Wednesday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time, August 25, 2021

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.

In the First Reading for today’s Mass, St. Paul recalls for the Thessalonian Christians how he worked for their conversion.  He does this in order to confirm again for them that the teaching they have received is true: it was delivered at no cost to them although it cost its deliverer much in terms of the hardship of the work.  This is convincing for them because at that time in the Roman world, the promotion of new cults was a booming business.  And it was as much a business then as the “Prosperity Gospel” movement is today.  The promoters of these cults expected to be well paid, and their appearance as successful and sophisticated people encouraged others not as successful and sophisticated to join them.

By studied contrast, Paul says to them, “You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery.”  He speaks almost as one boasting.  People would have seen such a statement as a little more than counterintuitive.  How does a doctor sell his patent medicine by talking up how badly it tastes?  “Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God.”  Paul shows his care for these people, here.  He is one of them, and making a sacrifice in order to offer them the assistance he can give.  From this we also learn how to act as missionaries to those around us.  We are like the people we want to convert, working quietly and showing our way of life as desirable without being overbearing.  We might read “We made known to you the proclamation of God” in place of “the Gospel of God” in order to get a better sense of how these people heard Paul’s teaching: this was the proclamation that God had given to Paul to give to them.  “You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers.”  The divine proclamation revealed by Paul is verified by his own behavior.  As missionaries, we must act blamelessly as well and seek to help however we can the people around us.

“We treated each one of you as a father treats his children.”  Would-be missionaries must take care lest they fall into patronizing the people we hope to convert.  Few things are more deadly to a relationship than patronizing attitudes.  Respect and care are necessary.  We act as humble servants who have ourselves received the good we wish to share.  And we must “share” it and not force it upon others.  “Exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.”  When a person makes it clear that he or she wants to learn more about this new way of life, we teach it to them in little steps.  We encourage.  When they are well on their way to conversion, we can insist on their living devoutly, but we do so carefully.  And we remind them that they are now living to make themselves “worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.”  

“And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.”  Paul’s thanksgiving is not on his own behalf, but purely on theirs.  It is, therefore, true thanksgiving.  He gains no material benefit from their accepting the word of God as the word of God.  Paul’s Choice of Greek word for the “word” of God — logos — is the same term St. John uses in his Gospel to describe the Son of God.  We could then understand St. Paul as saying that the Thessalonians had receive the Son of God from them, as they would have through his preaching, conferring Baptism, and confecting the Holy Eucharist.

“The word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.”  Whether we understand “the word of God” as grace or as Christ himself, it or he is “at work” in the hearts, minds, and lives of believers.  The Greek word translated here as “at work” actually means “is working” , “is accomplishing” and “is operative”.  As we read in Hebrews 4, 12: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

We who are believers are called by God to be ministers of this living word, witnessing to him in our lives and able to speak of him with our lips.  In doing so, he shows his life in us to ourselves and to others so that his will might be accomplished in us, to bring us all into heaven.