| Pentecost +26 | | Date Created: Nov 09, 2005, 03:24 PM |
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The Epistle reading for this coming Sunday is 1 Thess. 5:1-11.
This is a continuation from the previous chapter. In 1 Thess. 4:13-18, Paul is answering a Thessalonian problem. They know that Jesus has taught that people should 'stay awake' until he comes again. But it looks as though some Christian in the Thessalonian church has died -- 'fallen asleep' -- and in light of Jesus' command to stay awake, they seem to have been wondering whether this meant that their friend loses out or that he/she wasn't really a Christian after all or what.
In chapter 4, Paul encourages them about what will happen to those who have 'fallen asleep' in death before the day. In chapter 5, Paul reminds of them of stuff he's already taught them when he was there, reaffirming the position that caused them problems before they understood it.
This passage is all about the General Resurrection (at the end of space/time) and it's clearly addressed to Gentile believers outside of Jerusalem. But he also alludes to the material from the Jesus tradition preserved for us in Mark 13 and parallels even though those weren't written down yet (he expects them to remember themes like the 'thief in the night' and 'birth pangs' and, in ch. 4, the 'trumpet call' and the Son of Man coming on the clouds). All of this makes it very likely, contra to some trendy teaching around today, that ultra-Jewish rabbi Paul understood Jesus to be talking not merely about the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem but about the End -- eschatology. It further shows that such teaching was important enough to Paul that it's something he taught to the churches, using the Jesus tradition, when he was with them, face-to-face. |
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