A preview of a sermon
delivered to First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, November 12, 2017
We don’t know the duration
of Paul’s stay with the Thessalonians. Some scholars think Paul and his helpers
may have remained with them 3 or 4 months until the anger of the
city residents drove them out. It was long enough to hear about the salvation of
the Good News but not long enough to explore the many questions posed by the
promise of the return of Jesus and eternal life. Many biblical scholars believe
Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is an answer to questions that the Thessalonians
posed in their exploration of faith.
What happens when one of
our Christian friends dies before the advent, or return of Christ? Do they
sleep until the return or are they with God now? What about us who are left
behind after they have passed?
Paul assures them that the
departed are in the good hands of God. Here he seems to suggest they may rest
in sleep until that day, but in other letters he says the departed are already
in God’s hands. As we read Paul in the assumed chronological order of his
letters, we see in the early letters that Paul had a great expectation of an
immediate return of Christ. In his later letters, he begins to come to terms
with the reality that none of us know the time or place when Christ shall
return.
The Thessalonians may have asked
these questions, but we, ourselves, have wondered also about the answers. Do we
go straight to God when we die or remain in a state of sleep until Christ’s
return? Will we recognize and know our loved ones when we get there?
Paul assures those new to
faith that worry and grief are not justified, but celebration is in order. This
is another passage that emphasizes part of the Reformed theology. We have
inherited the grace of salvation and neither grief or prayer can change this.
If you have attended many services
of the Reformed faith for those who died, you will know this service not called
the “funeral of a loved one” but “the celebration of the life and resurrection
of loved one.” You likely have heard this passage read in one of t hose
services. Paul corrects the Thessalonians gently that the death of a Christian
loved one in not a time of grief but celebration that they are received by God even
before us.
Remember what Paul states
in verses 13 and 17. “We do not grieve as those who have no hope…we who are
alive and left behind will be caught up in the clouds together with them…so we
will be with the Lord forever.” He
leaves us with the hope found in the defeat of death by Jesus and the certainty
we will be with them in the presence of the Lord forever.
I can’t tell you that you
will recognize Aunt Wilma, or your parents or children and have a great festive
homecoming when you get to heaven. I repeat what Paul says, the greatest gift,
the greatest blessing is to glorify God and enjoy his presence forever, here and
in heaven. If there is room for reminiscing about the old times, so be it, but
I suspect our heavenly focus will be praise and the glory of God.
But I did not intend that
this sermon would be about what happens to the departed and when, but about Paul’s
key words for the living. They are well known and remind us of a reality we
should never dismiss, “We who are left behind…” in answer to the question about
what are we to do after they leave us?
To understand Paul’s answer, let’s go back to his letter to the
Philippians, his first congregation where he states, (Philippians 1:20-26):
“It
is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way,
but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as
always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ
and dying is gain… liv(ing) in the flesh… means fruitful labor for me (so) I am
hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for
that is far better; but [and here is the message] to remain in the flesh is more
necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I
will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so
that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you
again.
In other words, if Paul is
left behind, he shall remain and continue with joy to grow in faith and share
living the good news together with everyone until Christ comes again.
This is where Matthew,
Micah and Isaiah meet. Is our job to sit around and talk about what great
Christians we are, and point out to people the errors we think we see in their
ways while we wait for the advent of Jesus? No, I don’t think so. The Lord is interested
in justice for his children here and now, and at the end of time.
Jesus and Paul say we
should get ready by being supportive of those who are growing in faith struggling
with the hardships of living, not waiting for the next train to heaven. If we
share “abundantly with the boasts of people about our faith, it is because we continue
to work for the justice Jesus brings to the world. Some of us get all wrapped up in
politics when we hear “justice” but justice is what the Lord wants, and really,
so do we.
All the
scripture that speaks of the advent(coming/return) of the Lord does so in the
context of relief from the part of human authority that is a stumbling block to
justice. Amos (5:21-24) speaks about the
Temple leaders being stumbling blocks, saying, “Take
away from me the noise of your songs; (that is, your fancy worship and
offerings)…I will not listen to the melody of your harps. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like
an ever-flowing stream. In Isaiah
58:6-12, the Lord says of religious act of fasting to purify oneself:
“Is
not this the fast that I choose: To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the
thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is
it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into
your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself
from your own kin? Then your light shall
break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory
of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then
you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will
say, Here I am.
“If
you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of
evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the
afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like
the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and … you shall be like a
watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail… you shall be
called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
If you doubt that these Old Testament passages apply today, then
listen to Jesus announcing his calling to bring the justice to the world that
Amos and Isaiah described. His first act of ministry (Luke 4:16-19) is a proclamation
of the fulfillment of the hope in Isaiah
61:1-2:
“The Spirit of the Lord
is on me because
he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah 61:1-2 ends a little differently, “…to proclaim the year
of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who
mourn…”
What does Jesus mean, “the
poor”? Literally Jesus means the poor. The poor were left behind when the elite of
Jewish society were taken into captivity. When the exiles returned they retook the land from
the ones left behind. The Romans did the same thing. Jesus protests those
who are poor in heart - spiritually poor, that oppress, ignore or use the economically
poor. Isn’t that often the case today, for example, the existence of hungry but
dedicated parents who can’t afford childcare to hold a full-time job at a
decent wage to pay the rent, buy clothes and sometimes food for their family?
What does Jesus mean, “the
oppressed”? We know in Roman times the Romans brutally oppressed Palestine,
forced people to carry a soldier’s load, give up one’s coat to them, pay to
fish, pay for the priests’ luxurious living in the Temple, and the King’s
palaces. Jewish land barons forced the poor into sharecropping and poverty. We
also know today there are those whose prejudice oppresses people. People are put down because of their skin color
or the clothes they wear, for the way the look, their religion,
the color of their skin and their sexual orientation, for objecting to an adult
sexually abusing another, or even for complaining about being sexually molested.
What does Jesus mean,
“release to the prisoners”? We know in reality that Rome would imprison people only
on the basis of suspicion. Today, people are jailed and held for extended
periods separated from family because they are mentally challenged, or dirty
and homeless, poor or argumentative. In Atlanta, a child was prevented from
getting a needed kidney transplant from his father because the jail wouldn’t
allow the medical furlough. People are held in overcrowded jails and convicted of crimes because
they can’t afford bail or a good attorney, while others charged with the same
offenses but with financial means to afford a good attorney get off free.
I’ve seen it. Yes, there are people who are charged with horrible crimes, neglect
or abuse of children who deserve to be brought to some kind of justice. But if
you take the time to walk and talk with folks on the street you can see how
easy it is for the judicial system to steamroller someone who may be
fundamentally good but who has no resources for defense. And no one hears about
it unless someone speaks up.
And so, the life of Jesus poses this
question to us about the cause of justice, “If my calling is to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of
the LORD’s favor,” and you the Church are my body on earth until I return, what
are you doing about the injustice in your own world while you wait for me?
You know the answer in Spring City because you are
doing it, we help feed the poor with our Helping Hands Pantry, we feed even
those who some would refuse to serve because of their social life, arrest
record or suspected drug use. Are we condoning unchristian behavior in doing
this? Absolutely not. We are in fact, exercising Christian behavior.
But I encourage all of us to look at the
circumstances of injustice that we ignore or dismiss because it contradicts our
politics, left or right. It has been said of humanity that power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. For those of us who are left behind, our
choice is how to speak to power to do justice in the name of Jesus Christ as he
was called to do. This is the duty of the Church (capital “C”) to the oppressed,
the hungry, the brokenhearted and the prisoner.
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