Written on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by theDUKE
I have become amazed at how the early Christian church behaved in eagerness and expectation of Christ's return. You can see this eagerness in the experience of the people of Thessalonica in Asia Minor. The letter called 1 Thessalonians is pretty short; its paired with 2 Thessalonians which is even shorter. The apostle Paul is taking the time to write to them twice because of what he is hearing about them. Sure, they are great Christians. The people in Thessalonica whole heartedly recognize Jesus as Christ. Yet they are so eager in waiting for Christ that they start worrying about a lot of things they don't know about. People were becoming upset that others in their community were dying before getting to see Christ in the Parousia (second coming, advent). People also were hanging onto hopes of the Parousia by the day. People stopped going to work because of Jesus' imminent return.
Its a strange reason to see the unemployment rate shoot up. Paul heard about what was happenning in Thessalonica when his companion Timothy caught back up with him in Corinth. He made sure to breakdown a few things about Parousia to them:
1. Nobody knows when this is going to happen. He describes it like getting robbed at night, it can occur suddenly and unexpectedly. (1 Th 5:1-3)
2. Don't be fooled when you hear stories about the second coming. One sign you can watch out for is an evil guy claiming to be god. Still, don't fall for the wrong time. (2 Th 2:1-12)
3. The people who are dead are going to brought back to life so we can all live with Christ. So chill out, because nobody is missing the party. (1 Th 4:13-18)
It is amazing to receive the Gospel and then be so taken with the Spirit that one's love for Christ will want him immediately. From a more cynical and modern perspective, how much do we allow ourselves to be devoted and in love with someone that we are waiting on the edge everyday for them? I think that is somewhat crazy, but that is part of the Gospel being a reality and not a fantasy. The contemporaries of Christ were saying, "Our man Jesus was the Christ who came to save us. We were with him and saw all this stuff happen because it was from God." How do we convey the same reality of God present, near, and coming soon today?
In the end Paul told the people in Thessalonica to not ignore their daily responsibilities and do nothing. They still had lives to live and be responsible for. (2 Th 3:6-15) If there are people that live lazy, then just forget about them and eventually they'll have the shame to change. Well I put a lot of hope in that last part. Paul ends his 2nd Thessalonian letter by saying, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."
Posted in
1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians,
Advent,
Bible Study,
Christ,
Jesus,
Parousia,
Paul
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