The life of the Christian Church in the New Testament period, that is, the end times, the penultimate, is one of persecution.
The final handful of Sundays leading up to the last Sunday of the Church Year around Thanksgiving (just before the new Church Year begins with the season of Advent) bring with them the last opportunity for a brief epistle series over a few weeks. In one year of the three-year lectionary, you get a bunch of Sundays that cover pericopes scattered throughout Hebrews 2-10. The other two years you get 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. This year, Series C is the 2 Thessalonians year. So, the next three Sundays of epistle lessons read to us from this brief letter near the beginning of Paul’s career.
In chapter 1, Paul is grateful for and eager to share with others the growing faith and love of the Thessalonian congregation. He encourages them in the face of persecution with the reminder that those who persecute them will get their comeuppance. Chapter 2 assures the Thessalonians that Christ has, in fact, not yet returned in judgment. Paul points out what must happen before the day of the Lord, the delusion of the world by the man of perdition and an encouragement to stand firm on and stick close to the teachings that have been handed down by him and the other apostles. Chapter 3 finishes the letter with a no-mooch policy: An admonition against laziness and advice to shun those who shirk their callings. Then he closes with a final blessing.
The whole letter deals with the practical, lived life in view of Christ’s return. Paul writes to the Thessalonians about facing and surviving persecution in the face of the end, standing firm in the tradition and teaching of the apostles, and working in sanctified vocations in light of the end. He does this all within the context of a group who was absolutely convinced that Christ’s promised return was, indeed, soon. A biblical preacher will prod his people to the same conviction, to the same trust in Christ’s Word, to the same happy anticipation of Christ’s imminent return, and comfort and encourage hearers in the same way Paul does here. The Apostle utilizes the promise of Christ, with the truth over against rumors, deceptions, and myths, and with a reminder that God has elevated their labor, their work, to the level of royal and priestly activity. Especially as the Church year draws to a close and the readings reflect the end of life, the end of time, and the end of the world, these three Sundays of epistles can suggest a conceivable series on living in the end times, living in light of the end, and living in the New Testament period.
On to part one: 2 Thessalonians 1. The life of the Christian Church in the New Testament period, that is, the end times, the penultimate, is one of persecution. This should be no surprise. The alternate epistle lesson for this Sunday in observance of All Saints’ Day is 1 John 3 where he reminds us that the reason the world does not know you is because it did not know your Lord. The world is an enemy of the Church, an enemy of the Christian (cf. 1 John 2:15-17). What does Paul have in mind directly in 2 Thessalonians 1? What were these Christians suffering? Fortunately, we have the record from Luke. Acts 17 records Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens during his second missionary journey. Only a few Jews of the Thessalonian synagogue, some devout Greeks, and some leading women were of those who received Paul’s message (we may assume these are the seeds of the Thessalonian church Paul writes to). The rest “set the city in an uproar” (Acts 17:5) and make it hard on Paul’s host and possibly kinsman, a man named Jason (see Romans 16:21). When Paul and Silas get out of town and preach in Berea to the southwest instead, Thessalonian rabblerousers come and rouse rabble there too (Acts 17:13). Paul and other disciples are no strangers to beatings, imprisonment, and other persecutions in the early history of the Church (refer to Acts 5:40; 7:58-8.1; 16:22, 37; 21:30-34, and others). To follow Christ, to proclaim the Gospel, is to carry a cross (see Luke 9:23-27; Acts 9:15-16).
To follow Christ, to proclaim the Gospel, is to carry a cross.
Personally, I have very little patience for anyone in America complaining about what they perceive in their own immediate experience as persecution of their faith. For example, expressing anxiety over stories of higher-ed discrimination against Christian groups, blaming liberal political policies and agendas for the decline of society, or nostalgically remembering a time we had prayer in schools. Look at two thousand years of history and you will be compelled to agree that Christians in America, by any comparison, enjoy freedom, power, and an amazing level of influence in the secular realm. I do not dismiss out of hand a sober acknowledgement of public ridicule or bound consciences uncomfortable with public policies contrary to God’s Word in Christ. However, on balance, we need to check any “American persecution” narrative and realize we are not dealing with the kind of contemporary state-sponsored systematic persecution that echoes what Paul was talking about in 2 Thessalonians. It is also not true when we compare our situation to other Christians today who are losing their lives and livelihoods in communities where the practice of the Christian faith is illegal and where churches are targeted with physical violence and property damage, suppression, labor camps, and death.
It is a fact that the lives of sisters and brothers in Christ today in several parts of the world are in jeopardy for their practice and profession of Christian faith. Who is the Jesus the text invites to be revealed for them? For us? Certainly, the Jesus who is returning, who says, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing My recompense with Me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Revelation 22:12 – a fitting summary from Jesus’ own lips of the parenthetical portion of the 2 Thessalonians 1 pericope, verses 6-10). Jesus’ return is for judgment on the nations. It is also for the final salvation of all who believe, for all who have withstood and suffered for the Kingdom. Preacher, overhear in the affliction (thlipsis) and suffering (paskhein), in the persecution (diōgmos; diōkein) and endurance (hypomonē) of the Thessalonians both that of other Christ followers (see Mark 10:30, Romans 8:35, and 2 Corinthains 12:10), but especially of Christ Himself.
This is because the Christ who comforts the persecuted is certainly the one who promises to come – to come soon – as the vindicator of suffering, as the judge of the world, as the savior of those who endure patiently, in faith and hope for His return. But the one who comes in power is also the one who comes bearing scars (John 20:27; Revelation 1:7). Jesus bears the scars of His own afflictions, persecution, patient endurance, and suffering (refer to Colossians 1:24, and the many, many references to Jesus’ suffering throughout the gospels). The suffering Christ continues to intercede for those suffering persecution, and invites them, invites you, to find the answer to your suffering, the meaning for your persecution, actually within the wounds of Christ. Here is wisdom for those who can bear it, and comfort in the end: The mockery, the ridicule, the family alienation, the state-sanctioned torture, the imprisonment, the isolation, fear, and death involved in persecution today is precisely what the savior experienced, with scars to remind us. The good news is not just that there is a savior coming ultimately to rescue us from this vale of tears. The good news is Jesus is in the lived life now, in the trenches with the sorrowful, with the persecuted, with the dead and dying. Our brother blazed the sorrowful trail ahead of us and promises solidarity while we are in the midst of it.
What can we do in the meantime, while we yet enjoy the relative privilege of power and security of liberty, at least for the season God grants it in our own land? We can pray. We can repent of our love grown cold, the blissful thoughtlessness that is corrected in being reminded of saints, sisters and brothers in Christ, who suffer today for their faith. We can pray to share the witness of those who stand for Jesus in places where His name is not honored, that we may be honored with them before the Father. This is a fitting reminder for all hearers in all the churches this Sunday, as many congregations celebrate All Souls’ Day, and as so many observe All Saints’ Day. The Church is one in its witness, and where one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers together (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Above all, preacher, preach Christ. The 2 Thessalonians pericope this week, and in the weeks to come, presents a challenge to the preacher, since it does not overtly treat the person and work of Jesus Christ in His passion, death, and resurrection. It, thus, invites your creativity for importing the Gospel, invites your creativity in looking for a hook which will confess the Lord Jesus in His cross and empty tomb, even as you confess His return in these texts. Work with persecution this week, and as you deliver the Christ with scars, know He will transform your peoples’ hearts to pray and support the persecuted too. God bless you in your preaching!
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5 (6-10) 11-12.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5 (6-10) 11-12.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
