Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-december-9-2024
I Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now, brothers [and sisters], about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers [and sisters], are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
According to the Bible scholars, First Thessalonians is probably the oldest book in the New Testament. We tend to assume that the four gospels were published first, because they’re put at the beginning of the New Testament. But the fathers of the church put the gospels first because they regarded them as the most important. Which makes sense – after all, the gospels tell us about the life and teachings of Jesus.
But the scholars say the letters of Paul were probably all written and circulated before any of the gospels appeared. The first of the gospels was Mark, which came out somewhere around 55-57 AD, and all of Paul’s letters seem to have been written and circulated before that. And according to the scholars, First Thessalonians seems to be the oldest of all of Paul’s letters. So that would make it the oldest book in the New Testament.
There’s something about Paul’s letters that’s a little surprising, when you think about it: The apostle Paul doesn’t actually quote from the teachings of Jesus in any of his letters. The great apostle focuses on explaining the significance of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. But even though he doesn’t quote directly from the teachings of Jesus, Paul’s writings are perfectly consistent with those teachings. In today’s passage from First Thessalonians, for instance, Paul covers three important points, and they’re all points that Jesus himself addressed in his teachings.
The first of these three important points is that Jesus will come back to bring his kingdom to fulfillment. His return will include the sweeping away of the world’s powers and their replacement with the reign of God. (And by the way, that’s also the real theme of the book we know as ‘the Revelation of John,’ or just ‘the Revelation.’)
The second point in the passage is that when Jesus returns, it will be without warning, like the onset of labor pains or a thief in the night. As we’ve said before in these Reflections, people who confidently declare that the signs are right for the second coming probably don’t know what they’re talking about. (After all, they’re claiming to know something Jesus said he himself didn’t know, so it pays to be skeptical about their confident pronouncements.) But Jesus emphasized in his teachings to his first disciples that he would come back – and that his return would be sudden and without warning.
Paul’s third point – and the one that’s probably intended to be the ‘so what’ of this passage – is that since we don’t know when Jesus will return, we should live in such a way that if Jesus does show up during our lifetime, he’ll him find us obeying his teachings and serving the interests of his kingdom. I don’t think Jesus meant to say that we should never pause to rest, relax, enjoy life with family and friends, etc. My sense is that we should be faithfully devoted to the things of discipleship – to the study of scripture, to worship, prayer and service to others in his name.
It also seems to go without saying that we should refrain from doing things that would displease Jesus if he came back and found us doing them. Christian people typically think first of things like drunkenness, sexual immorality, stealing and violent crime. But the Bible seems to say Jesus would be just as unhappy to find his followers engaged in gossip, exploitation of others for our own benefit, causing trouble in the church or the community, and especially failing to help meet the needs of the suffering and the marginalized.
The bottom-line question, it seems to me, isn’t so much whether Jesus could find sins in our lives. (We know he could.) The question is whether Jesus would see signs that our lives are being shaped by his teachings and his example.
This is a pretty good reading for the Advent season, when church tradition encourages us to be living in expectation. And not just in expectation of Christmas – the point is to be living in expectation of something much more important – of Jesus’ return and the fulfillment of his kingdom. And when we live as “children of light,” we are helping out with the establishment of that kingdom as we wait for his coming.
My friend Eric Muller-Girard once used an illustration in a sermon at presbytery worship that I never forgot – one that fits right in with this reading. He pointed out that light travels through space at incredible speed and for vast distances without being seen. It’s only when that light is reflected by something that it becomes visible. It’s that way with the light of Jesus – it’s only seen when it’s reflected by those of us who follow him.
In this season of Advent, we often read the words of Isaiah in foretelling the coming of Jesus: “The people who live in darkness have seen a great light.” And we are meant to be reflecting that light into the darkest corners of the world in which we live.
Let’s pray. Lord, write these ancient words on our hearts. Help us to be living disciplined lives while we wait for your coming, and to live in such a way that we reflect your light, so that your kingdom becomes visible to all the world. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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