All in the Family October 23, 2011 Proper 25 Ordinary Time, Year A 1 Thessalonians 2.1-8

            Mixed metaphors let the cat on a hot tin roof out of the bag. Paul doesn’t care.

            In 1 Thessalonians 2 he runs his metaphors through a mad mixer, morphing in just a few verses from a infant to mother to father in describing his relationship to the little congregation. Some very good manuscripts read “infants” for “gentle” in verse 7 (a one-letter difference in Greek). Paul pairs this with the image of a “nursing mother” and then throws in dad (verse 11) for good measure.

            The unifying theme in this disjointed syntax is vulnerability.

            We all understand an infant’s insecurity but too seldom see the helplessness of parents. Frederick Buechner explains it well: “When it comes to your own hurt there are always things you can do. . . .But when it comes to the hurt of a child you love, you are all but helpless. The child makes terrible mistakes, and there is very little you can do to ease his pain.”

            The interesting thing is that this is Paul’s picture of apostleship.

            1 Thessalonians may well be his first epistle and he does not identify himself with the title apostle as he will in later letters. Some scholars think this means that we are watching Paul hammer out his own understanding of what it means to be God’s authorized messenger. Sure, there’s the opportunity to throw one’s weight around (verse 6), but the true mark of a minister is an openness that, in welcoming relationship, risks pain. When they hammered on Paul in Philippi he shook it off and preached as boldly as ever. When he had to sacrifice his own security, he never hesitated. But when his converts pay the price for faith, he can only hurt alongside of them.

            And that’s how Paul gauges whether a ministry has been “in vain.”

            He never mentions numbers of converts. He says nothing about attendance statistics. He only records that a community of Christians comforted one another in the suffering brought about by the offence of the gospel. Now there’s wisdom you can take to the bank for a rainy day.

Metaphorically Speaking,

Doug

           

Collect

Almighty God, You revealed Your power in a human body hung on a cross and a human heart broken for our sins. Remind us that in vulnerability is our victory, and in pain is our power, that in us the world might see embodied the love of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, Amen.

Benediction

May you learn that asking is more powerful than ordering,

            For an infant is armed only with its need.

May you learn that feeding is more fulfilling than being fed,

            For a mother’s reward is in giving.

May you learn that life grows by being given away,

            For our living Lord loved us even unto the death.

In the name of the Father,

And of the Son,

And of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.