Tuesday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 23, 2022

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; 14-17

We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no one deceive you in any way; [for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.]  To this end he has also called you through our Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.  May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.

The Lectionary unfortunately chops up this reading from St. Paul.  The verses omitted from the Letter (4-12) are included here within brackets.  These verses are necessary for us because they tell us what it is that we should be concerned and on the watch for, and also that the end of the world is not as imminent as some of these new Gentile Christians feared, for the signs of it had not yet appeared.

“With regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him.”  It is interesting to compare what the Lord himself taught about the end in, say, Matthew 24-25, and what St, Paul taught.  Paul, of course, had not heard Jesus preach and so all that he knew of the Gospel came from the Apostles who had.  Now Paul hands on what he received from them to a people recently converted and without the benefit of Jewish tradition regarding the end of the world to fall back on.  

“Not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.”  In the Ancient Greek religion, oracles and pythonic spirits “foretold” the future, usually at various shrines.  St. Paul warns the Thessalonian Christians not to consult these things and not to listen to people who had.  “Oral statements” might be attempts by people to deduce the time for the end.  False letters from the Apostles seem already to float around.  In 3, 17, Paul makes sure to authenticate this particular Letter: “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.”  He likewise does this in his Letter to the Galatians: “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand” (Galatians 6, 11).  The Lord Jesus had already warned his followers not to listen to people who were saying that the world had ended: he taught that when the world ended, it would be sudden and everyone would know it together (cf. Matthew 24, 23-27).

“For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed.”  Paul speaks of events that will occur preceding the end.  Of the “rebellion”, the Lord says, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24, 29).  The Book of Revelation speaks similarly.  A great apostasy will take place in which a great number of Christians — and especially their leaders — will reject God and his Church: they will “fall from heaven”.  We may liken this to another fall of which the Lord speaks: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10, 18).  “A man of lawlessness” will appear quite openly at that time.  He is the “son of perdition”, that is, of destruction and ruin.  He is so-called because he acts for the devil as though his son and will lead large numbers of people to hell.  St. John calls him “the Antichrist”.  “Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”  This may mean that he preaches atheism while also establishing himself as the only authority offering salvation (of whatever kind).  While many people acted in this way in the twentieth century and some do so now, this man will seemingly perform miracles: “The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception.”  The Lord speaks of the serious threat of even steadfast Christians being lured by the Antichrist’s false power: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24, 24).

“And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.”. This verse and the one following it, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way”, are difficult to translate.  Paul seems to say that the devil seeks even now to destroy the world and to lead the human race in slavery to hell, and that he would, if the Lord did not restrain him, for we humans are weak, easily deceived, and given to sinful acts, while the devil is far more intelligent and powerful than we are.  This restraining may be what the Lord means when he says, “And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24, 22).  The “shortening of days” meaning “the restraining of the Antichrist’s power”.

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.”  Just as the Lord breathed on the Apostles so that they might receive the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20, 22), so he breathes on the Antichrist and he dies.  His death will come suddenly when he seems to be at the height of his power and near victory.  It will be as the calming of the storm which threatened the lives of the Apostles: “And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling . . . and he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40  (Mark 4, 37-39).  

“Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  That is, God allows the wicked, who have rejected objective reality and morality, to suffer the consequences of their embrace of what is false.  Those who hope to be saved must avoid the wicked and their lies lest they fall prey to them.

“To this end he has also called you through our Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul reassures the Thessalonians that God calls them to salvation.  He makes it possible for them to be saved, but they must do their part in accepting God’s immeasurable gift to them: “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”  The Lord urges perseverance throughout  the Gospels.  It is a major theme in the Letters of the Apostles, and it is the principal message of the Book of Revelation.  

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.”  St. Paul ends this part of his Letter with a prayer for the perseverance of these new Christians, reminding us also to pray for this virtue for ourselves.