When I first read through this text, the words that I found the most striking (after being like, wait there’s a Jason in the Bible??) were the accusations against Paul and Silas: These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.
It’s translated in different ways in different texts - this isn’t a Greek phrase - but I really like it. I think I caught into it, honestly, because of Hamilton. The song is
the battle of Yorktown - that outlines the battle, the losses, the surrender and then...freedom for America! And the drinking song they’re singing: The world turned upside down. In some nominal ways, at least, the earliest (European immigrant) Americans were like the earliest church: passionate, revolutionary, all-in, and determined to throw off the bonds of an empire.
And of course, there are differences. Paul starts where he’s most comfortable - in the synagogue. He’s Jewish, after all and doesn’t really see a distinction between his alignment with Jesus and his alignment with his Judaism. And as a Jewish believer, who values argument and dialogue with other Jews, he dives into scripture to engage the question of Jesus’ reign as Messiah. He does convince a few. And he convinces more than a few Greek God-worshippers. Enough to create a small community and it’s that community that’s accused by the Jewish establishment of treason - of mis-allegiance.
All through the Gospels, the disciples are asking - when, Jesus? When is the revolution? They’re expecting a battle - a Yorktown - and Jesus has to explain again and again. Folks, I’m not that kind of Messiah. The Jewish community in Thessalonica has the same misconception about this new crew. This isn’t a violent revolution. Jesus turns revolution itself on its head. Yes, they’re claiming him as king - but a king whose most powerful act was non-violent submission and reclaiming life from death.
One of the ways Paul imitates Jesus is by proclaiming that non-violent love. Thessalonian Jews - like those who were Jesus’ peers a decade or so before - would have felt threatened by that. They were a small community is a Roman/Greek city. They didn’t need people who called themselves Jews going around yapping about a king who wasn’t Caesar. They wanted to protect their community and ultimately Paul was run out of town.
Paul may have been run out of town, but the community he left behind, in turn became the revolutionary community. You can hear it in his letter back to them. He cites their work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in Jesus. He praises them for becoming imitators of himself and Silas and therefore imitators of Jesus himself. And he notes that in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers.
There is no doubt about it - our world has absolutely been turned upside down in the past few months. Likely it will never be fully righted. I think our challenge is, what kind of revolution might it spark? What ways can we follow Jesus out of this upside down world and into his upside down realm? And now, while the world is on its head, how can we use the shake up to notice how Jesus is calling us to love and justice?
Our reflection question for our fellowship time is, “What have you realized you can live without.” Many of us have realized that we can’t live without mail carriers and grocery workers and food production workers. I know many folks boycotted Amazon and other major retailers on May 1 to call for equity for warehouse and food and other essential employees. I pray that we may continue to seek a world that’s set on its head and follows the upside down king. The world turned upside down!
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image by Paul Vasilovski on Unsplash
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