Our Holy Father Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople and Confessor (c. 353-61)
1 Thessalonians 2:14-19; Luke 11:23-26
Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read 1 Thessalonians 2:14-19
For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of our boasting? Is it not you?
Paul speaks to the Thessalonians tenderly. These are gentile Christians, who feel displaced, not being Hebrews prior, we get the sense from Paul that they are “second rate Christians.” But Paul asserts their equality. These gentile Christians have become imitators. Paul means imitation in a positive way. They are not imposters. Recall he tells the Corinthians: “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, but it is the shortest road to becoming Christ, the gift of baptism we perfect in our Christian life.
These Christians are put out. In our communities, we often cede power to the people who have been there the longest, who are of a certain family, bloodline, or ethnicity. Paul slays that with cunning rhetoric here. While he equates these Gentile Christians with the Jews, he also offers a jab: they are the ones who killed Jesus and his prophets. Paul is simply taking the air out of any expression of self-righteousness one part of the community might have. We should not be as proud of our origin, our ethnicity, our position in society, but rather, our end goal. Paul does this as much. He tells the Thessalonians this: Are you not my hope, my joy, my crown of boasting? Is it not you that I bring before the Lord at his coming? Paul has his eyes fixed on meeting his Lord again and wants to give account for what he did to build his Church up. A good reflection question we might have is, what do we want to show the Lord when he comes to take a claim on our life at the moment of our death or second coming. What will be our joy, our hope, and our crown?