “the final enemy.” And when that enemy touches your life – snatches from your loving grasp those whom you love – you grieve. Grief is normal, natural. Psychologists speak of “grief work.” And that is just how it feels, does it not? It is hard, tough work. “The hour of lead,” when grief drags us down like lead, despite our determined efforts to rise out of it, is how Emily Dickinson named grief. And it is not just in the days afterward. Grief goes on. Grief is so powerful that words have a way of failing, just when we would like them to work some magic. Yet, we try to put into words the ways in which we can identify with each other in our grief and the ways in which the person who has died has influenced us. The words fall so far short. Sometimes our silence reveals the depth of the pain we feel. That loss creates a hole inside. It hurts. We need words that remind us of the sacred, precious quality of human life. There is mystery to life, and there is a mystery to death. We need to face the painful reality of death, even if our attempts to do so are incredibly feeble. We celebrate life and we remind ourselves of the faith, love, and hope we desperately need, especially confronted by death.
Any hope of future life because of fellowship with Jesus Christ presupposes the power of God to overcome death. That hope relates to our understanding of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, as well as the future resurrection of humanity. If such hopes are not plausible, then fellowship with Jesus now cannot be the basis of a life after death. This suggests the importance of the promise when we think theologically. The fellowship of believers with Jesus Christ is decisive in establishing the specifically Christian hope of a new life after death. This experience of fellowship with Jesus allows both a pietistic and sacramental focus upon here and now. Death is no longer the conclusion of life but the point of transition to eternal life. Death is no more the dark door that shuts forever behind us, but the opened door through which we enter true life.
Beyond our grief, beyond our fear that face only emptiness and loss, we discover that there is more, for God is also there, whose creative love knows no limits. Our grief is set in the context of our conviction that the same God who so graciously gave life shall give life even in death. To use the imagery of the parable of the prodigal son, the Father waits, confident that the far country of death shall not be the last word. The Father waits, ready to give life and that abundantly, to give more than we deserve, life eternal, not because of who we are but because of who God is; namely, extravagant love.
Christian hope fulfills our unclear grasp of our deepest longing. God promises the fulfillment of individual and communal life. Our present lack opens us to the completion of our meaning and wholeness in the future. Here is what Christians hope. We hope that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, shall raise us as well. We hope that just as Christ ventured forth from the realm of death into life, so shall he take us along with him. Our hope is not unfounded, and it is not wishful thinking. Our hope for the future is based upon what we know of Christ in the present. In Romans 8, Paul says that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. If our experience with Christ has taught us one thing, it is that our God longs to be with us, will do anything to be near us, will go to any lengths to have us. When God raised Jesus from the dead, what was the first thing Jesus did? He came back to us, to his disciples who had betrayed him. That is the basis of our hope. We are confident that the God who has gone to such extraordinary lengths to be close to us in life, shall not cease those efforts in death. Therefore, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We believe that the same God who so pursued us, and reached out to us, and sought us in all the days of our lives shall not cease to pursue us, reach out to us, seek us even in death. God, who has gone to such extraordinary lengths to be close to us in life, shall not cease those efforts in death. Our hope is not in some vague and wishful immortality of the soul, or expectation of some eternal spark that just goes on and on, reincarnation, or other assumption that we have within ourselves immortality. Our hope is that the love of God is stronger than the devastation of death, that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. God, having gone to such great lengths to save us and have us in life, will continue to demand us even in death. That is why we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Our hope is that we will, by the work and will of God, be with Jesus forever. In the resurrection God has defeated our final enemy, Death. Those whom we have loved and lost have left us, but they have come home. The God who gave them to us, now embraces them for eternity, and they await us. Grief is not all there is. There is also home. What we called "home" was only a way station, and what we thought was the end, death, is in Christ, the beginning. What we thought was unredeemable loss, death, is in Christ, homecoming.
I Thessalonians 5:1-11 (Year A November 13-19) relates to the times and seasons of eschatology and continues his discussion of Christian hope. This hope looks forward and moves forward in a way that transforms the present, becoming the medium of Christian teaching, as every part of theology is in the key of eschatology. Christian faith lives with the raising of the crucified Christ and strains toward the promise of the universal future of Christ.[26] Paul is going to remind us that the hope of Christians for eternity with their Lord should focus attention upon doing the will of God on this troubled earth as heavenly beings are already doing it in heaven.[27] Hope involves believing that the world belongs to God and that God has continuing plans for it. Hope says that what the Father did for Jesus, the Father is at work in the present, by the Spirit, preparing the world for the great remaking and unveiling the future will bring. When the promised future arrives, it will be fulfillment of the present world. The beauty, goodness, and life of this world will emerge out of the present darkness into the light of God. It will reach a new level. The point Paul will make is that such a destiny will be an incentive in the present to anticipate the new world in our lives and world. Christian eschatology is about envisioning the doing of the will of God on this troubled world in such a way that will bring guidance, liberation, and healing.[28]
Yet, Christian theology needs to find a way of handling this early teaching of the church with respect while also handling the way science describes an anticipated end of the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe. If one does this, one can both turn away from the notion of an imminent divine intervention to natural and human history and maintain that because of the resurrection of Jesus we can be motivated by the hope in the promise of the redemption of creation, our individual lives, and human history. Re-interpreting this hope of the early church in this way will not be acceptable to many Christians, being too liberal for many. The affirmation that the Son who will come again to judge the living and the dead, that there will be the resurrection of the dead and the life of everlasting (Apostles’ Creed) and that Jesus Christ is coming back visibly to the earth, to judge the living and the dead, with the wicked receiving eternal punishment, as the reward of their evil deeds and rewarding those who trust and serve the Lord will rule and reign with Christ for eternity, is a settled belief of many evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal, and fundamentalist faith communities. Just as many Christians, including from the groups just mentioned, affirm that God made the heaven and the earth while turning away from creation of the universe in seven days and the idea that the earth is only few thousand years old based on the genealogies in the opening chapters of Genesis, and instead, affirming the big bang theory of the origin and continuing expansion of the universe, and therefore evolution of life on this planet, I am suggesting that theology needs to apply to eschatology the same type of theological courage to re-interpret the use by the New Testament of Jewish eschatology. The following study will point in the direction of such a re-interpretation.
It was the common teaching of the early church that the return of the Lord was both unknown and imminent. When the disciples want to know the time, the response is that the Father will set it (Acts 1:6-7). They are to keep awake because they do not know the time, which will be unexpected (Matthew 24:42-44). The imagery of the day of the Lord coming like a thief in the night was common. We see the same thief image in II Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3, 16:15, and Luke 12:39-40. The point is that the day will come unexpectedly. Paul adds the image of “night,” suggesting both what it conceals from people and how people use it to conceal their actions. In Thessalonica was a statue of emperor Augustus with his right hand raised in benediction and the slogan, pax et securitas, so when Paul says that while people are saying “peace and safety,” the irony was not lost on his readers, as he stresses that destruction will come suddenly. He shifts the imagery to Mark 13, that the sufferings of the present are more like the labor pains of a pregnant woman, that something beautiful and new is about to arrive. Whether one is prepared or not, the day of the Lord is coming. He shifts images to that of darkness and light, where those in darkness are not aware of the day of the Lord and those who are in light live their lives in that light, for they are awake and watching, anticipating the arrival of the day of the Lord. He shifts the image so that those not aware of the coming of the day of the Lord are asleep, while they are to be awake and sober, leading an ethical life. Yes, nothing good happens after midnight, for those morally asleep, those living in darkness, get drunk then, while those who live in the light provided by the day live soberly, Paul now referring to a common theme in his writings, by putting on faith and love as a breastplate and hope of salvation as a helmet. He wants them armed for a unique battle, not to bring destruction, but to bring faith, hope, and love. Thus, he assures them that God has not called them to live this life so that suffering would be the final word of their lives, but that a future salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ would have the final word. [29] Since he died for us, involving us in an exchange of places, therefore whether we are in the sleep of death or we are live on the day the Lord comes, we live together with him, giving his readers the confidence that salvation is their destiny in a way that can shape their perspective every moment. Here is the source of the encouragement he wants them to receive. Their hope and encouragement is resurrection. Christian hope includes an individualized vision of a movement from time into eternity immediately upon death. Those who die move on at once from time to eternity, to the presence of the last day, to the return of Christ, to the resurrection and the judgment. If individuals are a psychosomatic unity, as much of modern theology assumes, this view makes much sense. When we combine it with Philippians 1:23, II Corinthians 5:8, and Colossians 3:1-4, the possibility is strong. The fact that Jesus died and immediately experienced the transformation of resurrection to life with his Father has the implication for us that upon our death we will unite with Christ and the Body of Christ. Yet, Christian hope also includes the balancing vision of an anticipated general redemption of humanity that includes the redemption of creation.[30]
When the rest of the world is going crazy -- remember your destiny. When everyone else has a short temper -- remember your destiny. When everything from missing minor details to the occurrence of major tragedies, remember your destiny. In the end -- which is all that matters -- you will "live with Him." In other words, one who possesses blessing in the final hour need not allow the present moment to get one too worked up. Remember your destiny. We remember that destiny when we live by faith, hope, and love. In his book Strength to Love, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." When we live by our values, we shine light into dark places and put love in the place of hate. Here is how George Washington Carver put it:
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
A popular song put it this way:
If you see your brother standing by the road
With a heavy load from the seeds he's sowed
And if you see your sister falling by the way
Just stop and say, you're going the wrong way.
You got to try a little kindness,
Yes show a little kindness,
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness,
Then you'll overlook the blindness,
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets.
Don't walk around the down and out,
Lend a helping hand, instead of doubt.
And the kindness that you show every day
Will help someone along their way.[31]
[1] (See Margaret M. Mitchell, "New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco‑Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Example of Timothy and Titus," Journal of Biblical Literature, 1992, 642‑643.)
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 456.
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 395.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 458.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 72.
[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 475.
[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 278.
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 400; Volume 3, 613.
[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 462.
[10] (Collins, 775; see also 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 462.
[12] (Raymond F. Collins, “The First Letter to the Thessalonians,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary [Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer and Roland Murphy, ed.; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990], 775).
[13] Systematic Theology Volume 2, 449, Volume 3, 335.
[14] Philip Hailie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed.
[15] Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, #3104.
[16] Barth (Church Dogmatics, III.2 [47.5])
[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 568.
[18] Augustine (On Patience, Chapter 9)
[19] (James Fowler quoted in Irvin D. Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy, New York: Basic Books, 1980, p. 178.)
[20] (It’s A Wonderful Life [RKO Liberty Films, 1946], Script by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, and Joe Swerling.)
[21] Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.3.2, p. 908 [73.1]
[22] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 346.
[23] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 348, 350.
[24] Augustine (City of God, XX.20)
[25] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 2, 348, 350.
[26] --Jürgen Moltmann, from Theology of Hope, in Jürgen Moltmann: Collected Readings (Augsburg Fortress, 2014), 8.
[27] (Brian McLaren, Everything Must Change, 4).
[28] --N.T. Wright, "Apocalypse now?" NTWrightpage.com, originally published in The Millennium Myth (Westminster, 1999). Retrieved May 31, 2017.
[29] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 2, p. 400)
[30] Pannenberg, (Systematic Theology, Volume Three, p. 577-578)
[31] --From "Try a Little Kindness," Glen Campbell,
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