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 … Read more »