Search Results

Many seek to use him for their own cause, but few want to embrace his total commitment to Christ. Previous Next Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Responsibility, Transformation Many seek to use him for their own cause, but few want to embrace his total commitment to Christ. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Stained Glass.” St Johannes Basilikum, Berlin, Germany. Sludge G. Photo taken 30 Aug. 2009, https://www.flickr.com/photos/sludgeulper/3904027037 . Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 , https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dietrich_Bonhoeffer_.jpg . Tom Faletti December 26, 2024 What does it mean to be a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ? Dietrich Bonhoeffer devoted his life to that question. Although his answer shifted over time, his devotion to Christ never wavered and he ultimately gave up his life because of his faith. A new movie, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. (Angel Studios, 2024), tells a gripping tale of Bonhoeffer’s life and execution in a Nazi concentration camp on April 9, 1945, but it provides little illumination of the faith this German pastor expressed so powerfully in his writings and his teaching. At the core of Bonhoeffer’s life was a commitment to the whole gospel and a radical desire to live fully for Christ. Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister in Germany when the Nazi dictatorship took power in the 1930s and began to eliminate those it hated. Hitler wanted total allegiance, and that demand is necessarily a problem for Christians, for whom only God is worthy of total allegiance. Most Christians in Germany at the time did not recognize how incompatible the Christian faith was with Hitler’s hatreds, goals, and methods. Bonhoeffer saw the problem from the start and sought to keep Christ at the core of the church’s identity. Bonhoeffer’s life and teachings come in three parts: discipleship, responsibility, and transformation. In each phase of his story, he challenges us to put our faith at the center of our lives. Part 1 Discipleship: Total commitment to every word of Christ Bonhoeffer started out as a pastor, theologian, and college professor, but he shifted course when the Nazis launched their brutal dictatorship in 1933. He left Germany and worked through ecumenical circles to try to warn the church around the world that Hitler was not just a political or military threat; he was a spiritual threat because his demands raised him up as an idol in opposition to God. Bonhoeffer argued that the Nazi regime’s insistence on allegiance to Hitler’s agenda even over conscience and faith was a threat to the very existence of genuine Christianity. In 1935, Bonhoeffer returned to Germany to begin training pastors in what was called the Confessing Church – those who resisted the Nazi regime’s efforts to unite all Protestant churches behind its persecution of Jews and pursuit of transnational domination. His seminary was eventually declared illegal and shut down by the Nazi government. In 1937, he published a book that captured the content of the lectures he gave as he prepared pastors to serve in the Confessing Church. The book never specifically mentions Hitler or what was going on in Germany at the time, but it speaks clearly of the coming persecution and explains what living a life that is fully committed to Christ must look like. The book was titled Nachfolge , German for “Discipleship,” but the English translation was called The Cost of Discipleship . It is most famous for its analysis of the difference between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Cheap grace is the belief that, because Jesus died for our sins, it doesn’t matter whether we obey His commandments since we have already been forgiven and justified by His death. Cheap grace is “grace without discipleship, grace without the cross” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 47). Costly grace calls us to take up our cross and follow in the way of Christ. Costly grace means we accept and embrace a “single-minded obedience to the word of Christ” (p. 88). Costly grace places the teachings of Jesus first in every aspect of life. When any part of the Church expects little of its members other than an hour on Sunday and a statement of faith — whether that statement is a creed or a “sinner’s prayer” – it has fallen sway to “cheap grace.” But there is far more in Bonhoeffer’s book, and even people who take their faith seriously might be uncomfortable with the severity and absolutism of his approach. For example, according to Bonhoeffer, Jesus’s directive to the rich young man to sell everything and give the money to the poor applies to all of us. When Jesus says that the person who calls someone a fool is in danger of going to hell (Matthew 5:22), Bonhoeffer says Jesus means it literally. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, that means we must do good to them, not just pray for them, because love is not love if it does not take action. When we are mistreated, Bonhoeffer echoes Jesus in saying we are to relinquish our personal rights by turning the other cheek and must never respond to violence with violence. All of Jesus’s teachings are to be taken literally, Bonhoeffer tells us. If we take Jesus’s commands figuratively – as commands intended only for a limited number of people or as aspirational goals that we don’t think God expects us to fully obey – we risk falling into the cheap grace that is no real commitment to Jesus at all. Bonhoeffer argues that, since Christ became one with us in the Incarnation, He is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. In every interaction we have with other people, Christ is there. He “stands in the center between my neighbor and myself” (p. 112). Since all of our dealings with other people also include Christ, we must embrace the way of the cross, the way of reconciliation, the way of love even for our enemy, in every interaction. That is what it means to love others as He loves us. That is why “any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took the form of man, and in his own Person, restored the image of God in all that bears a human form” (p. 341). Since every person is made in the image of God, we must treat every person with love. We “recover our true humanity” when we “retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race” (p. 341). We are called to recognize the connection we have with all other people because that is what Christ did. This call to be like Christ does not apply only to saints or pastors. This discipleship, Bonhoeffer insists, is for all of us. All are called to obey. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to discipleship Bonhoeffer’s teachings raise many challenging questions. We might ask ourselves: Is the church too willing to let people slide by with cheap grace rather than confronting them with a gospel that demands total commitment? When are the teachings of Jesus (for example, to sell all you have, don’t insult others, turn the other cheek, love your enemy, etc.) meant to be taken literally as absolute commands? Does Jesus want all of us to do all of these things all the time? How are we to respond to these teachings of Jesus? How would our lives be different if we lived them in “solidarity with the whole human race,” as Jesus chose to live in solidarity with us? Who would we need to embrace or include as one of “us” if we were to adopt this solidarity with others as a guiding principle? Part 2 The movie Bonhoeffer (Angel Studios, 2024) tells us that the pacifist Dietrich Bonhoeffer chose to get involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, but it does little to explore the conflicting feelings Bonhoeffer had. He saw clear spiritual risks in this decision and sought to stay true to the suffering Christ. Responsibility: Free people face difficult choices in this world Bonhoeffer sought to train pastors in an underground seminary as Hitler was consolidating and extending his power in the 1930s. Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship , which is based on his lectures at that time, insists that a life of total dedication to Christ will be resisted by those opposed to Christ and will be met with persecution. To be persecuted is to share in the cross of Christ. Those who suffer martyrdom enter fully into the cross of Christ and live with Him forever in glory. When Bonhoeffer’s safety appeared to be in jeopardy, his friends abroad convinced him to leave Germany. But he soon decided that if he did not join in the suffering of his fellow Christians in Germany, he could not legitimately be part of the rebuilding that he knew would be necessary once Hitler was gone. So he returned to Germany. He was arrested in 1943, imprisoned for two years, and ultimately was hanged shortly before the Allies defeated the Third Reich. The reason why Bonhoeffer was arrested is surprising. For a while, Bonhoeffer worked as a double agent, ostensibly working for German intelligence while also working for the German Resistance. Some of his family members were part of a unit in the Resistance that developed a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer supported that effort. The plot failed, but Bonhoeffer’s role in the Resistance was discovered and he was arrested on April 5, 1943. In 1937, Bonhoeffer had taught that violence was never acceptable for a Christian. He had written: “If I am assailed, I am not to condone or justify aggression. . . . Suffering willingly endured is stronger than evil. . . . There is no deed on earth so outrageous as to justify a different attitude. The worse the evil, the readier must the Christian be to suffer; he must let the evil person fall into Jesus’ hands [i.e., leave the response to Jesus and not take matters into one’s own hands]” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 158-159). But as he saw the enormity of the evil being done under the Third Reich – which was killing millions of Jews and other innocent people and undermining the basic tenets of Christianity by not allowing seminaries or churches to operate if they resisted Hitler’s program – he gradually became convinced that violence was necessary in order to rid Germany of Hitler. I asked Kurt Kreibohm, a retired pastor and tour guide at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer House in Berlin about this seeming contradiction. He acknowledged the contradiction and said that Bonhoeffer agonized over it. Bonhoeffer struggled with the idea that what he was doing was a sin (indicating that he still believed what he had written previously); yet he believed the assassination attempt was necessary to prevent the killing of millions of additional people. He put himself in the hands of God, believing that his participation in the plot was worthy of God’s judgment against him even though he believed it was necessary. In 1942, a few months before he was arrested, Bonhoeffer wrote a Christmas letter to his co-conspirators. In that letter, he discusses the need for Germans to exercise “the free responsibility of the free man,” a responsibility that is “founded in a God who calls for the free venture of faith to responsible action and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the one who on account of such action becomes a sinner” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison , Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works – Reader’s Edition, Fortress Press, 2015, pp. 7-8). Bonhoeffer’s thinking has evolved in the five years since he wrote The Cost of Discipleship . Now, he sees that the need to make concrete decisions in difficult situations presents ethical challenges, and he underscores our responsibility for the actions we choose. He does not take lightly the possibility that he will make wrong choices as he exercises the free responsibility God has given him. At the same time, he believes that God will extend forgiveness and grace to him when he falls short. But it is not cheap grace. The hope of grace comes with an understanding that we are not making decisions merely to suit our own desires; we are accountable to God because God has made us “co-responsible for the shaping of history” (p. 8). He goes on to say: “I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are not in vain and that it is no more difficult for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds. I believe that God . . . waits for and responds to simple prayer and responsible actions” (p. 13). We are still called to live our lives fully for God. While he is in prison, Bonhoeffer writes to his best friend Eberhard Bethge about “the profound this-worldliness of Christianity” ( Letters and Papers from Prison , p. 471). Looking back on his life, he writes: I thought I myself could learn to have faith by trying to live something like a saintly life. I suppose I wrote Discipleship at the end of this path. Today I clearly see the dangers of that book, though I stand by it. Later on I discovered, and am still discovering to this day, that one only learns to have faith by living in the full this-worldliness of life. . . . [O]ne throws oneself completely into the arms of God, and this is what I call this-worldliness: living fully in the midst of life’s tasks, questions, successes and failures, experiences, and perplexities – then one takes seriously no longer one’s own sufferings but rather the suffering of God in the world. Then one stays awake with Christ in Gethsemane. And I think this is faith; this is metanoia. ( Letters and Papers from Prison , p. 472) Bonhoeffer’s understanding of faith shifted over time, from seeking to avoid evil to seeking to embrace Christ in the complexities of life in the real world. But he remained focused on pursuing a life wholly identified with the suffering Christ. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to take the risk of engaging in this world Bonhoeffer is not the only person of faith who has sensed a call to move from saintly separation to a riskier involvement in the world. The challenges Bonhoeffer faced remain relevant to us today: In what ways are we called to embrace difficult choices in a messy world, rather than staying in our safe and saintly enclaves? How can we maintain our commitment to total discipleship to the suffering Christ – to a life lived wholly for God – as we grapple with difficult situations that challenge our previous understandings of how to live the life of faith? How do we embrace the “this-worldliness” of life, as Jesus did while He was on earth, yet stay focused on God? Part 3 The movie Bonhoeffer (Angel Studios, 2024) fails to capture the depth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s faith. His commitment to live fully for Christ is much clearer in his real life than in the film. Transformation: Living “as Christ” in all circumstances Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his pastoral life with zeal in the 1930s, calling all people to a severe adherence to every word of Christ – the life of “costly grace.” Confronted with the enormity of evil in the agenda of Hitler and the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer joined the German Resistance, which led to his arrest and the final phase of his remarkable life. In prison, Bonhoeffer was an enormous force for good. Fellow prisoners found strength and hope because of his encouragement. Even prison guards were impressed by him and helped in the effort to smuggle his prison writings out to the world. Some of the prayers he wrote in prison have circulated widely in the decades since then. Bonhoeffer’s 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship spells out his rigorous commitment to following every teaching of Christ: sell all, turn the other cheek, love your enemy. He urges us to recognize that in every interaction with every other person, Christ is standing between us and them, so we must love every other person. This is what it means to live as a disciple of Christ. Late in the book, Bonhoeffer takes another step. He suggests that in Romans 8:29, where Saint Paul calls us to be “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son,” he is calling us to become “as Christ” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship , originally published in 1937 in German as Nachfolge ; English revised and unabridged edition published by The Macmillan Company, 1963, p. 337). “That image,” Bonhoeffer explains, “has the power to transform our lives, and if we surrender ourselves utterly to him, we cannot help bearing his image ourselves. We become sons of God, we stand side by side with Christ, our unseen Brother, bearing like him the image of God” (p. 337). In prison, Bonhoeffer presented a living example of what he had taught in his book. To those around him, he became a living image of Christ. He had called us to live “as Christ.” He had tried to live wholly for Christ in the jaws of the Third Reich. Now, he brought the presence of Christ into each of the four prisons and concentration camps he was detained in before his execution. In his 1942 Christmas letter to members of the Resistance with whom he worked, Bonhoeffer had described the perspective he had gained as he worked to put his faith into action in the real world: “It remains an experience of incomparable value that we have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison , Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works – Reader’s Edition, Fortress Press, 2015, pp. 20). He asserts that “personal suffering is a more useful key, a more fruitful principle than personal happiness for exploring the meaning of the world in contemplation and action” (p.20). That solidarity with those who suffer prepared him to be a light of grace and hope to those in prison. Bonhoeffer ends The Cost of Discipleship with a description of the goal of discipleship. The goal, he says, is not to be a perfect rule-follower, even though obeying Christ is a primary mark of a disciple. Discipleship is not about rules for their own sake; it is about living in an intimate relationship with the One who showed us how to live. Bonhoeffer ends his book this way: “If we are conformed to his image in his Incarnation and crucifixion, we shall also share the glory of His resurrection. . . . “We shall be drawn into his image, and identified with his form, and become a reflection of him. That reflection of his glory will shine forth in us even in this life, even as we share his agony and bear his cross. . . . “This is what we mean when we speak of Christ dwelling in our hearts. His life is not finished yet, for he continues to live in the lives of his followers. . . . “The Holy Trinity himself has made his dwelling in the Christian heart, filling his whole being, and transforming him into the divine image” ( The Cost of Discipleship , p. 343). Discipleship means allowing God to live in us, fill us with Himself, and transform us into His image, an image that was placed in each of us before we were born. God gives us freedom and the responsibility to use it to the best of our ability to lives as images of Christ. We do this by embracing the cross of Christ and extending the love of Christ to all, including those who are maltreated and rejected by others – loving all as Jesus did. Our calling is to become wholly like Him. In his writings and in his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sought to present a life of total devotion to Christ. The same invitation is made to all of us, because Christ came so that He might dwell in the heart of every person who embraces Him. Reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s call to be transformed into the image of Christ Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not the first person to recognize God’s grand plan: to transform us into the image of Christ. We find his story valuable partly because the times in which he lived were not ideal for trying to live a life wholly devoted to Christ. He faced difficult choices. We honor him not because he necessarily always made the “right” choices, but because he always sought to put God first. How he responded to his times raises provocative questions for us in our own faith lives: If we live “as Christ,” who loves everyone else with the same love with which He loves us, how might that change how we view and interact with other people? In what ways does the idea of becoming a living image of Christ attract you? . . . intrigue you? . . . scare you? To what extent are you willing to say yes to becoming a living image of Christ? How might seeing events from below, from the perspective of those who are outcasts or suffering, help you live as a reflection of Christ in the world? What is the next step God is calling you to take, to help you be transformed into His image and to be a clearer reflection of Christ in your world? In every phase of his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sought to live in a manner that was totally committed to the suffering Christ and filled with concern for all who suffer. He encouraged everyone else to do the same. May his desire to fully live “as Christ” be our goal as well. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Pre-tribulation theories contradict Jesus and Paul. What does the Bible actually say? Previous Next The Rapture? It’s Not a Pre-Millennial Escape from Tribulation Pre-tribulation theories contradict Jesus and Paul. What does the Bible actually say? Image by CHUTTERSNAP, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti December 13, 2024 In 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, the apostle Paul refers to the “rapture” while he is discussing the end times when Christ will return. The word “rapture” comes from the Latin word that translates the Greek word in verse 17 where Paul says that we will be “caught up” (literally, “snatched”) to meet the Lord in the air. Authors Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series and Hal Lindsey of The Late Great Planet Earth fame have popularized an approach to interpreting what the Scriptures say about the end times that leans heavily on a modern interpretation of Paul’s “rapture.” These authors (and others, who don’t always agree among themselves) combine their interpretation of the rapture with their interpretation of the “1000 years” mentioned in Revelation 20:2-3 and other Bible passages to produce an entire timeline of the end times that is not consistent with the historic understanding of the Scriptures. Their views are based on ideas that mostly did not spread until the 19th century. Most of Christendom from the time of Augustine in the 5th century until the 19th century has taken a very different approach to interpreting the Bible’s end-times passages. Currently, the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and many Protestant denominations – including the Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches and others – reject that interpretation of the end times. This summary of the problem is drawn from a variety of sources, in an attempt to identify the commonalities in Catholic and Protestant thinking about the subject. In addition to the sources used in my 1 Thessalonians study, it also considers Trent Horn (Catholic), Karlo Broussard (Catholic), Alan S. Bandy (Reformed), the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (Lutheran), and “Where does the Rapture fit into UM beliefs?” (United Methodist). The historic churches and denominations have much in common in their understanding of the end times. The main divide on this topic is not between Protestants and Catholics. The main divide is between a fundamentalist segment of modern Christianity and the rest of Christianity. Frameworks for thinking about the end times There are roughly 6 common frameworks for thinking about the rapture, the tribulation, and the 1000-year “millennial” reign mentioned in Revelation 20:2-3: The first three approaches all revolve around the idea that the rapture will precede a 1000-year millennium of peace and righteousness on earth. However, the pre-millennialists don’t agree on whether the rapture will happen before, during, or after the tribulation that precedes the end: Pre-tribulation, pre-millennial: Christ will come and take the Christians who are alive to heaven (the “rapture”) before the tribulation. Then the tribulation will come, in a world devoid of Christians. Then Christ will come again with the church (which sounds like a second Second Coming, since he already came to rapture people). Then Christ will reign for 1000 years, and then there will be the final judgment (which sounds like a third Second Coming). This is the view of the people like Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey who have fed the “rapture” industry. Mid-tribulation, pre-millennial: This approach is similar to the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial approach, except that the rapture will happen in the middle of the tribulation (i.e., halfway through the 7-year tribulation), not before it begins. Therefore, Christians will experience some of the tribulation and not be fully spared. Post-tribulation, pre-millennial: This approach says that Christians will not be spared the tribulation at all. Christians will not join Christ until he comes in his Second Coming at the end of the tribulation. Then Christ will reign for 1000 years, and then the final judgment will come. These approaches all separate the Second Coming of Christ from the final judgment. Jesus never suggests such a separation, nor does Paul. They both describe one decisive event when Jesus comes, takes believers to himself, and presides over the final judgment. Amillennial: This view rejects the separation of the “rapture” from the final judgment and the entire pre-millennial framework. In this view, we are in the 1000-year reign of Christ, which began when Christ broke the power of sin by his death and resurrection and ascended into heaven. The reference to “1000” years in the Book of Revelation is symbolic, not literal: “1000” means a large number and “1000 years” means “a very long time.” Revelation 20 says that in this millennial time, the devil is being restrained. God is giving us time so that the gospel can be spread around the world. After the period we are now in, which includes its own times of smaller tribulation, Satan will be allowed to try to turn people away from Christ and the great, final tribulation will come. The Christians and non-Christians suffer now, and both the church and non-believers will suffer during the final tribulation, as Jesus warned from the beginning (see, for example, Matthew 24:29-31, where the tribulation precedes the gathering of the elect to Christ). After that period of tribulation, the final judgment will begin with Christians being caught up with those who have risen from the dead to meet Christ when he returns (1 Thess. 4:17; also referred to by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:1 as our “assembling” with the Lord). That event is not a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial escape from suffering; it is part of the Second Coming and final judgment exercised by Christ. This more traditional approach to interpreting the end-times Scriptures was the generally accepted view throughout the church from the time of Augustine in the 5th century, through the Protestant Reformation, and all the way until the 19th century. It is more faithful to the Scriptures, and it is followed by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and a variety of current Protestant denominations, including the Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches and others. Although scholars call this approach the “amillennial” approach, that term is not necessarily used by these churches. All of those churches reject the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial approach that was popularized in the decades before and after the year 2000. There are two other views worth mentioning, for the sake of completeness (and there are many other sub-categories and branches dividing all of the approaches). Postmillennial: In this view, first there will be a (literal or symbolic) 1000-year golden age of prosperity and minimal suffering on Earth, during which most people will be converted to Christ and live in righteousness. The devil will be bound during that time but will be loosed at the end of the 1000 years. After that 1000 years of relative peace, there will be a time of tribulation followed by the Second Coming (when believers will be called up to heaven) and the final judgment. This view was popular in the 19th century (the 1800s), until the World Wars of the 20th century made people rethink whether the world could reach such a golden age of righteousness. Metaphorical: In this view, most of the end-times references in the Bible are metaphorical and should not be interpreted literally. There will not be a literal trumpet, a literal 1000-year reign, a literal meeting of Christ in the sky, etc. God has used figurative language and metaphors to help us understand things that are beyond us. All of the key points of Scripture will be fulfilled: Christ will return and judge the world, the dead will be raised, there will be a final judgment, the devil and death will be defeated, and Christians will live with Christ forever. But the details of what it will look like are not for us to worry about. Problems with the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture idea The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture theory is inconsistent with Scripture in several ways: The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture violates the claim in Acts 1:11 that Jesus will return in the same visible way he left, since the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial story creates a scenario where Jesus remains hidden except to believers. The theory claims that Jesus doesn’t stay on Earth after the rapture and only returning visibly 1000 years later. The word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 for the “coming” of the Lord (the Greek word parousia ) in was used by the Greeks before Christ to refer to the ceremonial arrival of a king or ruler. Pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture proponents argue that in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Christ only comes partly back, gathers the raptured people, and returns to heaven. However, Paul does not say Jesus immediately returns to heaven with them; he only says that those who are caught up to meet him in the air will be with him forever. The word for “meet” in verse 17 is a Greek word used to describe the situation where people go out from their town to meet a visiting official or king and escort that official into their city (in response to the “coming” in verse 15). Paul is saying that when Christ comes to Earth and the risen Christians and the still-alive Christians join him, they will stay with him as he comes to the Earth and does his work of final judgment. The idea that Christ aborts his “coming” and returns to heaven, only to return later, has been added by the pre-tribulation advocates without justification or good evidence. The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture theory that Jesus’s coming to gather the elect is separated from his final judgment by 1000 years contradicts Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says that Christ’s Second Coming will be announced with an archangel’s voice and the sound of a trumpet, at which point the dead will be raised. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 also links the trumpet to the raising of the dead. In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus links his coming in power and glory (verse 30) with the angels (verse 31), the sound of the trumpet (verse 31), and the gathering of the elect (verse 31). In Matthew 25:31-33, Jesus links his coming in glory (verse 31) with the final judgment (verses 32-33ff). These events are all connected and happen together. The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial approach contradicts Jesus by separating the raising of the dead from the final judgment by 1000 years. In Matthew 24:29, Jesus says that these events happen right after the tribulation (verse 29). The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial advocates seek to escape the tribulation that Jesus clearly foretells. The pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture violates Jesus’s statement in Matthew 16:27 that when he comes with his angels, he will repay people according to their deeds (i.e., the Second Coming with the final judgment). Again, Jesus does not teach any separation between these events. Note: Some rapture fans also interpret Luke 17:34-37 as referring to the rapture. In that passage, Jesus says that one person will be taken and another will be left. However, when you read that verse in context, starting at verse 26, you see that people are being “taken” in judgment. They are not being taken to heaven. They are not being raptured away to be saved from tribulation. Conclusion: The popular theory is wrong, but the Lord will be with us forever. In summary, the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture story created in the 19th century and popularized as Americans endured the Cold War and approached the millennial year 2000 does not have a sound basis in Scripture. The Book of Revelation is filled with symbolic language. There is no reason to distort the teachings of Jesus and Paul in order to interpret Revelation’s round number of 1000 years as a literal 1000 years. It is symbolic for the long period of time we are in before the Lord returns. And Jesus and Paul are very clear that Christians will endure the tribulation before they are united with Christ in his return. We must reject the distortions of their words that are central to every pre-tribulation rapture theory. This also means that no one escapes the tribulation except by dying. What else is true? The Scriptures tell us clearly: Christ will return. The dead will be raised. Christians (both those who have died and those who are still alive) will be united with Christ and live with him forever. Christ will judge the living and the dead and ask them how they treated “the least of these” among us. Fortunately, that’s all we really need to know about the end times. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess.). Previous Next Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess.). Photo by Tom Faletti. Tom Faletti January 26, 2025 Major Sources Barclay, William. The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians . The Westminster Press, Revised Edition, 1975. Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Collins, Raymond F. “The First Letter to the Thessalonians.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. Cousins, Peter E. “1 Thessalonians.” The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Demarest, Gary W. 1, 2 Thessalonians; 1, 2 Timothy; and Titus . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1984. Havener, Ivan, OSB. First Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, Second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians . Collegeville Bible Commentary, The Liturgical Press, 1983. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. Interlinear Bible. Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ . Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott . A Greek-English Lexicon . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Internet Archive , Volume I: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001/mode/2up , Volume II: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0002/mode/2up . Also at Furman Classics Editions, http://folio2.furman.edu/lsj/ . New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Additional Sources Bandy, Alan S. “Views of the Millennium.” The Gospel Coalition , https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/views-of-the-millennium/ , accessed 2 Dec. 2024. Broussard, Karlo. “Meeting the Rapture Challenge.” Catholic Answers , 14 Sept. 2022, https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/meeting-the-rapture-challenge . Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica . United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1997. https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/ . Commission on Theology and Church Relations of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. “The ‘End Times’: A Study on Eschatology and Millennialism.” Sept. 1989. The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod , https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/xpajTThI2GXvV6Z53A1KZfZjWhkR00CS . Francis, Pope. “No Fear: Morning Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae,” 15 May 2015. L’Osservatore Romano , Weekly ed. in English, n. 21, 22 May 2015. The Vatican , http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2015/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20150515_no-fear.html . Horn, Trent. “‘Should Catholics Believe in “the Rapture’?” Catholic Answers , 4 Aug. 2021, https://www.catholic.com/audio/cot/should-catholics-believe-in-the-rapture . Martin, George. “Paul: Apostle of the Cities.” God’s Word Today , February 1981 (Vol. 3, No. 2), pp. 47-49. “Where does the Rapture fit into UM beliefs?” Produced by Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications. United Methodist Church , 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-where-does-the-rapture-fit-into-united-methodists-beliefs . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Paul brought the gospel of Christ to the people of Thessalonica despite opposition. Previous Next Introduction to 1 Thessalonians Paul brought the gospel of Christ to the people of Thessalonica despite opposition. Image by Katie Moum, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti January 26, 2025 Introduction A NOTE BEFORE WE BEGIN This study material can be very enriching either for small-group Bible Study or for personal study and growth. We will occasionally offer instructions that would be useful for a small-group study. Introductions for a Small-Group Bible Study If you are studying as a group, it is important to build community, beginning with ensuring that everyone knows everyone else’s name. If you are either (a) starting a new year, or (b) have several new members, begin with introductions. One way to do this would be to ask everyone in the group to answer these questions: Share with the group: • Your name. • Your connection to the church or parish or this group. • Why you are interested in studying the Bible with other people. Thessalonica Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians is probably the oldest surviving piece of Christian writing (although some scholars think Paul’s Letter to the Galatians came first). Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to a group of Christians he had converted to Christ in the city known today as Thessaloniki [pronounced with the last two syllables sounding like KNEE-key]. In the English-speaking world, this city has traditionally been called Thessalonica, with the accent usually placed on the fourth syllable: thess-uh-luh-NIGH-kuh (although some people put the accent on the third syllable: thess-uh-LAHN-ih-kuh). Paul preached the gospel of Christ in Thessalonica and made some converts – some were Jews but far more were Gentiles (i.e., not Jews). This stirred up a lot of opposition from the Jews. He wrote this letter around AD 50, which is around 20 years after Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Soon after, he wrote a second letter to the Thessalonians that is also in the New Testament. Thessalonica was an important city. It was founded in 316 BC by a political leader who named it after his wife, who was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. When Rome conquered Macedonia in 146 BC, this city was made the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, and it was still the capital when Paul arrived there nearly 200 years later. Besides being an important political and military center, it was also a major commercial city. It had a harbor on the Aegean/Mediterranean Sea and was on the Via Egnatia or Egnatian Way, the major road the Romans built from the west coast of Greece all the way to Byzantium (Constantinople or Istanbul) to help them conquer and control all the nations that bordered the north coasts of the Mediterranean. That road was a central trade route. Paul’s Backstory Acts of the Apostles gives us some of the backstory of Paul’s visit to Thessalonica. Acts was probably written around 30 years after Paul first preached in Thessalonica (or 12 years if, as a minority of scholars believe, Acts was written immediately after the last event it describes). We are going to look at that backstory to give us some insight into who Paul is and how he became connected to the church in Thessalonica. We will do that in two parts: first , by summarizing the background we have about Paul before the journey that took him to Thessalonica, and second , by reading the portions of Acts of the Apostles that describe Paul’s journey. Paul’s background: Paul was not originally a follower of Jesus. He was born in Tarsus, a port city on a river that had access to the Mediterranean Sea. Tarsus was a major commercial center and the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia. Paul, originally known by his Hebrew name Saul, was a devout Jew. He was partly raised in Jerusalem, where he was taught by the great Jewish rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) (a grandson of Hillel). He could speak and write Greek as well as Aramaic (George Martin, “Paul: Apostle of the Cities,” God’s Word Today , February 1981 (Vol. 3, No. 2), p.47). After Jesus rose from the dead and the first Christians began to spread the message of Christ, Saul persecuted Christians, whom he thought were spreading heresy. He had a conversion experience, became a Christian, and took the name Paul. He immediately started preaching about Jesus, disrupting things everywhere he went, until the Christians sent him back to his hometown of Tarsus. Paul’s preaching journeys: When Gentiles turned to the Lord in Antioch, a town in ancient Syria that is now part of Turkey (Türkiye), Barnabas went and got Paul from Tarsus and brought him to Antioch to help teach the new Christians. After a year or more there, the church at Antioch commissioned Barnabas and Paul to go on a missionary journey – the first of three missionary journeys that Paul eventually took. In each town they went to, Barnabas and Paul went to the local Jewish synagogue and preached to the Jews about Jesus, who was a Jew. In each town, the Jews rejected them, and each time, they then preached to the Gentiles of the town. Take a look at a map of Barnabas and Paul’s journey (check the table of contents of your Bible for a map section, look for a map in the pages of Acts of the Apostles, or look on online). The map might be called Paul’s first missionary journey or Paul’s first journey. See how Barnabas and Paul traveled from Antioch to the island of Cyprus and then north into Asia Minor. They then went to a different Antioch, which is called Pisidian Antioch to distinguish it from the Antioch in Syria, and then to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. In some towns, they encountered such violent threats and attacks that they were forced to leave or be killed. Acts of the Apostles tells us that in the town of Lystra, the Jews stoned Paul, and then dragged his body out of town, thinking he was dead. However, after being surrounded by the disciples, he got up and went back into town before moving on (Acts 14:20). Paul and Barnabas then returned to the cities where they had made disciples, appointed elders to lead each church, and returned to Antioch. At this point, a major controversy erupted. Jewish Christians from Judea (the province that included Jerusalem) began to teach that Gentile believers in Jesus had to submit to the Jewish practice of circumcision in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas totally disagreed, and they decided to bring the question to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. The gathering there came to be known as the Council of Jerusalem. The church leaders listened to the conflicting views and concluded that the Holy Spirit was leading them to welcome Gentiles as Christians without requiring them to be circumcised (Acts 15:22-30). This ratified Paul and Barnabas’s ministry to the Gentiles. What do you think Paul thought about the opposition he was facing as he preached to the Gentiles? How do you decide when criticism is to be heeded and when you need to stand your ground? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the Church? How can we be more open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and not just break into party factions? Paul’s Journey to Thessalonica and Beyond Now we are going to read parts of Acts of the Apostles to explore what happened to Paul on his second missionary journey, which ultimately led him to Thessalonica. Acts 15:36-16:5 Paul and Barnabas separate, and Paul journeys with Silas and Timothy What happens as Paul and Barnabas plan for a second missionary journey? What two companions does Paul now have traveling with him? We will see in 1 Thessalonians that when Paul writes the letter to the Thessalonians, he says the letter is from Paul, Timothy, and Silas. (The letter calls him Silvanus, the Latin form of the Greek name Silas.) Paul has just gained the approval of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for his view that Gentile Christians don’t have to circumcised. Why do you think he has Timothy circumcised anyway? Jewish teaching at least back to around the time of Paul and possibly to the time of Ezra hundreds of years earlier held that Jewish identity is passed through the mother (matrilineal descent.) However, many Jews may not have been willing to associate with Timothy because he had a non-Jewish father and was not circumcised. Many Jews considered circumcision to be a necessary requirement for being a Jew. Paul never said that Jewish Christians should not be circumcised; he only argued that circumcision should not be required of Gentile Christians as a matter of salvation. Circumcision would not have been a repudiation of Timothy’s Christian faith but merely an affirmation of his status as a Jew. It would open doors for him to interact more easily with Jews, which would give him opportunities to preach about Jesus. (However, some people might have accused Paul of being inconsistent if they did not think the issue through carefully or did not see the distinction Paul saw.) When you are trying to move forward on something you think God wants you to do, how do you decide when to stand on principle and when to acquiesce to what might make other people more open to what you are trying to accomplish? Acts 16:6-10 Paul is called by the Holy Spirit to preach in Macedonia What happens? Look at a map of Paul’s second journey to understand what is going on here. Paul has only preached in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey/Türkiye). Macedonia is in Europe. It is the northern part of what is now known as Greece. Paul is being called to cross into Europe and preach the gospel there. If you were Paul, how would you feel about being called across the sea to a far-off land through a dream? When have you felt a calling from God to do something that took you outside your comfort zone? What happened? Acts 16:11-24 Paul and Silas make converts in Philippi and are flogged for it What good things happen in Philippi? What bad things happen to Paul and Silas in Philippi? What suffering do they endure? How do you think Paul is feeling about his missionary journey at this point, considering that he had a vision of being called to come to Macedonia and now is being beaten badly? Acts 17:1-10 Paul and Silas establish a church in Thessalonica in the face of opposition What do Paul and Silas do in Thessalonica? What trouble do they encounter? Is the persecution directed only at Paul and Silas, or also at the new believers who lived in that city? What can we learn from Paul’s persistence in the face of persecution? Acts 17:10-15 Paul and Silas in Beroea What happens to Paul and Silas in Beroea? Who stirs up trouble for them in Beroea? We have now seen that the Christians in Thessalonica have endured persecution, and the Jews of Thessalonica have been so zealous in their opposition to Gentiles embracing the faith Paul preaches that they have even traveled to other towns to try to stop it. What do you think Paul is thinking at this point? How do you think Paul feels about the suffering of the people he has led to become Christians in these towns? How concerned do you think he is? Do you think he feels responsible for their suffering? We are told in Acts 17:15 that Paul next goes south to Athens. The First Letter to the Thessalonians tells us that Paul is so concerned about the Thessalonians that when Timothy connects with him in Athens, he sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out how they are doing (1 Thess. 3:1-2). Paul, meanwhile, moves on to Corinth. When Timothy brings good news about the Thessalonians to Paul in Corinth (1 Thess. 3:6), Paul writes his first letter to them there. In that letter, we will see that he is very concerned about the Thessalonians. Now we are ready to dive into the First Letter to the Thessalonians, which we will do in the next session. Based on what we have read in Acts of the Apostles, what do you think of Paul? What kind of person does Paul seem to be? From what you see here, why do you think God might have chosen Paul to do this missionary work? Why would God have guided Paul to come to Macedonia, knowing that Paul would suffer so much? How do Paul’s experiences resonate with some part of your life? What can you learn from him? Take a step back and consider this: We have finished the entire first session of our study of 1 Thessalonians without looking at a single word of that letter. Why? Because backstories are sometimes very important. Where a person is from matters. The things that have happened to them that led them to where they are now can have a huge effect on what they do now. Paul’s backstory is important to understanding the letters he wrote to the Thessalonians. In a particular way, places matter. We might have a better understanding of Paul if we know that he grew up in a cosmopolitan city; that Thessalonica and his hometown are both capitals of Roman provinces; that even though he appears at first to be a narrow-minded, over-zealous Jew, he has lived in Gentile places and appreciates people who are not Jewish. How have the places where you lived shaped you? How has where you grew up or spent time affected your outlook on the world, your openness to other people who are different from you, your ways of thinking? How has God used the places you have lived and the experiences you have had, as steppingstones to later opportunities to serve him? Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

How do you prepare a small-group Bible Study meeting? Previous Next Preparing to Lead a Small-Group Bible Study Meeting How do you prepare a small-group Bible Study meeting? Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti March 25, 2024 At the Previous Meeting Tell the group what verse you are starting at or what verses or chapters you will be covering, especially if there is an expectation, or a desire among some, to study during the week. During the Week Before the Meeting Don’t wait until the last day to prepare. In your preparation, it is better to be prepared to cover too much material than not enough. Pray. Ask God to guide you, help you understand the text, and help you formulate questions and comments that will lead others to understand God’s Word and how it speaks to their lives. Read the text at least twice. Then read a commentary and/or study notes to learn some of the nuances of the text and the kinds of issues that might come up. Break the text into appropriately sized passages: a paragraph, a story, a set of verses that focus on a particular topic. For each passage, formulate a series of questions, including all three of the following types of questions: What does it say? These are questions of fact . They help the group to acknowledge and agree on the basic facts of what the passage says. Examples: What happened? What is Jesus (or God or some other person) saying here? What issue does Paul (or some other author) raise here? What does the author say we should do? What guidelines for living does he offer? What does it mean? These are questions of interpretation . They help the group to wrestle with what the passage means, and with different interpretations of what it means. Examples: Why did the man do what he did? Why did Jesus react in that way? What does that word (or phrase) mean? Why did the author (or person) use that particular word (or phrase)? What does the author mean when he uses that term, or says “. . . .”? Who is this referring to, or who does this apply to? What does this passage tell us about God? Why do you think the author chose to focus on that problem? How does this passage make you feel? What are some attitudes or actions that term would apply to today? What does that key word (or phrase) mean to you? What are some ways that people demonstrate this characteristic? Give some examples of actions that fit the description in the passage. Describe a time in your life when you encountered this problem. How can we apply it to our lives? These are application questions. They help the group to share their faith and practical insights with each other, and apply the passage to their own lives. Examples: What do you find most challenging in this passage, and why? How can we learn from the example of the person in this passage? What does this person’s example tell us about what me might do in our own lives? How can we apply this passage to our lives today? What does this passage say to us about our relationship with God, or about God’s attitude toward us? What are the modern problems we face today that this passage is talking about? How does the passage say we should respond? What does this passage say to you about yourself? What do you find most encouraging in this passage, and why? What are some things we can do to live out these commands? Which of these commands do you find hardest to obey, and why? When do you find it especially difficult to do what this passage is saying? Why is that the hard time, and what can you do about it? What are some ways we try to avoid the implications of this passage? What do we need to change in our lives to become examples of what Jesus (or God or the author) is talking about? What are you facing right now where you need to hear and apply the ideas in this passage? When have you experienced what the passage describes? When are you tempted to do what the passage describes? What does this person’s example tell us about how we can deal with similar problems at work (or at home, or in our church, or in our relationships)? In what ways do we fail to do what this passage is describing? How well does our parish reflect these values? What can we do to improve our parish’s way of living this part of the Gospel? What do you need to do to live out the truths of this passage? What holds you back from living out these principles? What would the author (or God) say to you in response? What do you find hardest to accept or live out in this teaching? Why? In the next week, what is one thing you can do to live out the challenge of this passage? Determine whether there are some key issues and applications you think the group should see. Make sure your questions will lead the group to wrestle with those issues, but don’t put your answer in the questions. Allow room for the members to reach a different conclusion. (For example: If you think the key is faith, don’t ask, “Don’t you think faith is the key point here?” Instead, ask, “What do you think this passage says to us about our relationship with God?”. If the group answers in a different way than you expect, you can share your view, but don’t push them to see it only your way.) During the Meeting Extend a welcome to each person as they arrive. Greet each person warmly. Don’t delay your start. Reinforce those who are on time by starting 5 minutes after the official starting time, regardless of who you are still expecting. Begin with prayer, reminding the group that Jesus is here with us, and spend a short time in silence to become aware of His presence. Then ask the group to pray short prayers of thanks or praise : “Thank you, God, for. . . .” Or “I praise you, Lord, for. . . .” Close this prayer time by asking for God guidance and the group’s openness to Him. Unless you are covering several chapters each week, ask someone to read aloud the first passage. (If you are covering large sections, instead ask the group to read the chapters in advance and begin by summarizing what happened in the passage, perhaps reading a key part.) Ask the questions you prepared. Always start with the basic “what does it say” or fact questions. Quite often, people don’t really understand or agree about what the passage actually says, and if they don’t understand what it says they certainly won’t understand what it means or how to apply it. Your study during the week may have given you some background knowledge you can share here to help the group understand what the passage says. However, try to elicit as much as possible from the group rather than telling it all yourself. Ask your interpretation or “what does it mean” questions, but don’t let the group get stuck there. Leave plenty of time for application questions. Ask some application questions that help the group find apply the passage to their daily lives. Don’t skip this step. Your job isn’t done until the passage has been applied. Frame your questions in ways that encourage personal sharing and a faith response to the passage. Know in advance which questions you think are most important. After the group has talked about what the passage says and means, ask your most important application questions first. If the group spends a long time on your first application question, you don’t have to use every question you prepared. Try to involve everyone. Make sure that people who want to say something but are more shy about breaking into the conversation are given a chance to speak. (For example, say, “I think Chris is trying to say something here.”) If one or two people have taken the discussion into a side area that is not involving the whole group, bring the group back to the topic. “Off the track” is often in the eyes of the beholder, so if the area is somewhat related to the passage, and most of the group is interested and participating, you may want to let the discussion go for a little while. The goal is faith sharing and spiritual growth, and the Holy Spirit can sometimes accomplish that in a different way than you anticipated. But don’t let the discussion get way off the passage and don’t let a few people go on and on without involving the rest of the group. Bring the discussion back to the passage. (For example, say, “Let’s look at the passage again to see what it says about this.” Or ask another application question that brings the group back to the passage.) When you feel it is time to move on, briefly summarize what the group has discovered in that passage and suggest that the group move on to the next passage. Repeat steps 4 to 11 for the next passage. Before the end, try to summarize the key findings and applications from the week’s discussion. End with prayer, inviting short prayers asking God to help us or others : “Lord, help me or us to. . . .” or “Lord, help my brother or sister to . . . .” Encourage the group to echo each other’s prayers, so that it is truly conversational prayer: “Yes, Lord, help, me or us or Chris to. . . . Give them your. . . .” Make sure newcomers and quieter people are included in the social chit-chat after the meeting. Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Sources used in this study of Spes Non Confundit. Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Bibliography Sources used in this study of Spes Non Confundit . Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, Canadensis, Pennsylvania, July 23, 2014. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 Bibliography Decree on the Granting of the Indulgence During the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 Called by His Holiness Pope Francis , issued by Angelo Cardinal De Donatis, Major Penitentiary, from the Offices of the Apostolic Penitentiary, The Vatican, 13 May 2024, https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/05/13/0392/00808.html#en (scroll down for the English version). Francis, Pope. Spes Non Confundit (Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025) . The Vatican , 9 May 2024, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/20240509_spes-non-confundit_bolla-giubileo2025.html . “New Revision of Number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty – Rescriptum ‘Ex Audientia SS.MI’.” The Vatican , 1 Aug. 2018, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20180801_catechismo-penadimorte_en.html . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Throughout the Bible, God views what is going on from the perspective of the lowly, the poor, and the outcast. Previous Next God Takes a Downside-Up View of the World Throughout the Bible, God views what is going on from the perspective of the lowly, the poor, and the outcast. Image by Gianna B, provided by Unsplash via Wix. Tom Faletti March 17, 2025 Everywhere we turn in the Bible, we see God showing great concern for the people that those in power ignore or abuse. He advocates for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the stranger. He denounces leaders who abuse the needy and warns us not to ignore the needs of the least among us. God takes a downside-up view of the world. Here are some examples: Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount/Plain Jesus shows his downside-up view of life in the Sermon on the Mount/Plain: Blessed are the poor (Luke 6:20). Blessed are the hungry (Luke 6:21). Blessed are the meek (Matt. 5:5). Blessed are the peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). Blessed are those who mourn (Matt. 5:4). Love your enemies (Matt. 5:43-48). You can’t serve both God and Mammon (money) (Matt. 6:24). Do to others what you want them to do to you (Matt. 7:12). Jesus in his parables and other teachings This incident is part of a series of events in this part of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus explains what I call Jesus's downside-up view of life (which is upside-down for those who are at the top of the social ladder): The greatest must become like a child (Matt. 18:1-5). God cares as much about the one stray person as the 99 who are safe (Matt. 18:10-14). The prayers of just 2 or 3 people can move heaven (Matt. 18:19-20). Forgiveness is not something we can choose to dole out in limited amounts — we are called to forgive to the utmost (Matt. 18:21-35). Men are not to look for reasons to divorce their wives (divorce could leave women economically devastated at the whim of a faithless husband) (Matt. 19:1-9). Anti-foreigner prejudice is to be rejected: a foreign woman is worthy of praise and assistance (Matt. 15:21-28). The kingdom of heaven belongs to the children, who are the lowest people on the social ladder (Matt. 19:13-15). Wealth, rather than being a sign of God’s favor, makes it hard to be saved (Matt. 19:16-30). The rewards of the kingdom are available to those who come late to Jesus as well as those who (think they) have followed God’s law from the beginning (Matt. 20:1-16). Those who wish to be first must be the servant of all (Matt. 20:20-28). God welcomes the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame to his eternal feast (Luke 14:15-24). If you ignore the needy who struggle for the basics of life, you should not expect to find a place in the Kingdom of God (Luke 16:19-31). Jesus in the story of the Last Judgment Jesus shows his downside-up view of life in the story of the Last Judgment: Come, you who are blessed by my Father (Matt. 25:34): I was hungry and you fed me (Matt. 25:35). I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt. 25:35). I was in prison and you visited me (Matt. 25:35). What you did to the least of these, you did to me (Matt. 25:40). Depart from me, you who are accursed (Matt. 25:41): What you did not do to the least of these, you did not do to me (Matt. 25:45). Jesus on the cross When he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said that he could have defended himself with “more than twelve legions of angels” (Matt. 26:53) if he had chosen to do so. Instead, he chose to give up his life for our benefit: He said that he, the Son of Man, came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He said, “I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27). He demonstrated this servant attitude by washing his disciple’s feet (John 13:1-5). And then he gave himself up to death on the Cross, staying true to his downside-up approach even to the end. God in the Old Testament God shows the same downside-up view of life throughout the Old Testament: The Lord hears the cry of the poor (Ps. 34:17/18; Ps. 69:33/34). Defend the oppressed (Ps. 72:3/4). Do not oppress the alien/stranger, the orphan, or the widow (Jer. 22:3; Zech. 7:10). Provide support for the poor (Lev. 25:35). Offer a helping hand to the needy (Deut. 15:7-8). Treat the immigrant like you treat a citizen (Lev. 19:33-34). Provide justice to the lowly and the destitute; rescue the poor and needy from the hand of the wicked (Ps. 82:3-4). If you close your ears to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard (Prov. 21:13). The fast I desire is that you end the injustice (Is. 58:6-11). The challenge to us: Will we see as God sees? God has shown us how He sees the world. He has a special concern for those who the world cares the least about, precisely because the world cares so little about them and often doesn’t even see them. We need to make an effort to see the world with the clear eyes of God. The closer we are to the top, the harder that may be, especially if we live in a thriving city in a powerful nation. We may need to force ourselves to see differently than the world we live in has trained us to see. Yet Christians can do no less if they wish to follow God. The downside-up view is the only view worthy of the name of Christ. We might ask ourselves: We who are Christians call Jesus Lord and claim to be His followers. But do we think like Him? Do we put our priorities where His are? Do we care for the least, the lost, the lowly, the left-out, the left-behind the way He does? Do God’s downside-up priorities show in our charitable giving, our work, our social activities, our church work, our political positions, our use of time, our everyday comments about what is going on in our society? How can we embrace more fully God’s downside-up view of our world? Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

God wants to renew our hope and help us put our faith and hope into action. Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Introduction: Respond to the Invitation to Embrace God’s Hope God wants to renew our hope and help us put our faith and hope into action. Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, Washington, DC, August 28, 2024. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 You Are Invited to a Jubilee Year Experience! Suppose you received an invitation to a celebration – a celebration where potentially up to a billion people might participate. You might want to know more. The truth is: the invitation has been sent, and you can respond at any time. On behalf of the entire Church, Pope Francis is inviting you to join in the celebration of 2025 as a Jubilee Year of the Church. You don’t have to RSVP; you can just show up, and you can participate in many different ways. Where is my invitation: In May 2024, Pope Francis released the document Spes Non Confundit (Hope Does Not Disappoint), in which he invites us to join in the Roman Catholic Church’s celebration of Jubilee Year 2025 and to focus particularly on the hope we have in Christ. What is a Jubilee Year: The Roman Catholic Church has been celebrating Jubilee Years almost every 25 years since the year 1300, and additional Jubilee Years have occasionally been added. Drawing on Old Testament tradition, the Jubilee Year is meant to be a time to celebrate the grace, forgiveness, and mercy of God – a time of pardon, release, and remission of sins. Each Jubilee Year, the Church invites us to open our hearts in a special way to the grace of God, to receive forgiveness and freedom from sin. As a tangible manifestation of the invitation, the Church opens special holy doors in Rome during the Jubilee Year and invites us to go on a pilgrimage to one or more of those holy doors. We are invited to embrace the spirit of conversion and open the doors of our hearts to facilitate God’s work of renewal in our lives. However, a physical pilgrimage is not required. We can embrace the Jubilee Year in many different ways. We can go on a spiritual pilgrimage of the mind and heart. What all pilgrimages have in common, whether physical or spiritual, is that we take the time to consider where we are spiritually and where God is calling us to be, and then embrace the steps toward growth that the Holy Spirit is inspiring us to take. We want to extend to you Pope Francis’s invitation to join the journey! Through this study guide, we offer one approach that might strengthen your faith and renew your hope in God. Who is invited: Anyone seeking to grow closer to God is welcome. When: Officially, this Jubilee Year runs from approximately Christmas 2024 through Christmas 2025. But the door is never closed to experiencing the grace of God. You are welcome to take this journey with us any time, in whatever ways work best to support your faith. Where: Through this study, you can journey with us in an exploration of God’s hope and grace, guided by Pope Francis and the Sacred Scriptures. You can do this online, at home, or in your parish. You can do it on your own or with a small group. We also encourage those who are able to take a pilgrimage to Rome or join in your local diocese’s official celebrations and rituals. Theme: In Spes Non Confundit , Pope Francis invites us to explore the theme of hope – the reasons for hope, how we can embrace God’s hope and allow it to fill our hearts, and how we can extend God’s hope to all people, in every part of our society and every corner of the world. If you would like to respond to this invitation to hope, keep reading! First read the Overview, and then start your study. The Overview has separate suggestions for individuals studying on their own, small group members, and small group leaders. For More Information or Help If you have questions about anything in this study guide, please feel free to email Tom Faletti at tomfaletti@faithexplored.com or use the contact form at the bottom of FaithExplored.com . May you grow in hope and find new ways to put your hope into action, as you study Spes Non Confundit and celebrate the Jubilee Year. It is wonderful that we can say yes to God’s invitation to live in hope and to extend God’s hope to others by sharing the good news we have found in Jesus Christ and working to bring His justice and peace to the world around us! Your fellow pilgrim on the path to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Tom Faletti Dedication This study was developed at the suggestion of Father John Mudd, who has served the Archdiocese of Washington for more than 50 years with joy and an open heart for all God’s people. Thank you, Father Mudd, for your dedication and support. May God continue to bless your ministry! Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

A note about our terminology: What do we mean when we refer to a “part of a paragraph”? Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All A Note About Our Terminology What do we mean when we refer to a “part of a paragraph”? Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, bridge near Neuschwanstein Castle, Hohenschwangau, Germany, June 27, 2024. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 Church documents are often broken up into numbered paragraphs to aid in finding particular passages. This document follows that norm in having numbered paragraphs. However, in many places in Spes Non Confundit , one numbered “paragraph” extends over several paragraphs as we normally understand the meaning of that term. When this study guide says, “paragraph X,” it is referring to the paragraph that has the number X in front of it – for example , “paragraph 3” refers to the paragraph that has the number 3 in front of it . When a “paragraph” (as church documents count them) has more than one standard paragraph (as we normally understand a paragraph to be), this guide refers to those additional paragraphs as additional “parts” of that numbered “paragraph.” For example, the “second part of paragraph 3” refers to the second paragraph in the portion of the document that follows the number 3 and comes before the paragraph numbered paragraph 4 . Similarly, the “fourth part of paragraph 6” is the fourth regular paragraph that comes after the number 6 (and before the number 7). Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

John the Baptist comes to prepare the way for one greater than him. Previous Next Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist comes to prepare the way for one greater than him. Tom Faletti Mark 1:1-8 In verse 1, how does Mark describe this book he is writing? Leaving aside the religious meaning for a moment, what does it mean to you when you have "good news"? In the context of our faith, what is "the good news of Jesus Christ"? Mark describes Jesus using two titles in verse 1. What are those titles and what do they mean? The first term is "Christ," which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew term "Messiah" – both meaning "anointed one." Why did it matter to the Jews whether Jesus was the "Messiah"? What did that word mean to them? Jews expected a messiah who would overthrow the Romans, end their oppression, and usher in a new age of freedom and peace. The other title in verse 1 is "Son of God." This phrase does not appear in many of the earliest manuscripts but was a well-established part of the Gospel by the second century (Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., "The Gospel According to Mark," The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , p. 599). Since Jesus's identity as the Son of God seems to be a key theme for Mark, it is fitting for the title to be used here at the beginning of his Gospel. In the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), references to a "son of God" or "sons of God" generally appear to mean angels, so for the Jews of Jesus's time this phrase would have been more ambiguous than it is to Christians. Jesus's appropriation of the term and assertion that he is not only the Son of God but one with the Father leads us to understand the term literally. What does "the Son of God" mean to you? (to be continued) Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians is like the love of a mother or father for their children. [1 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 2:13-16] Previous Next 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 Paul’s concern for the Thessalonians is like the love of a mother or father for their children. Image from Wix. Tom Faletti January 26, 2025 1 Thess. 2:1-12 Paul describes his ministry among the Thessalonians In chapter 1, Paul focused on the Thessalonians. In chapter 2, he turns the camera around and focuses on himself: What was he doing as he was ministering to them? What is your overall sense of Paul’s character, based on his self-description here? How would you describe him to someone who did not know him? Verses 1-7 Paul’s motivations are like that of a nursing mother In the first two verses, Paul recalls that when he came to Thessalonica, he had been severely beaten in Philippi. And then he encountered swift opposition in Thessalonica. What sustains him? Where does he get the courage or boldness to continue preaching? We don’t face the kind of opposition Paul did, but many of us hesitate to talk about our faith with others. Why is that? How can you draw courage from God to speak boldly about the good news of knowing Jesus? In verses 3-6, Paul offers a list of negatives where he describes many things that his preaching was not . In compiling this list of false motivations, Paul may be responding to charges that were leveled against him by those who opposed him, or he may be defending the gospel of Christ more generally. In verses 3-6, Paul lists a series of false motivations that are not the reason for his preaching. What is the meaning of each of these false motivations? His preaching was not motivated by what? Not from delusion/deceit/error (v. 3). In other words, his message was not factually false; he was speaking the truth. Not from impure motives (v. 3). He wasn’t trying to secretly get something for himself. Not from deception/trickery (v. 3). He was not withholding information to trick them. Not to please humans (v. 4). He wasn’t doing it so that they would feel good about him. Not with flattery (v. 5). He wasn’t giving them false praise in order to get something from them. Not as a pretext for greed (v. 5). He wasn’t trying to get rich off of them. Not seeking praise from them or others (v. 6). He wasn’t doing it for glory or to gain popularity or acclaim. Tucked in the middle of this list of negatives that his gospel was not , Paul identifies the one motivation that governed his preaching (verse 4). What was his motivation? To please God. This list of good and bad motivations is useful not just for evaluating our “preaching”; it can be used to evaluate everything we do in our lives. What are we called to have as our one true motivation in life, and how does it look when we are living that way? When we seek to please God as our sole motivation, then we (do what?). Which of the false motivations Paul lists is a risk for you as you live your life in a world that does not always share your faith and values? What can you do to keep your motivations pure? We see in our own times how people disparage those they disagree with and use unsubstantiated charges to try to destroy them. What can we do when we or others we know are falsely attacked? Paul notes that as apostles, he and his companions could have made demands (not that making demands of people who are just getting to know you gets you very far, but he could have tried that). But that is not how he approached them. Paul describes himself as being like a nursing mother. What do you think this looked like in practice? How can you be “like a mother” in your approach to people in your community, your workplace, your online presence, your church, your family? Verses 8-12 Paul’s behavior is like a father with his children In verse 8, Paul says that he and his companions shared “not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well” (1 Thess. 2:8, NABRE). What is his reason for why they did that (verse 8)? How does sharing your whole self enhance the message you are trying to communicate? We tend to want to share only the good things about ourselves, and not our whole selves. How might being more vulnerable strengthen our relationships? Also, how might this kind of openness strengthen our effectiveness in sharing the gospel? What does verse 9 tell you about Paul’s work ethic? Why might it have been important to work for his keep and not expect the Thessalonians to meet his basic needs? In verse 10, Paul describes his personal conduct and behavior. How did he act among the Thessalonians? In verses 11-12, Paul compares his behavior to that of a father with his children. In what ways was he like a father? How can you be “like a father” in the sense Paul means it, in your approach to people in your community, your workplace, your online presence, your church, your family? 1 Thess. 2:13-16 Paul gives further thanks, and digresses Paul here returns to his early theme of thanksgiving (1:2-10). Why is he thankful? Judea is the portion of the former kingdom of the Jews that included the region around Jerusalem. In verse 14, how have the Thessalonians become imitators of the churches of God in Judea? The Christians in the churches in Judea suffered persecution from their fellow Jews – recall the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54-8:2) and the persecution under Herod in which James, the brother of John, was killed (Acts 12:1-5). Similarly, Paul says, the Thessalonians suffered persecution from their fellow Thessalonians (although this came also from Jews even though the Thessalonian church was largely Gentile). At this point, Paul digresses to talk about the persecutions that some Jews were fomenting in his time. Because the tone suddenly becomes so harsh, some scholars argue that this was inserted later and not written by Paul. They point out that Paul was a Jew and held out fervent hope that the Jews would be saved. In Romans 9:3 he says he would undergo separation from Christ if it would bring his fellow Jews to Christ. In Romans 11:26, he asserts that “all Israel will be saved” (NRSV, NABRE, and other translations). Furthermore, this is the only place that Paul attributes the crucifixion to the Jews. For example, in 1 Corinthians 2:8, he says that “the rulers of this age” crucified the Lord. We might see this as Paul getting worked up and angry because of the mistreatment that he and these Thessalonians he loved had suffered at the hands of some Jews. An analogy might be a White person writing angrily about what “the Whites” did to African Americans in the South over the course of 300+ years of enslavement and oppression: referring generically to “the Whites” would not be interpreted as meaning all White people, since only some were directly responsible. Verses 15-16 have been misinterpreted throughout the centuries to foment persecution against the Jewish people. Is Paul speaking about any Jews other than those who were persecuting Christians at that time he was writing? No. Paul’s words are directed only at those of his time who were persecuting Christians. This is not a statement about any Jews at any other time in history and should not be used to criticize or harass Jews in our time. Misusing this passage to justify attacks against Jews is a sign of anti-Semitism. We have seen previously the word “wrath” that appears in verse 16. It is Jewish shorthand for the final judgment of God. In verse 16, when Paul says that the wrath or judgment of God has (already) come, his specific meaning is unclear. There are several possibilities: He could be speaking apocalyptically about what Paul thinks is coming soon. He could be thinking of some specific event that had already happened shortly before he wrote the letter. In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , Raymond F. Collins indicates that Paul could have been referring to “any of a number of tumultuous events about AD 49: the famine, the edict of Claudius expelling Jews from Rome, the massacre in the Temple courts at Passover” (Collins, “1 Thessalonians,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , para. 23, p. 776). He could be thinking about the idea that embracing evil means that a person is already living in a state of anticipatory judgment. As the footnotes to the NABRE put it: “Sinful conduct (1 Thes 2:16) is itself an anticipation of the ultimate wrath or judgment of God (Rom 1:18–2:5), whether or not it is perceived as such” ( New American Bible, revised edition , fn. to 1 Thess. 2:15-16, p. 315). Looking at this entire section of Paul’s letter (1 Thess. 2:1-16), what would you have valued about Paul if you had been in Paul's church? In what ways might you like to be an imitator of Paul? Take a step back and consider this: In verse 4, Paul says that he, Silas, and Timothy were “entrusted” with the gospel. Raymond F. Collins writes, “Paul’s language recalls that of the Athenian court. Public officials are first scrutinized before they are entrusted with political responsibility. In similar fashion, Paul and his companions have been scrutinized by God before being entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the gospel” (Collins, “1 Thessalonians,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , para. 19, p. 775). All believers, by virtue of their participation in the faith of Christ and the life of the Church, are entrusted with the task of sharing the gospel (in varying ways, of course, depending on our gifts, etc.). This is obvious to most Protestant believers. Catholics sometimes slip into thinking that the task of sharing the gospel belongs to the priests and religious. However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “the faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World” ( Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition , https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/238/ , para. 897, page 237, quoting from Pope Paul VI, Lumen Gentium, (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) , 21 Nov. 1964, para. 31). The Catechism goes on to say: “Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ.” ( Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition , https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/240/ , para. 900, page 238) The priests and ministers can’t be everywhere and can’t know everyone; and even if they did, they wouldn’t have all the relationships we have. Some people may only hear the gospel through us. God has entrusted all of us with the work of spreading the message of salvation. All of us are called to share the good news, to encourage others to put their faith in Jesus Christ and accept the love God has for us. What do you need to do differently, if anything, in light of the fact that God has entrusted you with the gospel? Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next

The Jubilee Year invites us to encounter Jesus, who is our hope. (Paragraphs 1, 5, and 6 of Spes Non Confundit) Previous Next Jubilee Year 2025: Embrace God’s Hope and Extend It to All Session 2: The Jubilee leads us on a journey of hope The Jubilee Year invites us to encounter Jesus, who is our hope. (Read paragraphs 1, 5, and 6) Link to S pes Non Confundit Photo by Tom Faletti, Rothenburg, Germany, June 26, 2024. Tom Faletti November 16, 2024 In this session, we will see Pope Francis reveal one of his deepest desires: that this Jubilee may help us have a personal encounter with Jesus and an intense experience of God’s love, which will awaken hope in our hearts. We will further explore Pope Francis’s discussion of why Jesus is our hope and then move into the second section of Spes Non Confundit , where he explains the concept of a Jubilee Year, how the Jubilee Year has been celebrated in the past and will be celebrated this year. He will also explore the meaning and value of a pilgrimage. Our study guide questions will help us explore how we have experienced a personal encounter with Jesus and how we can experience the love of God more fully. We will explore our own possible participation in the Jubilee Year, how our faith can be thought of as a pilgrimage or journey of hope, and how the light we shine might communicate the love of God to others. Read paragraphs 1, 5, and 6 in preparation for this session. Paragraph 1 (one more insight: a personal encounter with Jesus) 🔗 Let’s look at one more part of paragraph 1 before we move forward. At the end of paragraph 1, Pope Francis quotes from Paul’s first letter to Timothy and from the Gospel of John – passages of Scripture that refer to Jesus as our hope and as the door to eternal life. Read 1 Timothy 1:1 Why is Christ Jesus our hope? Read John 10:7-10 Some translations say Jesus is the “door” and some say He is the “gate” (they are different possible translations of the same Greek word). How is Jesus a door (or gate) for us? How does Jesus’s role as the door to salvation and abundant life give you hope? Pope Francis connects the role of Jesus as the door of our salvation to the Holy Year of Jubilee, where special doors of grace are opened in Rome. He says: “For everyone, may the Jubilee be a moment of genuine, personal encounter with the Lord Jesus” (par. 1). What does he mean by a personal encounter with Jesus? How have you experienced a personal encounter with Jesus, and how does it give you hope? Suggested Activity: How well do you know the life and teachings of Jesus? Have you ever read His whole story? If you like to read novels, read one of the Gospels. If you prefer podcasts, listen to an audio reading of a Gospel. (If you think you don’t have time, consider how long it takes to read a novel. You can read or listen to an entire Gospel in 3 hours.) Some suggestions for where to start: the Gospel of Mark (the shortest), the Gospel of Matthew (the most practical), the Gospel of John (the most “spiritual”). (Section 2) A journey of hope In this section, Pope Francis discusses the practice of the Jubilee Year. Paragraph 5 (the Christian life as a journey, and the role of Jubilee Years) 🔗 In paragraph 5, what are some of the examples Pope Francis offers for how God was at work in the Church prior to the first Jubilee in the year 1300? In the second part [1] of paragraph 5, what are some of the benefits of going on a pilgrimage? Have you ever experienced the benefits of a pilgrimage (near or far away)? Explain. The title of this section is “A journey of hope.” How is your faith life like a journey, with many stops and encounters along the way? How do you find hope on your journey of faith? Suggested Activity: If you are unable to take a pilgrimage to Rome, contact your diocesan office and ask how you might take a Jubilee Year pilgrimage to the Jubilee Year site designated by your bishop (which may be your local cathedral). As you avail yourself of this opportunity, allow the love of God to permeate you and purify you from all that is not of Christ. In the third part of paragraph 5, Pope Francis refers to the Eastern (Catholic) Churches, which are a group of churches that are autonomous and have distinct practices from those in the Roman Catholic Church but operate within the worldwide Catholic Church and are in full communion with the Pope. Pope Francis’s mention of “their Orthodox brothers and sisters” refers to the Eastern Orthodox Church, an independent communion of churches that, like the Catholic Church, traces its roots to the apostles but has been separated from the Roman Catholic Church since 1054. He says they have endured violence and instability because many of these churches are located in areas of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa that are currently torn by war. In the third part of paragraph 5, why does Pope Francis invite members of the Eastern Churches to participate in this Jubilee, and why does he especially extend an “embrace” to all those who currently “endure their own Way of the Cross”? How might the Church’s concern for them give them “hope”? Why is it important to extend a hand of friendship to others in Christ’s divided Body? Paragraph 6 (this Jubilee Year) 🔗 In paragraph 6, Pope Francis places this Holy Year in the context of a series of Holy Years that are being celebrated from 2000 to 2033. What are the events that took place in Jesus’s life that make 2000 and 2033 especially important to be celebrated? Pope Francis says that the purpose of the Jubilee Year of 2025 is to “invite everyone to an intense experience of the love of God that awakens in hearts the sure hope of salvation in Christ” (par. 6). Unpack this sentence: What does “an intense experience” mean? What is Pope Francis hoping will happen in 2025? What does he mean by people experiencing “the love of God”? What specifically is he hoping they will experience? What is “the sure hope of salvation in Christ”? In what ways can our hope of salvation be “sure”? What does it mean when he says that our hope is to be “awakened”? In what ways might it need to be awakened in a fresh way? Why is it important that we are “inviting” people? Why is it important that we are inviting “everyone”? Re-read the full sentence: “Now the time has come for a new Jubilee, when once more the Holy Door will be flung open to invite everyone to an intense experience of the love of God that awakens in hearts the sure hope of salvation in Christ” (par. 6). When have you had this experience of the love of God in the past? What can you do to help extend this invitation to others? In what areas of your life do you need a renewal of this experience? What can you do to enter more fully into the experience of the love of God in your heart? The second part of paragraph 6 describes how the Jubilee Year begins in Rome. What happens there? Note: The third part of paragraph 6 describes what is to happen in every diocese. A Mass is celebrated in each diocese’s cathedral to open the Jubilee Year, and local bishops are designating special pilgrimage sites within their dioceses. Do you think you will participate, or have you participated, in some way in the Jubilee Year in your diocese? Why or why not? What do you hope to experience, or have you experienced, by your participation? At the end of the last part of paragraph 6, Pope Francis expresses his hope for what will happen during this Jubilee Year. How might you participate in shining “the light of Christian hope” as “a message of God’s love addressed to all” (par. 6, part 4), and how might you overcome anything that might hold you back from doing so? Suggested Activities: Invite someone to come to church with you. Share with a friend or neighbor, in a low-key way, how God has made a difference in your life and see where the conversation goes. Closing question: How might you more effectively “bear faithful witness” (par. 6, part 4) to the message of God’s love, to those around you? [1] See A Note About Our Terminology for an explanation of what we mean by a “part” of a paragraph. Bibliography Click here for the bibliography . Copyright © 2024, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Next