2 Timothy 4:9-18

2 Timothy 4:9-18 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The above passage indicates the humanness of Paul and the tenuousness of the message. We sometimes idealize the early beginnings of the church and its impact on society. We make the early disciples of Jesus bigger than life. However, in the natural they were a small group of nondescript, powerless people who had been energized and changed by their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Jesus' resurrection was a real event to them. The Holy Spirit's infilling was a genuine happening. Therefore, they were willing to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the known world. We see the smallness of the group in the above passage, for Paul is calling on the same people who had helped him promote the gospel in Asia Minor to help him now. He had no others to call upon. He didn't have a host of Roman Christians to stand by his side, to provide for his needs in Rome. We see Paul denoting the fact that some of his faithful followers had left him for various reasons. Some even had gone back into the world. Nevertheless, even though Paul felt quite alone, his teachings were piercing the darkness of the Gentile world. But, to continue to fulfill their task, they needed each other even though they were few in numbers.

How comforting it is to have a number of supporting people around us when we stand for a Christian principle or promote a worthy idea. And how disconcerting and troubling it is to advocate a position when only a few are supporting our stance. How many of us are willing to speak up in a meeting when it seems the overwhelming consensus is against us, when it seems as if our idea is unworthy even for consideration. Well, Paul and Timothy were in that exact position. Not only was their idea about Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior considered unworthy, it was considered dangerous to the culture and the people in power. But Paul and Timothy never wavered; they kept preaching Jesus Christ and his redeeming power.

Sometimes we are the only Christian in our family. Sometimes we are the only one at work who believes fervently in Christ. Sometimes we just feel alone in our beliefs. Many of us don't belong to a large church where numbers alone validate and bolster our convictions. And sometimes regardless of the number of believers around us, we feel alone. Then we need a Timothy, a brother or sister in Christ, to come to us with a cloak of love to wrap around us, to help us realize that Jesus Christ knows our loneliness, knows our needs. We cannot always live a victorious life in Christ if we are alone in Rome. There are times we need help. Paul called on the faithful few to help him. We also need to call on the few to help us: a close friend, a partner in Christ.

Many times in my life I have had faithful Christians stand by me when I needed help to survive, to hold on. All of us need that help; no one wants to be caught in Rome alone, trying to survive. That is why there is the BODY OF CHRIST here on earth, to help us survive and minister effectively. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he stressed the need for the entire body to function together. While confirming that each part needs every other part, he said, The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12) No member of our physical body will live long without the other parts of the body. Alone the message is tenuous, weak. We are weak, lacking the strength we draw from our brothers and sisters. But in Christ, in his body, we are strong, and the message of Christ will pierce the darkness.