I wonder whether you’ve ever experienced the same deflated feeling that I have sometimes at the end of an intense exciting project. Maybe at the end of a short term trip with a team of people, or after a musical or drama production which has taken teamwork, energy and focus, but has now finished.
I remember times like that – the wishing that the project was still happening and the longing to be with those people again.
We can see something of this in Paul’s writing as we come to the end of the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians. Remember that Paul was in Thessalonica for a short time, but while he was there he, and his co-workers, preached the gospel, gathered new believers together, and formed a new church. What an intense time that must have been, and how the people there must have worked together.
Now, in verse 17, Paul describes his feelings after he had to move on from Thessalonica. Earlier in the chapter he has used both motherly and fatherly metaphors to describe his relationship with the Thessalonians. Now he says that he and his companions were orphaned by being separated from them.
Although he was giving a lot to the new believers, represented by the parental metaphors, he knows he has also been sustained by them, which is perhaps behind his phrase here. His relationship with the Thessalonians was so strong that being away from them was like losing a parent! And he writes of his ‘intense longing’ to see them again.
Perhaps we know from our experience too that this heightened level of emotion cannot be sustained, but I think it makes Paul very real as a person when he expresses these strong reactions to the situations he’s in.
And, for me, it raises the question again of who has been that influential in my walk with Jesus. Can you think of people who have come alongside you in your life and who you’ve made this kind of connection with, even if only for a short time? Let’s be thankful to God for such people.
The end of this chapter also refers in passing to a subject which will become more significant in the later parts of the letter: Paul refers to “our Lord Jesus when he comes”. In these early years after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the believers lived in anticipation of Jesus’ return, and Paul had to work out some answers to questions that were being asked. What an intense time of high emotions it must have been!