2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Well, the holidays are coming, and with the holidays come people. Usually lots of them and right through the doors of the church. It started here at St Paul’s just this past Sunday. We had people in droves who came to take part in our Turkey Supper. But that is only the beginning. Thanksgiving is this week. Then comes Christmas with pageants and programs and special worship services, all favorites among even those who are not regular church goers.
Among all those who enter through our church doors during the holiday season, often mingled in with them are those who are less fortunate, less well off, those who we might consider to be among the poor. They come to church too, although often it is not on a Sunday and usually not for worship. There are many who come or call asking for some assistance.
As Christ's representatives on earth, we are given to help those who have need and so we do. We give food. We have paid rent or utility bills. We offer help where we are able. But sad to say, among those who have legitimate need, there are those who are simply looking to take advantage. They come to church with all kinds of sad, cleverly devised stories for how they are down on their luck and in need of some help. There has been more than one occasion that I have though to myself that if half the ingenuity needed to make up that story was put into earning an honest living they would be buying thanksgiving dinner for me.
Our 2 Thessalonians text speaks of those who are idle. Those who do not want to work for themselves to provide their own living, but rather are perfectly content to burden others with their upkeep and care. “We command you to keep away from them,” says Paul. I wonder if we don't too easily think of these poor when we read these passages. “Go to work”. We think. “Get a job” we say. “Earn an honest living.”
Maybe so.
But as with any scripture text, when we only see the sins of others and not our own reflected in the mirror of the law, we have likely missed the text. After all, that text is for you and for me just as much as it is for pan handlers and peddlers. The Spirit has a word for us too.
Paul writes against those members of the church who were idle. He writes against those who will not do their job or fulfill their duty. Back in those days, some were biding their time expecting Christ to return, thinking that he would come back within their lifetimes. These people thought to themselves, “what is the point of my labor? Should I invest my time and my effort in some pointless task, only to have it all come to nothing on the day that Christ returns.”
Others were just lazy. They simply took advantage of the diligence of others. We have seen in Acts how the church was generous and the Christians held everything in common. There were some who were freeloaders and were only interested in a free meal. Paul scolds each of these misguided persons and commands the church that they ought not put up with it.
You see, God has called each one of us to our work. God has called us to faith, to be Christians for sure, but God has also made us his workers, his priests, his hands serving his creation. When a Christian goes to work as a baker, an automobile manufacturer, a farmer, an executive, a house mother, he or she is going as God's representative to serve people who God loves. For us to sew the seeds of idleness and deny our work is to deny the very calling that God has given to us. Parents should parent. Students should study. Farmers should farm. Engineers should engineer. Salesmen should sell. Because through these callings God is caring for his creation.
But even those of us who go to work and earn an honest living still struggle with that sin of idleness. Sometimes we slack off or sluff off on the job. Sometimes we do a poor or a half hearted job. Sometimes we look for shortcuts. Often we make excuses.
Dear friends, we are guilty. Where God has commanded us to work we have been lazy. Where God has commanded us to diligence we have been half hearted. Even as we have judged the work done by others we have been guilty of those exact sins. Our text says that anyone who does not want to work should not eat. We probably ought to go hungry.
But we won't. This past Sunday due to the grace and the goodness of God I was fed by the fruit of somebody else's labor. You all worked diligently cooking turkeys, making stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pies, preparing, serving, and then cleaning. I was there. I ate. I enjoyed every bite. And all I had to do was stand around and say hello to the good people that walked through the door. God fed me generously. I don't deserve an ounce of credit.
Likewise, in a few days, I will sit down around a table and enjoy the same menu all over again, with little labor of my own because of the goodness of God (not to mention the goodness of my mother in law). God provides for me and God feeds me (and you too) because he is generous and he is good.
But we know that God feeds us greater food and has in store for us greater blessings. During the Divine Service we gather here at the altar to eat the meal that he provides for us for the forgiveness of our sins. His own body and blood given to eat and to drink. We don't earn it. We don't deserve it. But we eat and are filled, with our bodies, but also and especially with our souls as God gives us the forgiveness Christ earned on the cross.
And that feast is just the beginning, a fore taste, the appetizers. God has in store for us an eternal banquet where we will eat foods we did not prepare at a table that isn't our own. It's God's table in God's house prepared by God's own hand. You will eat. You will enjoy. You will be filled because God has made it so.
This day and this season, as we confess and acknowledge that our hands have been idle. We have denied our work and set aside our vocations, but God is gracious. He hasn't punished us or given us what we deserve. Much to the contrary. He has set a place for us at his table for our good and for our blessing. In His name.
Amen.
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