It Won't Be Easy

Acts 17:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Recently, I was sharing some perspective on preaching and teaching here at Faith and I referred to the Big God Family and the Big God Story. I have adopted these terms from a colleague, the Rev. Katie Bishop, pastor at Middletown UMC here in Maryland. 

 

When I talk about the Big God Family, I am talking about the long lineage that we claim as followers of Jesus Christ. That lineage, in many ways, is defined by the creation story in Genesis – the understanding of God’s hand in the bigness of all of creation. 

 

That lineage is further defined by Abram’s call to go where God sends him and Abram and Sarai’s obedience to that call. The descendants of Abraham become the lineage of Jesus, who we understand as God’s only son who is both fully human and fully divine. 

 

Jesus promised his followers that when he could no longer be with them in the flesh, the Holy Spirit would accompany them. The Big God Family grew as those who heard about Jesus lived into his teachings and found themselves touched by the Holy Spirit. 

 

And the Big God family continues today! We are part of the Big God Family.

 

So then, the Big God Story encompasses the full arc of the storyline of that lineage. And it continues to be written today. It is history, it is the present moment, and it is the future.

 

I share all of that as backdrop as we learn today about an important next “generation” of the Big God Family.  

 

Last week, we saw John and Peter at work seeing needs and healing in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. They had been told by Jesus that this was work they would do. They had been prepared by three years of travel and teaching with their Rabbi, Jesus.

 

Today, we encounter Paul – whose Jewish name was Saul. He is already a follower of the Jesus way, but he didn’t meet Jesus during Jesus’ earthly ministry and he wasn’t tagging along with the disciples in the wake of the resurrection.

 

Instead, Saul was a pharisee who did a lot of work to seek out, persecute, and punish Jesus’ earliest followers after the resurrection. Earlier in the Acts of the Apostles, the story is told of Saul on his way to Damascus to root out Jesus-followers when he is struck blind on the road – with Jesus speaking to him.  Blinded, Paul traveled on to Damascus where Ananias was sent by Jesus to restore Paul’s sight and proclaim to him a mission to preach about Jesus to the non-Jewish folks in the Roman empire.

 

From that point forward, Paul traveled throughout the Mediterranean, widening the reach of the message about Jesus’ power. 

 

So today, we heard about Paul and Silas rolling into Thessalonica, where Paul spends time in the local synagogue, debating with those gathered about the scriptures. It is important to remember that Paul is Jewish. He’s deeply rooted in Jewish scripture, in the Law, in traditional Jewish practices and worship. Debating about the text was and still is a part of how Jewish communities understand and interpret scripture. 

 

Paul is explaining all about Jesus – about how he is the Messiah who had to die and then be raised from the dead.  

 

We’ve talked about the long-standing Jewish expectation that the Messiah would have political power to restore the Jewish kingdom. When Jesus showed up and didn’t overturn the Roman powers, a lot of folks found reason to doubt his teaching, his claims, and any power he might have.

 

But as a result of what Paul is teaching in Thessalonica, a number of people choose to follow Paul and Silas – and not just those in the synagogue, but also some devout Greeks and leading women in the community. 

 

They listen and follow because Paul is teaching some powerful things. 

 

Jesus was such a threat that Rome had to act. For the Romans, that meant setting an example for all citizens by silencing a person in a publicly humiliating crucifixion. It was the ultimate exhibition of power over weakness to violently take someone’s life in a public way.

 

But Jesus didn’t stay dead, right?  – because God’s power of resurrection is greater than Rome’s military and political power and might. 

 

And for those living in fear of Rome, that is really good news. It is evidence that Jesus is Lord – not Caesar.

 

This teaching and the way people followed caught the attention of some Jewish leaders in Thessalonica.  They  gather up “some ruffians” and create some kind of scene, “setting the city in a uproar.” The leadership is threatened by those who have been turning the world upside down, meaning those followers of Jesus who are telling of the Messiah in ever-widening circles out from Jerusalem and throughout the Mediterranean. 

They are threatened because people are talking about Jesus as a king – someone whose power is greater than the political authorities of the day. The threat that caused the crucifixion continues to upset communities in the wake of the resurrection –  and that story and that threat is spreading further and further across the Roman empire.

 

Scholars believe of this happened in Thessalonica around 50 CE. That is before ANY of the gospel writers would have recorded their experiences.  While Paul traveled about, he wrote letters to communities – early churches – that he had preached in or launched. These letters are part of our New Testament. They make up the works known as epistles.

 

In the New Testament there are letters that we are pretty sure were written by Paul and there are letters that were likely written in the style of Paul, maybe even in the voice of Paul, that were likely written by Paul’s followers instead.

Our second reading is from one of these letters that we are pretty sure is actually written by Paul. 

 

He’s writing a follow-up to the church at Thessalonica some time after his visit with Silas. He praises the example that the Thessalonians have set for others in the region. In spite of the initial uproar, these people have continued to gather and to focus their worship on Jesus rather than the idols that would have been so much a part of the social, political and cultural norms of their larger community. 

 

They have taken Paul’s teaching and have passed it on. The number of people who knew about Jesus was growing and the knowledge and belief was spreading from community to community.

 

In the letter, Paul is encouraging them, reminding them of Jesus’ power.

 

When I sat with these texts this week, I first wondered about what the earliest founders of this church might say if they were to write a letter.  Perhaps they would talk about how over 60 years, this community has stayed committed to generously supporting community organizations like InterFaith Works and the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless. Or maybe they would commend the tradition of strong worship infused with prayer and beautiful music on Sunday mornings.

 

But I was also thinking about that uproar, and accusations of how the world was being turned upside down by the news that Jesus is LORD, not Caesar. 

 

And I remembered our vote to become a reconciling congregation.  I remembered our commitment to becoming an anti-racist congregation.  I remembered our empty chairs on the lawn in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, calling for an end to gun violence. I remembered the uproar of those things. 

 

An uproar rooted in believing that Jesus is LORD. 

An uproar rooted in believing that the greatest commandment is to love of God and neighbor.

An uproar rooted in believing in teachings like the sermon on the plain:

 

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.”

 

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you^[d] on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

 

Like the early church in Thessalonica, we are part of something bigger happening in the world. And we’ve done good work. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, that work will continue.

At the same time, I am mindful that we are in the midst of another, bigger uproar. As we gather, so too do 862 delegates gather to determine the future of The United Methodist Church worldwide. For decades now we have fought about who is of sacred worth in God’s sight. 

 

I’ve never understood why that is an argument. The scripture seems pretty clear. 

Love God. Love your neighbor.

Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.

 

I wonder what letter might be written years from now to The United Methodist Church.

 

I hope it might be something like this:

 

Greetings to the global church, Christians assembled by God the Father and by the Master, Jesus Christ. God’s amazing grace be with you! God’s robust peace!

 

Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you’re in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father. 

 

It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special. When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn’t just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.

 

You paid careful attention to the way we lived among you, and determined to live that way yourselves. In imitating us, you imitated the Master. Although great trouble accompanied the Word, you were able to take great joy from the Holy Spirit!—taking the trouble with the joy, the joy with the trouble.

 

Do you know that all over the world believers look up to you? The word has gotten around. Your lives are echoing the Master’s Word, not only in the provinces but all over the place. The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say anything anymore—you’re the message! People come up and tell us how you received us with open arms, how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.

 

May it be so.

Amen.