Proper 27 -- Haggai
1:15b – 2:9; Psalm 98; II
Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17; Luke
20:27–38
A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon,
Illinois on Sunday, November 10, 2013.
“FIRST
THINGS FIRST”
(Homily text:
II Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17)
The Church Year is winding
down. We have (after this Sunday) just
two more Sundays left before the beginning of the new year on the First Sunday
of Advent, which is December 1st.
The last Sunday of each
ecclesiastical year is Christ the King Sunday.
On this Sunday, we celebrate Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, the One who will come at the end of all things, whose reign will never
end, and whose power and glory will be acknowledged by all.
The theme of Christ the King Sunday
has to do with the “big picture” of God’s plan and God’s rule. The theme prompts us to catch a glimpse of
eternity, and of the time when we will reign with Christ for ever and ever.
Our readings in these final Sundays
of the year begin to prepare us for that vision and that celebration. Our Collect for the Day today also captures
this sense as it says, “Grant that, having this hope (of being made children of
God and heirs of eternal life), we may purify ourselves as he is pure, that when he comes again with power and great
glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom….”
(Italics mine, of course)
In today’s readings, St. Paul
admonishes the Thessalonian Christians not to think that God’s reign has
already come in all its fullness. Perhaps
we could summarize Paul’s argument by saying that he is encouraging the
Thessalonian Christians to put “first things first”.
Let’s look a little closer at the
situation in Thessalonica….
In St. Paul’s first letter to these
early Christians, we find evidence that these early Christians were anxiously looking
for the Lord’s return. (All Christians
should be constantly aware that, in God’s time, the Lord will return again in
power and great glory. This is a reality
that we affirm each week as we recite the Nicene Creed.) But the Thessalonians, apparently, were
paying such an overwhelming amount of attention to it that many of them had
ceased to work. They seemed to be looking into the heavens,
expecting Jesus to return at any moment.
In chapter five of his first
letter, Paul has to admonish them not to be idle, not to forget that they have
lives to lead and a Christian witness to offer to the world around them in the
time that precedes the Lord’s return.
Now, in his second letter, Paul has
to remind them not to accept reports from anyone, even a report which purports
to be from him, that the Lord’s return has already taken place. Paul’s wording makes use of the term “the Day
of the Lord”, a phrase we also hear in the Old Testament prophet Joel,[1] a
phrase he also uses in his first letter to the Thessalonians to describe that
eventuality. And again, as he had done
in his first letter, he tells the Thessalonians (in chapter three of his second
letter) not to be idle as they wait for the great day to arrive.
So, we can surmise that Paul’s
concern is for a balanced understanding which holds the “big picture” of God’s
plans in tension with the necessity of living the Christian life in this world. We are called and reminded to put “first
things first” by doing the Lord’s work in this world as a witness to God’s
power to change lives, and to change the world, in turn.
Such a balanced understanding of
God’s ultimate plans, lived out day-by-day in acts of loving kindness and
service, acts which demonstrated the presence of Christ within, allowed the
Church to overcome the power of the Roman Empire. In time, the Empire itself would become
Christian, won over to the cause of Christ not by armed might or conquest, but
by faithful Christians who reminded the pagan world of their day that this
world isn’t the ultimate or final reality, and that God loved this world so
much that He gave His only-begotten Son to show God’s love in tangible ways.
These early Christians put “first
things first”, living life faithfully, walking with God daily in communion with
Christ and with His body, the Church.
We said a moment ago that we hold
the reality of the life in the world which is to come as an ever-present reality. Each Sunday, we affirm the truths of the
Christian faith as they are contained in the Nicene Creed. Among the phrases we repeat,
Sunday-by-Sunday, are the following statements relating to the final things of
God:
·
Jesus’ return: “He will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”
·
The resurrection of the dead: “We look for the resurrection of the dead.”
·
The life of the world to come: “And the life of the world to come.”
Having this vision ever in view give
us hope for the future, and an assurance that God’s plans for the world will,
in time, come to be. As baptized
Christians, we share in this hope.
However, the lesson that Paul
applied to the Thessalonians also applies to us: We have a life to live, work to do, and a
witness to offer to the world in the time that remains between now and the
fulfillment of God’s purposes for the world.
These two realities are held
together in tension. Our task is to hold
both of them in view at all times, allowing the eventual return of the Lord to
color and inform everything we do in the everyday world in which we live, for
the awareness that we are part of God’s great plan makes holy those things that
we do, day-by-day.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus,
as we labor, and watch, and pray, putting “first things first”.
AMEN.
[1] Joel’s sense of the phrase “the Day of the
Lord” carries with it the sense that the
arrival of that day will be the time of God’s judgment.
