2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5
Luke 18:1-8
“Like a Tenacious Widow”
I’ve been thinking a lot about the young church leader, Timothy, since we’ve had a series of Scripture passages from the Apostle Paul’s 1st and 2nd letters to Timothy among our lectionary readings this Fall. I was wondering how young Timothy was, and what his ministry might have looked like, so I did a little research to find out more about him.
A few weeks ago, we noted that Timothy learned his faith from his mother and his grandmother. They would have been Jewish women who became Christians in the early years of the Jesus movement. Timothy was born and raised in Lystra, a city in Asia Minor that included both Jewish and Greek cultures. Interestingly, Timothy’s father was a Gentile – a Greek man who likely didn’t become a Christian.
Timothy was probably about 20 years old when he started working with Paul in the ministry of the early church around the year 50 CE. He accompanied Paul and Silas on their missionary journeys, delivered some of Paul’s letters to various churches, and he eventually became the first bishop of the Church in Ephesus.
By the time Paul was writing letters to Timothy from prison (about 14 years after Timothy joined the missionary team), Timothy would have been a man in his mid-thirties as he led the Church in Ephesus.
In addition to the difficulties associated with sharing the gospel in the first century, Timothy also struggled with a health issue of some kind. Paul encourages him to “drink a little wine” to help with recurring stomach issues. According to tradition, Timothy died as a martyr at an advanced age. He was stoned to death when he opposed a pagan festival that was taking place in his community.
When I think about being a Christian in our time, and engaging in ministry in our time, I’m aware that there are a lot of challenges that clergy and other church leaders have to deal with that are different than perhaps 50 or 60 years ago. We live in an increasingly secular society, with declining interest and participation in the church. In our Canadian context, we have inherited big, old buildings that are difficult to maintain, as well as a legacy of colonialism that we need to turn away from and reconcile.
In addition, there are issues like political and religious polarization, rising violence and vandalism aimed at all kinds of faith communities, and extra challenges like global pandemics. Ministers today will report that doing ministry is stressful, exhausting, and sometimes even discouraging. Like Timothy, many of us have personal challenges as well, whether related to physical or mental health, or to other personal circumstances.
Of course, Paul has advice for Timothy that we could heed as well. Not just me and Sumi, as your ministers… but all of you who are a part of the ministry and mission we share at First Church could find some encouragement in Paul’s letter.
Whatever challenges we may face, Paul says this:
“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 sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
So, we have the Bible. And yes, that’s going to be a help. Not that it’s going to make all the difficulties disappear. But it’s going to ground us in our faith. It’s going to provide encouragement when we are weary. It’s going to assure us of God’s promises when we are wondering about the future of the church and the world.
And when we continue to read, study, meditate on, and interpret the Scriptures together in the community of the church, the Holy Spirit will guide us week-by-week as we deal with all the present difficulties of living in the world as Christians today.
The second half of Paul’s words to Timothy are simply an encouragement to keep going with his ministry. Paul solemnly urges him to proclaim the gospel, to be persistent, and to be patient as he teaches people about Jesus and his love. And then he warns Timothy that soon he’ll be competing with lots of other messages from teachers who will tell people whatever they want to hear. People will turn away from the truth and wander away to myths.
And doesn’t that sound like what’s happening in our time? Think of all the messages coming at us all from advertising and sales promising beauty, health, happiness, and so much more. And think of all the misinformation being circulated to promote certain agendas. Think of all the people who have been taken in by conspiracy theories, who have been convinced to fear and hate people who are different from them, and who are deeply committed to fighting for the freedom and wealth that they believe others are denying them.
As ministers and churches, how do we respond to these things? How do we endure and not become discouraged in this context?
Paul said, “Be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” Or, in other words, we might say: “Keep your head, don’t be surprised when things are very difficult, keep on sharing the good news about Jesus, and stay committed to your purpose.”
As usual, the Apostle Paul has plenty of good advice for church leaders and for churches in general. But sometimes I wonder if Timothy felt as overwhelmed as clergy today sometimes do when we read all this good advice and wonder about how we’ll carry it out.
And since the lectionary matched up this passage with Jesus’ parable about the unjust judge and the persistent widow, I started to wonder if Timothy ever had the chance to hear that parable.
As I mentioned, Timothy was a leader in the early Christian Church from about the year 50 CE until his death in about 97 CE, and much of his ministry was based in the City of Ephesus. So, did Timothy have a copy of the Gospel of Luke that he used for preaching and sharing the good news?
The Gospel of Luke was put together from oral traditions and various source documents near the end of the first century. The majority of scholars date it to 80-90 CE, though some think it was even later than that. But there is general agreement that it originated in a Hellenistic (Greek) environment. And prominent theories suggest it could have been written in either Antioch, Syria, or an area in Asia Minor, such as Ephesus or Smyrna.
And that makes me wonder if those same Gospel stories that ended up in Luke were circulated and being collected in and around Ephesus where Timothy’s ministry was based. I wonder if Timothy actually had access to one of the earliest copies of Luke’s Gospel before he was killed in 97 CE. I don’t know if he did, but I would like to think so. Because I think that Timothy would have been encouraged by the Parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow.
I expect that Jesus first told this story to his disciples when they were feeling discouraged in the difficult ministry that he had called them to do with him. And I am even more sure that the author of Luke’s Gospel included this story to encourage the Christians near the end of the first century who were discouraged because Jesus had not yet returned and the Kingdom of God that they were hoping for had not yet come.
The message is clear, and it’s spelled out even before the parable itself begins. Luke tells us, “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” So here’s the story, as paraphrased in the SALT Lectionary Commentary:
“An unjust judge, who neither fears God nor respects God’s children, initially refuses to grant justice to a widow. But she persists, and persists, and persists, until at last the judge agrees, if only to get her off his case – and indeed to avoid getting beat up! The NRSV translation obscures the almost slapstick tone of the teaching: translated literally, the judge says, “because this widow causes trouble for me, I will give her justice, so that she may not, in the end, give me a black eye by her coming.” (The Greek word, hypopiazo, “to give a black eye,” is a term borrowed from boxing!)
“In effect, Jesus is saying: If even an unjust judge eventually gives in to a persistent request for justice by a woman he neither loves nor respects – how much more will God, the consummately Just Judge, grant justice to God’s beloved? So: take heart!”
Now, this parable is not promising that when we pray, God will give us exactly what we ask for when we ask for it. We’re not supposed to threaten God with a black eye to get our way. But… if we’re feeling discouraged about our ministry, or about the problems in our society, or about the conflicts in the world, or about the climate crisis, or about the fact that even now (2000 years later) God’s Kingdom has not yet come in its fullness… the parable reminds us that God loves us, and that God will fulfill God’s promises one day. Not yet. But one day.
And in the meantime, we are encouraged to follow the example of a persistent widow. “Throughout the Bible, widows are often icons of both vulnerability and tenacity. Alongside orphans, immigrants, and others, widows are frequently named by the Hebrew prophets as deserving special protection and respect. And at the same time, widows such as Tamar, Ruth, Naomi, and Anna are models of strength, initiative, and resourcefulness.”
So, Jesus’ first disciples, and then the early Christians including Timothy, and all the Christians who followed all the way to us today are urged to remain active, faithful, and courageous in the meantime. “No matter how long it takes, he says, keep calling on God for justice, keep demanding it like a tireless, tenacious widow – and keep trusting that in the end, justice will be done!”