2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NRSV)

Warning against Idleness

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Sitting on the beach sounds like a good idea. As long as the sun is shining and the air is warm. After the temperatures this past week, some beach time sounds like a really cool plan.

It is the second half of the first century. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection happened years ago-maybe 35 or 40 years.

One common belief among most followers of Jesus in the second half of the first century is that Jesus would soon be returning- a second coming, the παρουσία. As you read the letters in the New Testament, as you read the interpretive narratives of the Gospels, you become acutely aware that these early followers believed, with all their hearts, that Jesus will return soon and very soon.

The members of the church in Thessalonica fit very much into the thinking of the second half of the first century. They are convinced that Jesus is returning soon.

And one of the results of that understanding is that a segment of the church has become obsessed with the idea of the eminent return of Christ.

And this obsession is a problem. And has been since these folks first believed.

If you think that Jesus is returning any minute, you don’t need a job or steady income, you just need to be ready.

Unfortunately, this segment of the church obsessed with Jesus’ return, left their jobs and their responsibilities and headed to the beach. Thessalonica sits on the water’s edge so the beach is close by.

This actually has been going on awhile, and was addressed by the writer when he was with them earlier.

At the beach, they wait.

At the beach, they pool their resources.

At the they have campfires and sing-alongs.

At the beach, They worship and pray and stare at beautiful sunsets each evening hoping that the evening sky will, at any minute, split apart as Jesus in his glory, will break through the clouds, and set up the Kingdom.

This group of people live on the beach,

they share each other’s food, and when the food runs out they buy more.

Until one day, another day on which Jesus doesn’t return, they run out of both food and the resources to acquire more food.

They soon get hungry but are still believing that Jesus will be returning at any moment and they don’t want to absent from the beach when he comes back.

So, Other members of the Thessalonican church, folks who didn’t go to the beach to wait for Jesus, out of compassion, give the beach waiters money and food to get by.

And the beach waiters continue to wait, and Jesus doesn’t come, and they get hungrier and hungrier and take more and more from the church folks. Money and resources the church would be using to help the poor and dispossessed of their community is instead going to the beach waiters.

But the beach waiters didn’t feel particularly bad about the assistance they were getting, after all, they are being faithful in waiting for Jesus to return. They feel as if they are the wise bridesmaids in Jesus’ parable from Matthew 25. Faithful and wise- that’s how they see themselves.

Folks from the church grow a weary of giving them their hard earned money and food so that the beach waiters they can sit in the sand, sing their worship songs, and gaze at the waves, while others in the community are dealing with dire issues of poverty and hunger.

The leaders of the church ask Paul, or whoever the writer of Second Thessalonians is, what they are supposed to do about this ongoing problem, these brothers and sisters, the beach waiters, who are full of faith and hungry for Jesus’ return. But... are clearly a burden and a nuisance.

And so, the the writer of this letter addresses this particular problem in the section read by Jay and Carey this morning.

His advice sounds a tad harsh, and one of the most misused, out of context lines of the entire scripture is in this section.

The hard reality is that the beach waiters are costing everybody in the church as church members sacrificially give to support these faithful, but foolish folks, who sit on the beach and wait. And while they are being supported, the truly needy are being left behind.

The letter writer’s advice is “don’t let them take advantage of you.” The writer looks back at the time when the church was founded. The founders refused help as they worked and supported themselves while they were with establishing a beautiful congregation in Thessalonica.

And then the writer writes the famous (or infamous) line, “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Unfortunately this line has been used by many over the years to deny the idea of assisting the down and out. It has been part of the argument against societal safety nets intended to protect those who find themselves under resourced or in a jam. These words have been used to deny the benevolent reality that is so significant to Jesus’ teachings. These words have been used to distinguish them from us as we diminish them for their laziness and slothfulness.

And these words are often used completely out of context.

The Bible is actually very clear that we have responsibility to the poor, to the hurting, to the stranger, to the outcast.

The Bible calls us, commands us, demands us to care for other.

The Torah is specific about how society should care for the downtrodden and the stranger. The prophets reserve some of their harshest judgments for those who ignore the plight of the poor. Jesus tells us that when we ignore the least of these, we are ignoring him. James will say true religion is caring for the widows and the orphans. Jesus will say, on more than one occasion to more than one person, “go, sell your stuff and give to the poor.

The Thessalonian author writes this line, “those who don’t work, don’t eat,” addressing a particular situation in a particular place. Those who had decided to allow their obsession with Jesus’ return to affect everything else in their lives needed a shock back to reality, supporting them did not help them.

The writer is not telling the Thessalonians to stop caring for the poor, nor is the writer telling The beach waiters to stop believing that Jesus might return any moment, but what the writer is saying is that, up until its over, there is work to do. And there is no time for idleness.

You see, the biblical understanding of waiting is that waiting is an active process. And so waiting on Jesus is not the problem, the problem is forgetting to continue to live out the life of faith while waiting.

And so the writer writes “Brothers and sisters, do not weary in doing what is right.” You don’t just wait, you do. And you do what is right.

And what is right?

Loving one another is right.

Caring for the down and out.

Taking care of your family, your responsibilities, your neighbor.

Serving the Lord in every moment, in every situation.

An interesting fact about the Christian life, as it is described throughout the New Testament, is that there is not a time when it is time to stop, to quit, to let someone else. We are always in the process of growing and serving and doing. In different junctures in our lives, obviously, how we serve may look differently than at other times, but we still are on the clock, serving and caring.

It is said that one day St. Francis was hoeing his garden when a neighbor walked by. The neighbor asked Francis a question.

Francis looked up from his weeding as the neighbor talked. “Francis,” the neighbor asked, “What if you learned that today is the day you die, the last day of your life, what would you do?”

Francis thought about the question for a moment, and said, “I would finish hoeing my garden,” and he went back to work.

It is one of the very simple secrets of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We are always active, always serving, always making a difference, wherever and whenever we can. We keep hoeing the garden, even if we are convinced that Jesus is coming back this evening.

Amen.