Relief for the Afflicted (2 Thess. 1)

[Sung Psalm" 59]

In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul will talk about how Christ is coming in flaming fire “inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

But in order to understand what Paul is doing there, we need some background!

How should we think about vengeance?

“Vengeance is mine, says the LORD, I will repay.” (Dt 32, Rom 12, Heb 10) And so we should not take revenge on those who harm us.

But that does not mean that vengeance is bad. After all, remember what God says: Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. The reason why we are not supposed to take vengeance is not because vengeance is bad - it is because we are bad at vengeance!

We tend to overdo it. If you hit me with a stick, I’ll hit you harder with a bigger stick.

Everything escalates and the next thing you know, everyone is dead.

Think about all the books and movies that focus on the theme of vengeance. The question always comes up – when is it going to end? How is it going to end? The cycle of vengeance can never stop by itself. He killed my brother – so I have to kill him – and then someone will come after me…

And so many people suggest that the solution is to give up on justice. Let it go. Everyone makes mistakes…

Seriously? Does anyone believe that the right answer to the Catholic church’s sexual abuse scandal is “Hey, just let it go – everyone makes mistakes!”?!! NO!! There are children’s lives at stake!

And so yes, we should pursue justice in this life – but with the caveat that we will not attain perfect justice here. We need to do the best we can – and then leave the rest to God.