The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, Year C. (Track II)
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
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
Luke 21:5-19
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
+++
I have to admit—today’s epistle reading is tough to hear. Considering what we have recently endured with SNAP cuts both before and during the government shutdown, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” feels cruel. I can attest that at St. James we have been getting many calls from people in need looking for food assistance; asking if we have funding available or when the best time to stop by the little free pantry is. When facing such hunger, the words of the epistle seem harsh. Every person in need I talk to, often before I can even get a word in, explains that they have a job, but their pay is coming late or it simply isn’t enough. Or if they don’t have a job, they are actively looking and haven’t had luck yet. Most commonly, they have multiple jobs, usually a full-time and whatever gig work they can, but it just isn’t enough. Whatever their situation, these are not “idlers”.
There is another underlying reason why the epistle seems harsh. II Thessalonians is not among the most well-known books of the Bible. Many people, even clergy, if you asked them to quote something from II Thessalonians would struggle. Except for this verse. “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” has been one of the verses that has been weaponized for centuries. Anyone wanting an excuse to reduce aid to the poor will quote this verse.
As you’ve probably guessed by this point, there’s more to this passage than a meditation on work ethic. This section of II Thessalonians is strange in several ways. First, in the wider context of the letter, it’s a bit out of place. Most of the letter is apocalyptic, concerning itself with the end times and Jesus’ return. Secondly, the tone of this passage doesn’t seem to align with the rest of the New Testament’s values about charity and treating the poor with dignity. Jesus didn’t verify everyone’s employment status or ask for proof of job applications before feeding the 5,000.
These are clues that there is something missing in our typical interpretation. So let’s dig a little deeper.
Usually we’d look for what specific situation the writer of II Thessalonians was trying to address. This was a letter to a real congregation after all. But we don’t really know much about the context of this letter at all. Unlike I Thessalonians where we know it was written by Paul, who it was written to, and even what the issue was (why hasn’t Jesus come back yet, and what does that mean for our loved ones who have died?), we have almost nothing to go on for II Thessalonians. We don’t know who wrote it, when, or what the issue was. Even with our passage that seems to be rather specific about some people not willing to pull their weight in the church community, the author is gives us few details. Again, it is a reminder that the epistles are letters, in this case, we’re reading someone else’s mail and jumping in in the middle of the conversation.
So who are these “idlers”—the ones unwilling to work and thus should not eat? Turns out, there’s a problem with the translation of the Greek here. While our translation says “idle” or “idlers” implying laziness, scholars believe “disorderly” or “disruptive”, implying insubordination, is more accurate. And this actually makes more sense in the context of the rest of the letter. As I mentioned earlier, the majority of II Thessalonians is focused on apocalyptic themes. There is much more concern about contrasting the quiet dignity of Jesus’ followers with the disorderliness of the world. This makes our passage not a jarring topic change but further development of the author’s theme.
And wouldn’t you believe it; there’s even a joke in our passage. Unfortunately there is no real equivalent in English, but in the Greek there is a play on words where the author describes these disorderly people as “not working but working around.” Meaning, “They do not do their own work, but they busy themselves with the work of other people.” Or in other words, busybodies! people who occupy themselves with other people’s business rather than their own.
In sharp contrast to how we typically read this passage, the author is not criticizing the poor, they are criticizing those who are distracting from the work of the Gospel. The busybodies, the people who are distracting themselves and others.
In the author’s time, these may have been people who were so convinced that the end times were coming soon that they believed menial work was pointless, or that there was no point in trying to spread the Gospel, since the world was evil and there was no time. Or they may have busied themselves with criticizing others or theological debates, whatever the case was, the message was the same: the Church and its members need to put the work in to proclaim the Gospel. We cannot be distracted or discouraged, we need to lead the world by example.
If then this passage is not an admonishment of the poor, and is fact it is quite the opposite since it demands we do the work of the Gospel, who really are these busybodies—those unwilling to do the work of feeding the poor, caring for the sick, and ensuring the wellbeing of all people as God commands? It’s not the people in need calling church to church looking for help. It’s not the people receiving SNAP. It’s not the people who have to waste their time filling out paperwork, providing proof of job applications, jumping through endless and humiliating bureaucratic hoops to prove that they are worthy of assistance. No. It is those in power who squabble, it is the corporations who hoard and waste, they are the ones who are unwilling to put in the work to make sure that all people can live a decent life.
The most common excuse these busybodies use is that there is simply not enough food to go around, so the only way they can be good stewards is to only give it to the people who “deserve it”. But this is a lie, and they should know better. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again, God has provided more than enough for everyone. Food scarcity was eliminated decades ago. The world’s population is 7 or 8 billion currently; thanks to breakthroughs in agriculture techniques we can produce enough food to easily feed 10 billion people. That’s been true since the 70s. And we’re not talking about a diet of pure gruel or flavorless nutrition cubes, that calculation includes meat, vegetables, real food that people would be happy eating. We’ve known this for decades, this research comes from the UN and so many other groups dedicated to addressing worldwide hunger.[1]
While this is good news, this does reveal a grave injustice. It means that every famine is man-made. We do not have a scarcity problem; we have a distribution problem. The reason hunger still exists in the world is because of our unwillingness to put the work in. We are busybodies more worried about deciding who is “deserves” food, or worrying about “enabling lazy people”, than just feeding people.
Anyone who has ever worked for a grocery store, or a restaurant, or really any job having to do with food can tell stories about the how much food is wasted. Baked goods being thrown out at the end of the day, slightly bruised fruit being tossed because it doesn’t look good on the shelf, even burning crops because they produced too much and need to keep prices high, countless examples where it’s more important to protect company profits than to feed people. And for those who have the power to regulate and really solve hunger, you know all too well how these busybodies busy themselves with fighting each other. One of the few bipartisan policies over the last few decades has been the shrinking of food assistance.
As the author of II Thessalonians concludes:
“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.”
As the church, we will continue to lead by example. Because they are unwilling to work, we will continue to feed those in need. But we do need to understand our mission. We need to not only feed the hungry, we need to ask why there are people who are hungry. And if we claim to be followers of Jesus, we need to demand that all people have enough to eat. For too long we have been enabling lazy behavior. Too long have we been an excuse for those unwilling to work. Whenever food assistance has been cut, or wages kept low, they could always say that food banks, charities, and churches will make sure people are fed. But we cannot remain silent. We cannot continue to let them take advantage of faithful people.
So we will continue to lead by example. Thank you to everyone who contributes to the discretionary fund, the food pantry, and all the other acts of charity you do. We who have little are still doing so much to help those in need while we continue to advocate for real change. Even though they will hate us for it, we have been given “words and a wisdom that none of [our] opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” The Truth: there is no good reason for anyone to go hungry. There is still much work to be done, changing the world for the better is an endurance race, not a sprint. As the Lord says, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
[1]https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1048452 &
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-10-billion-people-live-and-eat-well-on-the-planet-yes/
Thoughts, Words, and Deeds 