An old joke: the judge warns the man in the dock that the prosecution has a witness who saw him do it. “That’s nothing!” the accused scoffs. “I can find five people who didn’t see me do it.”
Robert Weston will go you one better: For every guy the cops think did it, he will find four others who most definitely did not do it. Like a member of G. K. Chesterton’s famous Club of Queer Trades, Weston has created a completely new profession: lineup casting director. When the police in the Bronx collar a suspect and need the witness to ID the perp, they phone Weston with a brief physical description – gender, ethnicity, facial hair – and he makes a few calls. Each participant earns a sawbuck, as does Weston for his role as impresario. If he also sits in as a pseudo-suspect, he pockets an extra tenner. Crime’s a pretty steady commodity: Weston apparently makes a fair living. (Read more at http://www.nytimes.com /2011/10/17/ nyregion/a-casting-director-for-police-lineups.html?_r=1&hp.)
This doesn’t seem like hard work; anybody could do it. So how does Weston hang onto his monopoly? “He always picks up his phone,” explains one officer.
Paul developed a rep in Thessalonica as a man who picked up his phone: that is to say, one who did good work. Paul put in hard hours (the Greek words for “labor and hardship” in v. 9 carry the idea of hacking away underbrush and slogging through the mud) and worked double-shifts, making sure that he did not unsay with his tents (Acts 18.3) what he said with his testimony.
In the end, the apostle rejoices that his converts received the gospel “not as the word of men, but . . . the word of God.” Perhaps one thing that made this possible was that they could, up front, receive it as the word of honest men.
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business?” asks Proverbs 22.29. “He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” Paul was diligent in his business, and the mean men before whom he stood became a nation of priests and kings.
So whether you supply tents or fake muggers, do your job well. Answer your phone; stand behind your product. Let your work say “amen” to your witness, and show the world what a worthy walk looks like.
That’s the One, Officer!
Doug
Collect
Great Creator, You said of all you made that it was good, and they said of Your Son that He did all things well. Grant now that we may do with all our hearts whatever work we encounter, whether high or low, great or small, bringing all our labor before You as an offering, that the world might see in our smallest deeds a reflection of Your greatest praise. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Benediction
May you choose labor over laziness,
For in labor we show Christ’s love.
May you be burden-bearers rather than a burden-bringers,
For Christ bore our burden on Calvary.
May all of your works bear witness to the worthy walk of faith,
That the Word of God might perform its saving work.
In the name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
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