This Post Originally Was Posted February 4th, 2023
I grew up going to a barbershop. This barbershop had such an amazing vibe. The owner had a muscle car parked right outside the shop. You walk in and it smelt like shaving cream. He even was one of those old school barbers who had hot shaving cream that he would use as he took a razor knife and slid it across the back of your neck, lining everything up perfectly. Every guy in town used this barber. Every little boy in this town, sat in his chair and watched Looney Tunes as he cut your hair.
But this barbershop made me question my faith and ask “do I really want to be apart of this hateful religion?”
Day in and day out I would think through the words this barber said. He was a nice guy, I ran into him recently actually but the problem as a 13 year old that I came across was that this barber loved to talk about the end times. As a kid I routinely heard him talk about how terrible this world is, and how he cannot wait for Jesus to come back. “People would learn their lesson when Jesus came back.”
Talk like this was not uncommon.
We live in an evangelical world where “rapture” theology is widely known. The history of it is a mystery to many but the concept is everywhere.
Our culture is weirdly obssesed with the end of the world. Shows like the Walking Dead and movies like Knowing starring Nicholas Cage come to mind. It begs the question for me, why are we so obsessed with the end times?
Cell phones are interesting. Netflix stats on how many hours people spend a day watching their content is interetesting. The idea of the Meta verse is again, interesting.
All are escapes. Escapes from this world we are in that can take us to a world created by us for us.
The problem is, it’s for the worst parts of us.
As humans we long to escape. As the son of an addict, I have experienced this first hand at the last relapse my dad went through.
23 years old and scared for my life, burdened by trauma, I longed to escape the pain I was feeling and wanted to be in this utopian society where I would be set free.
This is not a completely wrong feeling to have. See, we live in a broken world, things are not how they should be and our deepest parts of us realize this and crave the world we should be in.
But sometimes the way we treat the present is because of how we view the future; and this can have grave consequences.
The church of Thessalonica had this issue of disengaging the world they actually lived in. It is not new for people to live their lives expecting, truly believing Jesus will come back in their lifetime. Early Christian’s and the Roman Empire all readily expected Jesus’ second coming to happen soon. So soon, that they would be alive to see it.
Because of this belief they had, the church of Thessalonica were quitting their jobs. They saw no point in going to work, fulfilling their vocational roles if Jesus were to be coming back so soon.
This is why Paul is writing 1 Thessalonians. This is why 1 Thessalonians main theme is the “second coming.”
What Is The Second Coming?
In the first century, Thessalonica would have experienced what is called a “paousia” a couple times at least.
This word Parousia is the word Paul uses to convey the idea of the second coming in 1 Thessalonians. But this word has more meaning to it than our modern ears realize.
A “parousia” is the word referring to the second coming of an emperor. What would happen is an earthquake would occur and damage the city. The city would need help to rebuild so the emperor would come to visit the city and see the damage. Kind of like how our President will go to disaster zones and see the damage that has been done. The emperor would do this same thing, they would go visit the place the earthquake occurred and assess the damage. After making his assessment, he would then give the people of the city a grant to fix their city.
The goal with this grant was always to make the city better than it was before. The goal was to be a good steward of the deposit given to you.
A parousia was the term referring to when the emperor would come back to visit the city. Also known as the “second coming”. Here’s how the second coming would go down:
1.) The Sound of The Trumpet
The emperor would arrive to the sound of a trumpet. This is because a watchman of sorts would be on the lookout for the Emperor and his posse. From miles away the watchman would see the royal guests and make it known the city to be ready. You did not want to be caught off guard to the Emperor coming to your city. He is royalty, reverence and praise are expected. You do not want to get in his bad graces. Thus the trumpet would sound, kicking everyone into gear for the arrival of the Royal.
2.) The City of The Dead
As the Emperor would come in, he would pass the Necropolis. The Necropolis was the term referred to as the “city of the dead”. Or in our terms, a giant cemetery placed in the front of the city as a way to pay respects to the pay who made the lives of the people in the city possible. The emperor would pass through the Necropolis paying respects to the dead.
3.) The Famous Meeting
Then the time would come for the unique meeting the people of the city would have with the Royal. There is a Greek term for this, but I do not know how to spell it in order to put it in this post. Essentially though the word in Greek used to refer to this meeting literally meant “to go out to meet.” This meeting is special, unique! It’s not just any other meeting. So the people would go out to meet with the Emperor with joy! They would take the Caesar by the hand(not literally) and show him all the great work they were able to accomplish with the deposit he made to them. They would go around and say “hey look at this monument we made in honor of you.” “Look at this fountain we made in your name.” The goal was with the deposit made, to rebuild, restore the city to be better than it was before the disaster and to do all of this in the name of the one who made the deposit.
Why Does The Second Coming Matter To Us?
Paul uses this language to refer to the “second-coming” of Jesus. The church of Thessalonica was quitting their jobs, “sitting on their butts”, not participating in the building of the Kingdom that is here and now, because of their belief that “oh well Jesus is coming back, so why does it matter what I do at my job now? The work is pointless.”
Paul is writing 1 Thessalonians to call this church, this group of believers back to their everyday jobs as a way to build the Kingdom here and now. As believers we have been entrusted with the desposit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and the mission we have been sent on since Genesis and again at the great commission in Matthew is to go out, and restore the city that was broken. We are to go out and be good stewards of the Spirit that lives inside of us. We are go and restore what’s around us to be better than it was before.
You may ask: “what was wrong with the world before the disaster(the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden-Genesis 3)?
The garden of Eden was not broken before the fall, but the work was also in the same breath not done. This is why God in Genesis 1-2 tells the Adam(mankind) to go out and multiply, be good stewards and build. Build community, gardens and cities.
Because of the fall(the disaster) our world has been left a wreck. But Jesus has entrusted us with a deposit(the Holy Spirit) so that we may go out into the world and restore not just souls, but all of creation back to what it was intended to be since the beginning.
The work you do each and everyday matters. The world is not going to hell in a hand basket. And if it does, its because of our lack of efforts to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
Jesus prayed in his famous prayer “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
What are you doing today?
Are you being a good steward of the deposit that was entrusted to you?
What will Jesus say when he comes back?
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