2 Timothy 3:10-15 (NRSV)
The persecution of the godly
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Franklin said that the only thing you can count on are death and taxes. I would add suffering to that, whether you are "godly" or "wicked." (Of course, on my best day, I am also both godly and wicked myself. It's tempting to want to divide folks into one or the other categories, but I wouldn't advise it).
It's probably already come out that I'm not a huge fan of the letters to Timothy. They are highly contextual, and I don't think the meaning for us today is: "as a Christian you will be persecuted." At least not in the US. There are certainly many Christians around the world being persecuted today, but not so much here. Not in the way Paul is referring. However, as Christians, we will face situations where our faith and the world will be at odds - and we will suffer for it. Not torture most likely, but suffer nonetheless, whether that suffering be in the form of anxiety, fear, depression, loss of friends, loss of work, or simply just a challenge to our faith.
Faced with the world's ideas of how things are, and knowing Jesus calls us to something else can cause suffering. There's no way around it.
But each moment of suffering gone through - each challenge to our faith faced and gone through - strengthens us. In the end, with all of Paul's strident warnings and florid descriptions of life as a Christian, the line from this reading to land on is "salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
We all suffer. Sometimes we suffer when our faith is challenged, sometimes we suffer for reasons having nothing to do with our faith. But we have this wonderful promise that goes with us each step of the way. Oftentimes the word for salvation in the Hebrew was the same as the word for healing. So our salvation through faith in Christ is healing balm for our suffering. That's the something we can cling to throughout all of the suffering that comes our way.
Gentle Jesus: You are with us always. Remind us always of your presence in the midst of our suffering so that we can be made aware of the healing balm offered by the gift of faith in you. Strengthen us when we are challenged in that faith, and walk with us in all moments of pain and uncertainty. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment