Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Richard Davenport October 16, 2022 - Proper 24 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 The letters of 1 and 2 Timothy are quite a bit different from the rest of Paul's letters. Where Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians and almost all of the rest of Paul's letters are written to and intended to be read by the whole church in the region, 1 and 2 Timothy were written to a single person. Paul's letters to Titus and Philemon were also written to a single person, but even there, the tone is very different from what we find in Paul's letters to Timothy. It's unclear from the Scriptural and historical records we have whether Paul ever had a wife or kids. Given how much he travels, it seems unlikely he has a family waiting for him back in Judea. Nevertheless, when he talks to Timothy, it isn't as a colleague or even a brother, but as a beloved son. Timothy came to faith as a young man and was connected to Paul. Paul brought him along on some of his missionary journeys and Paul came to love him as a father loves a son. Listening in on his letters to Timothy, you hear that love come through. Paul's other letters carry his love too, but it is a love for brothers and sisters in the faith. It's a bit less personal, his direction and advice is a bit more generic. He tries to correct their sinful behavior or he praises their faithfulness. He points out threats to their spiritual wellbeing or he asks for their assistance. In any case, he speaks to them as a group, as people he has gotten to know over the course of a couple of months to a couple of years, but still, they are a group. With Timothy, he speaks to someone he knows very well. He speaks like he is speaking to family. St. Paul sends his letters to Timothy because he knows Timothy is far away and in need of encouragement. Timothy has a tough job. He's following in Paul's footsteps as he goes about sharing the gospel with those who need to hear it. We don't hear a lot about what kind of response he gets, but we know the kind of response Paul and the other apostles get. It's anything but pleasant. Many resist. Many have no interest in hearing the message. Many are comfortable in their various idolatrous lifestyles. Timothy has a tough job ahead of him. Just before this, in 2 Timothy 3, Paul says, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." in a sense, Paul is telling him there are a lot of people out there who are going straight to hell and they're loving every minute of it. They will try and make your life as miserable as they can. There are others out there who will listen. Don't get so caught up in dealing with the unrepentant that you miss those who want to hear what Timothy has to say about sin. That's really what Paul is sending Timothy to do, be the bearer of bad news. Laurie and I watched a tv show recently where a woman went to the doctor to get tested for Huntington's disease. Huntington's is a genetic disease that usually hits you in your 30's or 40's and basically your brain cells just start breaking down until you start losing more and more mental and physical function and eventually die. There's no cure. Given how it works as a genetic disease, if one of your parents has it, there's a 50/50 chance you'll have it too. As the doctor comes out with the results of the test, it's very much like pronouncing a death sentence. The test came back positive. You're going to die. It reminds me also of a woman at my previous congregation. She was in her early 50's as I recall. She regularly attended church and was active in helping out with various things the church did. At one point she said she wasn't feeling well and that this had been going on for a little while now and she was going to see the doctor to figure it out. I can picture her sitting there with her husband in the doctor's office after having several tests. I can picture the doctor coming out and telling her that the reason she's not been feeling well is that she's got stage 4 cancer which has spread through much of her body. Another terminal diagnosis. Another death sentence. Of course, those who receive this kind of diagnosis can ignore it or reject it. They can go off and look for all manner of questionable remedies, crystal healing, acupuncture, various hallucinogens and all sorts of other things people would otherwise never give credence to except in true desperation. On the flip side, there are doctors who don't want to accept their own evidence either and choose to downplay the danger, whether out of a desire for fame and fortune as they make others think they took care of the problem, or perhaps out a desire to bring comfort, however fleeting or false. St. Paul tells Timothy that there are many who will do both. There are those who would seek to lead others astray and there are those who are too proud to listen to such a diagnosis. That's what Paul has sent Timothy to do. He is to be the doctor who goes out to the people and tells them they are dying. He is to announce that, despite their best efforts, they will die and there's nothing they can do about it. The results of the tests the doctors run aren't lying. They have no agenda and no need to mislead you. They are simply relaying the truth. When Paul tells him, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work," he is telling Timothy that Scripture isn't lying when it says the people you are talking to are going to die. It's simply stating the truth. You might deny the diagnosis when you hear it, but that changes nothing. You might scour the world for some sort of cure, but you won't find one. You have a disease, a sickness, and it's going to kill you. The whole point of the doctor's diagnosis is not to make you run from it, but to trust it and act accordingly. Even if the whole rest of the world says you're fine, it changes nothing. Timothy is a spiritual doctor reading your health chart in Scripture and everything there says you're going to die and no one around you can do anything about it. Timothy is sent to preach the word, in season, out of season, at all times and to never shirk from this important duty. Many won't want to hear it. Many others may come who will tell people what they want to hear instead, but that won't be you. Preach the word. It's a tough job and often a thankless job. It's a job that brings sadness and anger. It's a job that will cause you to be unliked and unwanted. Still, a doctor who refuses to tell the truth isn't doing his patient any good. Accepting this diagnosis, truly acknowledging that we are going to die and there's nothing we can do about it, is one of the most difficult things any of us ever do. I say it's one of the most difficult, because many people spend their entire lives fighting against the diagnosis and many who claim to have accepted still go as if it isn't really true. They change nothing about how they live or how they act. What's more is that the death that awaits us is self inflicted. Our bad behavior brought it. Our selfish love of our own lives above all else, even the lives and wellbeing of others has led us to doing some terrible things and bringing down the already short lives of others. As disheartening as it may be, it's when you accept that diagnosis, when you own it as yours, when you refuse to lie to yourself or to let others lie to you, that's when a new possibility opens us. Your chart contains one more bit of information, a referral to a specialist who deals with these sorts of situations. As Paul says again, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." Salvation is there through faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus prescribes baptism. He tells you this simple washing of water is the solution. It doesn't cure the disease and doesn't avoid death. What it does is transfer the disease to him. In a way only he knows, he takes the disease we brought on ourselves and the death that stems from that. He endures it. He suffers it. He agonizes from it. He dies from it. Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. This is what it means. We are washed in the water that is bound to his promise, bound to his death and to his life. This is why Luther answers the question, "What benefits does baptism give?" by saying, "It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare." The wording Luther uses is interesting. He doesn't say death goes away but rather, you are rescued from it. The death goes to Jesus and his life goes to you. Aside from the desire St. Paul has that we continue trusting Jesus to make this great exchange for us and to let our baptism do its work, he is also pointing out the role we have in sharing this diagnosis with others. There is no one in this world who will escape death. There is no one in this world who hasn't put their own interests above others and invited the disease in to corrupt their soul and body. The diagnosis is the same everywhere, with everyone. Scripture says it clearly and all of the evidence is there. People continue to try and test it and the result is always the same. People try all manner of cures and solutions and none of it works. Each and every person who has ever lived (with the exception of 2) has died and been put in the ground in one way or another. The truth is there in Scripture, whether others want to hear it or not. Many won't. Many others will lie to people and tell them it's all ok. Still, some will listen. Some have seen the evidence around them and will listen to what their doctor, their Creator, says. They will listen and accept their disease and the death it brings and know it to be the result of their own actions. Then, they will listen to the promise Christ makes that he will take that death on himself and that he will do so willingly, lovingly, even joyfully. They will trust and find salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, they will exchange their lives for his in baptism and know, as we do, that death no longer holds any power over us. Share the message, difficult though it will be, for it is only in accepting the reality of our death that we may find life in Christ.