Part 1 of the What to Expect series.

Two Passages

What do you remember about your school days? One scene I remember was a lesson when I was about ten years old. It was sunny and I think the season was spring. The teacher handed round Bibles, asking us to look at two psalms and to tell her which we liked the most and why. One of them was Psalm 23. I expect most of you know and love it: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” That is the psalm almost everyone in the class picked.

I might have been the only child in that classroom who regularly went to church and I was already aware of Psalm  23. Perhaps that was why I picked the other one. Psalm 100 also has a pastoral theme – “we are his people and the sheep of his pasture” – but all sorts of other riches are packed into its four short verses. It seemed fresher to me in part because of its unfamiliarity. You might also know Psalm 100 but, if I asked for a show of hands of which you know best Psalm 100 would be the field less grazed.

Equipped with that snippet about how my brain is wired, think back to this morning’s two readings. Which one do you now expect I am going to focus on? Of course it is going to the last chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy! In most churches using today’s New Testament lectionary passages, I expect they will choose the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Instead, I am going to take you down the path less travelled. If you want a heading for the whole message, the title I have arrived at is “What to Expect”.

Paul and Timothy

Firstly, some background. What do you know about Paul and Timothy? Paul was foundational in God’s plan for establishing the church. He wrote the most books of any New Testament writer. In terms of word count, Paul comes second only to Luke, who authored both a gospel and the book Acts. We should also remember that, during the first days of the Christian church,  Paul seemed the least likely person to make such a contribution. He was hell-bent on destroying the followers of Jesus but it turned out that God had other plans!

Paul’s surviving writings come in the form of 13 letters. Most of them were written to churches but three “pastoral epistles” were written to specific church leaders: Titus and Timothy. Paul saw them as his children in the faith and he provided a mixture of encouragement and instruction. Timothy was a relatively young man with a Jewish mother and grandmother, who were both faithful followers of Jesus (2 Tim 1:5), and a Greek father (Acts 16:1). Despite a possibly timid character and compromised health (2 Tim 1:7; 1 Tim 5:23), Timothy was able to lead well: “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim 4:12).

Now Paul is imprisoned in Rome and aware that his time is running out. He isn’t afraid to die – as he wrote to the Philippian church from the same cell, “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Php 1:21) – but he would love to see his friend again: “do your best to come to me soon” (2 Tim 4:9).