Well that’s Old Testament; that doesn’t count. Then how this, “Give to the one who asks [requests, pleads for, demands] you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:40–42). Give to “everyone” who asks? Everyone? Oh, by the way, Jesus said that.
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BUT WE KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE that there are poor folks who game the system. When you heard this verse what was your first thought? Welfare queens; poor lazy folks — people sitting around drawing their pennies? The thing is that although we might quote this to a homeless person on the street, Paul does not say this to a panhandler on the streets of Thessalonica.
Our minds might go straight to poor people taking advantage of others’ generosity, but the letter does not say that. Nowhere does Paul write that the problematic people are poor. We might want it to be against those people because then we can zip through this reading feeling justified. We can mark this page as N/A — not applicable. How we read with judgmental eyes and hearts!
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THE READING SIMPLY ADDRESSES idle busybodies. He might as easily be referring to the idle rich as the idle poor. They have resources for doing good, but they spend their non-working time meddling in other people’s business. They could be doing something right but instead they throw their weight around because they can. Doesn’t it just frost you when someone could offer ministry in the church but all they want to do is gripe about everything that is done? A guy once told me he could give $10,000 to the church but we’d just spend it. So, he didn’t.
He might be referencing those who have come to Jesus. They have their tickets punched. They are waiting on the glory train. They quit working because, well what’s the point. When they could be working, when they could be productive, they sit and wait for pie in the sky by and by when they die.
We get fixated on “unwilling to work” but Paul is concerned about how this behavior on the faith community and its ministry. He’s concerned about the church when these moochers contribute nothing to the kingdom.
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DO NOT BE WEARY IN DOING what is right. This is a counterbalance to the idea that “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Paul is not trying to establish social services policies for the city of Thessalonica. He is trying to establish a “do good for others even when you don’t have to” ethic among those who seek to follow Christ.
Follow his example. He came to town, did not “have” to work. He had the “right” as an apostle not to work and for them to take care of him. But, because he could work and contribute to the good of the whole, he did. (“Work” here is not limited to earning a paycheck, but is focused on fulfilling whatever purpose God has called us to fulfill.)
If there’s something good that you can do, do it. If there’s something good you can give, give it. Even if you don’t have to. Even if you have a right not to.
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TO THOSE WHO PROCLAIM they are saved by grace, not works, so they don’t need to work, Paul says work, do good deeds — not because you have to but because you can.
Contrary to the “no work, no eat” proclamation, Paul does not advise us to stop helping others in need. He’s not suggesting we limit help only to those who prove they deserve it. Paul flips the tables here at the end. He calls on us: Don’t get tired of doing what is right. Don’t get sick of doing good. Keep on doing good things. Don’t stop lifting up those around you. Never give up on doing good.
As John Wesley, father of Methodism, said: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
And I’ll add to that: Even if you don’t have to.
— Keith Cardwell
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resources: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3082
