Colombo, Culture and Christian Living

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Thessalonians Three C’s: Colombo, Culture and Christian Living, and my focus is our Epistle (1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

One TV series that I could watch again and again is Colombo. It starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Colombo, a homicide detective with the LAPD, and originally ran from 1971-1978 on NBC, and 1989-2003 on ABC. Colombo wore a rumpled beige raincoat, smoked cigars, drove an old Peugeot, and often asked a final question with the famous catchphrase, “Just one more thing.”

I mention that catchphrase because last Sunday, we stopped reading Thessalonians at verse 12. Today, we resume the Letter beginning at verse 13. Paul introduces a new topic not wishing his audience to be ignorant or uninformed, and like Colombo, repeats his own catchphrase: “I do not want you to be unaware.”[1]

Like Colombo, Paul’s “Just one more thing” is the parousia, a Greek word meaning coming or presence. A parousia can refer to anyone, such as a dignitary or family member. Here, the Parousia refers to the Second Coming of Christ. The Parousia speaks to the times and ways Christ has been, is, and will be present to us. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote of the Threefold Advents of Christ in these words: “In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty.” Christ became present to humanity by taking on our humanity; He continues to be present with us through the Holy Spirit and most exultantly in the Eucharist; and He will be present again when He comes to judge the world. So, it is good for us to be aware of Christ’s threefold presence to us.

Aware of this, how did the Thessalonians respond? To shorten our speculation about their behavior, let me rephrase the question. Knowing that Christ was, will be, and is present to us, how do we respond? Are we filled with excitement and anticipation? Do we liken it to someone special coming to visit us?

When we were kids, and learned that company was coming, my mother would clean the house, prepare a meal, set the table, and dress up. My dad wore dress slacks, a collared shirt and polished shoes. When our guests arrived, we didn’t wait for them to knock on the door, we went outside and opened the car doors for them, greeted them in the driveway, and escorted them into the house. If you’ve done that, you have an understanding of how the ancients greeted their guests.

When a dignitary would visit the city, a greeting or welcoming committee went outside the city gate to meet and escort the person. Cicero wrote of Julius Caesar’s victory tour through Italy, “Just imagine what a royal welcome he is receiving from the towns, what honors are paid to him.” He wrote of Augustus, “the municipalities are showing the boy remarkable favor. … Wonderful apantesis and encouragement.” The word apantesis refers to the actions of a welcoming committee as it went forth from the city to escort the dignity into the city for his official visit. During that visit, the dignitary dealt not only with the honorable citizens, but with the dishonorable as well.

John Chrysostom picked up on these nuances, and in his sermon on 1^st Thessalonians, wrote, “For when a king drives into a city, those who are in honor go out to meet him; but the condemned await the judge within. And upon the coming of an affectionate father, his children indeed, and those who are worthy to be his children, are taken out in a chariot, that they may see and kiss him; but those of the domestics who have offended remain within.”

So, how do you respond to the awareness that the real King is here, and is waiting to see you? It’s a good question to ponder during the month that we remember the dead and observe the end of the church year. That also allows me to move on from Colombo to Culture.

When I say culture, I mean the customs of a particular nation or people. The Latin word is cultura, an agricultural term for tilling and preparing the soil. Before I plant my garden each spring, I plow the earth at least twice. After that I disc it, and finally I till it several times before planting. Throughout the year, I compost discarded vegetation and add a load of manure to enrich the soil. All of this promotes growth of the crops.

As Americans, we see many different ethnic cultures, and blend some of those into our lifestyle. A generation ago, we did not know about Mexican, Korean, Brazilian or Indian cuisine. Likewise, Paul’s audience, Gentiles not Jews, did not know about the culture of Paul. He was Jewish, and observed all the practices of Jews.

Gentiles who had not been exposed to Judaism found the whole idea of resurrection more than a little strange. The Greeks were used to the notion of immortality, but not a person coming back from the dead in new and improved flesh. They believed that a person survived death and went into the underworld. Coins would be placed on the eyes to pay the boatman (Charon) to carry the person down and across the river Styx, and avoid obstacles on the way that would steal the body.

There are stories about contacts with the dead. Odysseus went to Hades to consult a dead seer. This resembles Saul contacting Samuel through the Medium of En-dor (1 Sam 28:6-25). Such stories were to give information about the fate of the dead because there was concern about what happened to them after death. Others held birthday parties for the deceased which included a straw into the grave so the deceased could imbibe.

Given that few Gentiles had been exposed to Jewish-Christian teachings on the resurrection, Paul took great pains to counter their inconsolable grief with assurance that the afterlife is a positive image like a large family reunion. John Chrysostom wrote, “If you seek [the deceased Christian], seek him where the King is, where the army of angels is; not in the grave, not in the earth (Homily on 2 Cor 1:6).

This teaching was necessary because Paul either ran out of time or failed to teach this while he was in Thessalonica. So, when some Christians had died unexpectedly, questions arose about the afterlife. In a couple of words, Paul instructed the Thessalonians to stop grieving. Paul was not talking about the emotional states that people experience when a loved one dies, but the pervasive Greek view that there is no hope.

Pagans had no hope of a positive afterlife, but Christians did (and do). That is why Paul wrote that “you turned to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thes 1:10). And why later in this letter, he wrote, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:9). He expanded upon this in writing to the Romans (1:18-32). Folks, there is a difference between true Christian believers and unbelievers.

Verse 14 is basically a primitive Christian confession. It shows that what follows from believing that Jesus died and rose has a consequence about the fate of the Christian dead. When Jesus returns at the final Parousia, He will bring back or raise up only deceased Christians to a new and glorious state. That’s not my opinion, that is what Scripture tells us. Here, and in 1^st Cor 15, Paul operates with a concept of the resurrection of the righteous, not the unbelievers. He wrote about Christ as the first fruits and those in Christ as the latter fruits of the resurrection. For Paul the resurrection of the believer means full conformity to the image of Christ, which is something those outside of Christ will not receive when he returns. In other words, when Christ comes again, He will then raise your body and soul to be with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Verse 15 provides the reason we believers can be confident about the resurrection of deceased Christians, namely that Jesus himself spoke of this and affirmed this truth. The living will have no advantage over the deceased when Jesus returns, and vice-versa. All believers will be on the same cloud.

It was easy then and it is easy today to get caught up in anxiety or questions regarding the end of the world. The Thessalonians became so consumed with worrying about when the Parousia was going to come that they stopped caring about daily life and the things that really matter. That is why St. Paul wrote his Second Letter to the Thessalonians. He admonished them for their inaction, telling them that those who do not work should not eat. It was St. Paul’s way of trying to snap them out of their obsession with the Parousia and get them to re-focus their attention on the work of the Gospel.

If you have ever been coached or ever coached, you have heard the command, “Focus!” Focus not on what will happen in a year or ten, a hundred or a thousand. The Good News is that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and he will prepare a place for you. He will receive you. It’s His promise. Our “job” here and now is to focus on living the Good News. Live the Ten Commandments. Believe the Creeds. Pray the words Jesus spoke. Love people. At least ask them how they are doing. Focus![2]

It’s important to know that Paul was writing to Christians living in a Greek or Gentile world, and that they were heavily influenced by the surrounding culture. So, when Paul wrote – “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” – he was well aware of Cicero’s report of Julius Caesar’s victory tour through Italy in 49 A.D. It read, “Just imagine what a royal welcome he is receiving from the towns, what honors are paid to him.”

Paul co-opted the imperial rhetoric and applied it to Jesus. His opposition to Caesar and adherence to Jesus were all part of one package: Jesus was Lord; Caesar was not. The imperial cult suggested that a human being (emperor) was divine and walking around on the earth bringing peace and security. Hence, Paul’s letter and his teaching in this age were considered subversive.

Enough about Colombo and Culture. Let’s talk about Christian Living. November is an interesting month for us. We recover from a hectic Halloween by remembering all the saints who have gone before us starting with the first Christian martyrs up to those faithful witnesses who have influenced our lives today. Last Sunday, we remembered those who died. We now prepare for Thanksgiving and start thinking about Christmas and the New Year. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Retailers may want us to focus on what’s ahead. Our readings call us to focus on the here and now. Christian living is all about the here and now because while we acknowledge that Christ will come again, He is here and now. The five foolish virgins in our Gospel (Mt 25:1-13) lost focus, and when they finally returned with enough oil, they found the door locked. The lord would not open the door for them, and so they missed the fun.

Among the four teachings that we should recall daily in addition to the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds are the Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian living requires us to remember daily that we were baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who will one day raise our mortal bodies so that we share in His new creation.

Now, reading Paul’s words to the Thessalonians might give you the impression that he should have been more pastoral and less dogmatic when it comes to advising Christians not to grieve, but telling people the truth about what we believe is pastoral. As Christians, we don’t want to sugarcoat what happens after we die. In short, we are dead. Our bodies are in the ground and we are waiting for the Day of the Lord, the day when Christ returns and raises our bodies into a new and glorious state. That’s what we believe and teach, and it’s why we remember our Baptism daily. Baptism is a reminder that God loves you deeply.

In closing, have you ever considered that right now God is pleased with you? Most of the time that does not cross our minds. But considering the truth that the Son of God, who suffered and died for you, is returning to raise up your body is a reminder that He loves you and is pleased with you. And so, my friends, from now until the Day Christ returns, bear in mind that Christians live joyfully because the Spirit of the Risen Lord dwells in you even on your worst days. Copy that, and just one more thing, when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

---

[1] See also 1 Cor 10:1; 12:1; Rom 11:25.

[2] Focus was a favorite phrase from my first music teacher, Pat Mancini, from whom I took trumpet lessons as a kid. If you want to read how the trumpet worked its way into Paul’s Epistle, you can read my footnotes. Read Isa 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zech 9:14. See also 1 Cor 15:52; Ps 24:7-10.