The Thursday after the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 2, 2025 by under
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NKJV)
3:6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.
Devotion
St. Paul warns us against using religious pretexts to withdraw from the world and from our responsibilities in it according to the vocations that God has provided. We call these “pretexts” here because St. Paul says that there are some Thessalonians who are “busybodies”, and that even though they could work for their own support, they would rather be supported by others.
We know that it is God-pleasing for us to be employers, employees, husbands, wives, and so on, as we live our lives as Christians, because our Lord and the Apostles encourage us to do these things. Even though Paul and his companions had the right to demand support for their work in preaching and teaching, they continued to earn their own way so as to set an example for the Thessalonians.
Further, being a “busybody” in this way could prevent others who did not have the means or ability to support themselves from getting it. St. Paul praises charity towards those who need it, as, for example, he praises the Macedonian and Achaian churches for contributing to help the poor in the church in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26).
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy succor, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
