Paul wrote to followers in Thessalonica “…Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you …” [bible:niv:nt:1thess2]
If he really worked both day and night, when did Paul find time to ‘preach’? Did he have any time to ‘prepare’? Or was this a different kind of ‘preaching’ to that which is familiar to western middle class Christianity?
If he was a ‘self-sufficient’ visitor, how did Paul abstain from receiving hospitality without robbing his host of the ‘gifts’ of giving and of community?
Did he work for money, and if so, what was the hourly rate of a tent-maker relative to that earned by his hosts, in the services that they provided? Or did he trade his services directly with his hosts, and if so, was a day of Paul’s labour equal to a day of their labour?
If he did tent making for the Roman military then was Paul actually contributing to the tax burden on the people?
After fending for the needs of my dependants, and for myself, and after contributing my tax obligation, how hard exactly do I need to work in order to ‘not be a burden’ to my community?
[835:3117]
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