Homilies on 2 Timothy 10.1–10.5

“Do your best to come to me quickly. For Demas has deserted me, having loved the present age, and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, above all the parchments.” It is worth asking how he calls Timothy to himself, when Timothy had been entrusted with a church and a whole nation. It was not presumption; for Paul himself had been ready to go to him: hear him saying, “But if I delay, that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.” Why, then? He was held fast by great constraint and was no longer free to travel; he lived in prison, shut up by Nero, and was about to die very soon. So, lest this happen before he saw his disciple, he calls him, longing to see him before his death, and perhaps to entrust many things to him. That is why he says, “Do your best to come to me before winter. For Demas has deserted me, having loved the present age.” And he does not say, “so that I may see you before I depart this life,” which would most have grieved him; but, “Since I am alone,” he says, “I have no one to help me. For Demas has deserted me, having loved the present age, and has gone to Thessalonica.” That is, being in love with ease, with freedom from danger and with safety, he chose rather to live in comfort at home than to suffer hardship with me and help me bear the present dangers. He blamed him alone, not because he wished to blame him, but to strengthen us, so that we may not grow soft in dangers or in labours; for this is what “having loved the present age” means; and at the same time he wished to draw the disciple to him. “Crescens,” he says, “to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.” These he no longer blames; for Titus was one of the most admirable, so that Paul entrusted to him the affairs of the island—an island not small but very large: I mean Crete. “Luke alone is with me.” For he kept close to him inseparably, he who wrote the gospel and the general Acts, a man industrious, eager to learn and persevering. Of him Paul says in his writing, “whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.” “Get Mark and bring him with you.” Why? “For he is useful to me for ministry.” He does not mean for his own rest, but for the ministry of the gospel; for even in bonds he did not stop preaching. So he was calling Timothy too for this reason, not for his own sake but for the gospel's, so that no disturbance might arise among the believers at his death, with many of his disciples present and helping them to bear his death. For it is likely that those who had believed at Rome were men of note. “Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, above all the parchments.” By “cloak” (φελόνη) he means here the garment; but some say it is the case in which the books were kept. And what need had he of books, when he was about to depart to God? He needed them very much, so as to entrust them to the believers, that they might have them in place of his teaching. For it is likely that all the believers suffered a great blow at that time, and especially those who were present at his death and were enjoying his company then. He asks for the cloak so as not to need to receive one from someone else. For you see him taking great pains over this, and saying elsewhere, when he was speaking to those from Ephesus, “You know that these hands ministered to my needs and to those who were with me”; and again, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his works.” Here again he mentions a trial, not simply because he wishes to blame or accuse that man, but to anoint the disciple for the contests, so that he may bear things nobly. Even if those who bring the trials are mean and worthless and dishonoured, one must bear everything nobly, he says. For one who suffers ill at the hands of a great man has no small distinction in the greatness of the one who does it; but one who suffers at the hands of a mean and outcast man has the greater pain. “He did me much harm,” that is, he afflicted me in various ways. But he will not get away with it unpunished, he says: “For the Lord will repay him according to his works.” As he said, writing above, “What persecutions I endured, and from them all the Lord rescued me,” so here too he encouraged the disciple in two ways: by his own suffering ill, and by that man's receiving his due; not as though the saints simply rejoiced at punishments, but because the preaching and the weaker brethren needed the consolation that comes from this. “Beware of him yourself,” he says, “for he strongly opposed our words.” That is, he fights and resists. And he did not say … none of these things, nor does he arm Timothy against him, but only bids him beware, leaving the punishment to God. And he said, “He will repay him,” for the consolation of the weaker; which is a prophecy rather than a curse. That he says these things to anoint the disciple is clear also from what follows. But see again how he recounts other trials of his: “At my first defence,” he says, “no one stood by me, but all deserted me; may it not [be counted] against them.”

Do you see how he spares his own people? And yet they had done a terrible thing. For it is not the same to be despised by outsiders and by one's own. Do you see how the discouragement is heightened? You cannot say, “I was attacked by outsiders, but I had the comfort of the care and support of my own”; for they too betrayed me. “All deserted me,” he says. So this is no small sin. For if in war the one who abandons a man in danger and withdraws himself from the enemy's hand is rightly struck down by his own side, as having ruined and betrayed everything, much more is it so in the preaching. What does he mean by his first defence? He had already stood before Nero and escaped; but when he instructed Nero's cupbearer in the faith, then Nero beheaded him. See, here again is encouragement for the disciple, in what follows: “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.” For God does not let one who is abandoned by men suffer anything terrible. “And strengthened me,” he says: that is, he gave me boldness, he did not let me fall. “So that through me the preaching might be fully proclaimed,” that is, fulfilled. See his great humility. It was not as one worthy of the gift, he says, that he strengthened me, but so that the preaching … as if someone were carrying a purple robe and a diadem and were kept safe because of them. “And all the Gentiles might hear,” he says. What is this? So that both the splendour of the preaching and the care of providence for me might become plain to all, he says. “And I was rescued from the mouth of the lion; and the Lord will rescue me from every evil work.” See how near he came to death: he fell into the very throat of the lion. For he calls Nero a lion because of the savagery, strength and fearlessness of his rule. “And the Lord rescued me,” he says, “and will rescue me.” If he will rescue him again, how did he say, “I am already being poured out”? But attend to the wording. “I was rescued,” he says, “from the mouth of the lion”; and again, “He will rescue,” no longer from the mouth, but from what? “From every evil work.” For then he snatched me from the dangers; but since enough has been done for the gospel, he will rescue me again from every sin, that is, he will not let me depart under condemnation. For this too—being able to resist sin to the point of blood and not to give in—is to be rescued from another lion, the devil. So this salvation is greater than the first, even when he seems to have been handed over. “And he will save me for his heavenly kingdom; to him be the glory to the ages of ages. Amen.” So this is salvation: when we shine there. What does “He will save me for his kingdom” mean? He will snatch me out of every charge, he says, and keep me there. For this is to be saved for the kingdom: to die here for its sake. “For whoever hates his life in this world,” he says, “will keep it for eternal life.” “To him be the glory.” See, a doxology of the Son. “Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus.” For Onesiphorus was there in Rome, as he says: “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.” By greeting his household he makes those in it more eager for such good deeds. “Greet,” he says, “Prisca and Aquila.” These are the people he mentions continually, with whom he also lodged, who took Apollos in. He puts the wife first, I think, as the more zealous and the more faithful; for she too then took Apollos in; or else he does this without any particular reason. And the mention was no small consolation to them, but showed honour and love and imparted much grace; for even a mere greeting from that holy and blessed man is enough to fill the one who receives it with much grace. “Erastus remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.” Him and Tychicus we know from the book of Acts as men who went up with him from Judaea and were with him everywhere, perhaps as more zealous than the others. “Trophimus I left sick at Miletus,” he says. Why did you not heal him, instead of leaving him behind? The apostles could not do everything, or they did not dispense everything by grace, so that no one might think of them beyond what he sees. We see this happen also with the blessed righteous men before them, as with Moses: he was slow of speech; why did God not change his slowness? He was often cast down by grief and discouragement; he did not enter the land of promise. 3. For God permitted many things so that the weakness of human nature might be shown. For if, even when these things happened, the senseless Jews said, “Where is Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt?”, what would they not have done if he had also brought them into the land of promise? If he had not allowed the fear of Pharaoh to overcome him, would they not have thought him a god? So too with Paul and Barnabas, we see the inhabitants of Lystra being affected in this way and thinking them gods, when Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men of like nature with you.” And again Peter, when he healed the man lame from birth and all were amazed at what had happened, answered, saying, “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” And hear again blessed Paul saying, “And a thorn was given me in the flesh, so that I might not be too elated.” “But,” someone says, “the words come from humility.” Far from it; this is not so. For the thorn was not given him so that he might be humble, nor did he say this from humility only, but for other reasons too. See, at any rate, how God, giving his reason, does not say to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, so that you may not be too elated,” but what? “For my power is made perfect in weakness.” Two things, then, came about together: what was done was shown plainly, and the whole was ascribed to God. That is why he also said elsewhere, “We have the treasure” in weak bodies. Why? “So that the surpassing power may belong to God, and not to us.” If the bodies were not subject to suffering, everything would have been ascribed to them. And elsewhere we see him grieved at an illness; for of Epaphroditus he said, “For he was indeed ill, near to death, but God had mercy on him.” And there were many other things they did not know, to the advantage both of Paul himself and of those he taught. “Trophimus,” he says, “I left sick at Miletus.” Miletus lies near Ephesus. Was this when he sailed for Judaea, or shall we say it was at some other time? For after being in Rome he went again to Spain; but whether he came from there to these parts again, we do not know. At any rate, we see him left alone by all: “[Demas] deserted me,” he says, “Crescens [to Galatia], Titus to Dalmatia; Erastus remained at Corinth; Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.” “Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and Pudens and Linus and Claudia.” This Linus, some record, was the second bishop of the church of the Romans after Peter. “And Linus,” he says, “and Claudia.” Do you see how women too were fervent and warm in the faith? Such as Priscilla, such as this … And why, when there were so many believers, does he mention these women? Clearly because they had already departed in mind from worldly affairs, as being more illustrious; for it is not possible to be held back by being a woman. For this too is a work of God's grace, that this nature is held back only in the affairs of this life, or rather not even there. For the woman has received no small part of the whole administration, the care of the house; and without it not even public affairs could ever hold together. For if household affairs were full of turmoil and confusion, every man in public life would have to sit at home, and the affairs of the city would go badly. So she is not inferior in those matters, nor in spiritual things. For she can die ten thousand times if she wishes; many women, at any rate, have been martyred. She can practise chastity, even more than men, since she is not troubled by such a great flame, and she can show decorum and dignity, and holiness, “without which no one will see the Lord,” and contempt of money, if they wish, and in short all the other virtues. “Do your best,” he says, “to come before winter.” How he urges him on! And nowhere does he set down what is painful: he does not say, “before I die,” so as not to grieve him, but “to come before winter,” so that you may not be held back. “Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.” He does not mention them by name. Do you see that those others were more zealous? “The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Nothing is better than this prayer. Do not grieve, he says, that I am going away: the Lord is with you. And he did not say, “with you,” but “with your spirit.” The help is twofold: the grace of the Spirit, and God helping it. Besides, God cannot be with us unless the spiritual grace is there; for if we were abandoned by it, how would he be with us? “Grace be with us. Amen.” And he prays for himself too: that is, that we may always be pleasing to him, that we may have favour along with the gift; for when this is present, nothing will be painful. For as one who sees the king and has favour with him feels nothing painful, so even if we are deprived of our friends, even if we fall into something terrible, we shall feel nothing, while that grace is present and walls us around.

How, then, can one draw this grace to oneself? By doing what is dear to God and obeying him in everything. Or do we not see in great houses too that those servants have favour who do not care for their own affairs but for those of their masters, with all their soul and eagerness, and who arrange everything well not only because the master compels them but out of eagerness and affection? When they are always before their masters' eyes, when they busy themselves about the house, when they carry on no business of their own and do not care for their own affairs, but rather hold their masters' affairs in place of their own? For the servant who has made his master's affairs his own has not made his own affairs his master's, but his master's affairs his own: he gives orders in the master's affairs just as the master does, he rules just as he does. Many of the servants fear him more than the master, and whatever he says, the master says too; all his enemies are afraid of him from then on. And if in the affairs of this life the one who despised his own and chose his master's did not lose what was his, but rather obtained greater things, much more is it so in spiritual things. Despise what is yours, and you have received what is God's; he himself wishes this. Despise the earth, and seize the kingdom of heaven; live there, not here; be feared because of what is there, not because of what is here. If you are feared because of what is there, you will be fearful not only to people but also to demons and to the devil himself; but if because of the money here, you will be easily despised by them, and often by people too. Whatever riches you gain, you will be rich among slavish things; but if you disregard them, you will be illustrious in the royal house. Such were the apostles, who despised the slavish house and the money of this world. And see how they gave orders in their Master's affairs: “Let so-and-so be freed from disease,” he says, “another from demons; bind that one, and loose this one.” This was done on earth, but it was accomplished as in heaven. “For whatever you bind on earth,” he says, “will be bound in heaven.” And he gave them greater authority than his own. And to show that I have not spoken falsely, hear him saying, “Whoever believes in me will do greater works than I do.” Why? Because in this way too the honour passes to the Master. For in our affairs too, when the servant has great power, the master is admired the more. For if the servant can do so much, how much more the one who rules him? But if someone left his master's service and cared for his own wife and child and servant, and wanted to grow rich and to store up treasure there, either by stealing or by damaging his master's goods, he would quickly destroy himself along with the money. So, since we have these examples, I beg you, let us not take care of our possessions, so that we may take care of ourselves; let us despise them, so that we may possess them. If we despise them, God will take care of them; if we take care of them, God will despise them. Let us toil in God's affairs, not in our own—or rather, in our own; for his are ours. I do not mean heaven, I do not mean earth, I do not mean the things in the world; for these are unworthy of him; these belong not only to us but also to unbelievers. What, then, do I mean by his? Glory, the kingdom: these are both his and, through him, ours. How? “If we have died with him,” … we are called … Why do we drag ourselves down, when he draws us up to himself? How long shall we be poor, how long beggars? Heaven lies before us, and do we turn about the earth? The kingdom of heaven is offered, and do we choose the poverty of this world? Immortal life is offered, and do we spend ourselves on wood and stones and fields? Become rich—I too wish this; be greedy, and seize: here there is no blame; here not to be greedy is the charge, here not to seize is the accusation. What does this mean? “The kingdom of heaven,” it says, “suffers violence, and the violent seize it.” Be violent there, be a robber: what is seized there is not diminished. For virtue is not divided up, nor is godliness diminished, nor the kingdom of heaven. Virtue increases when you seize it; bodily things are diminished when you seize them. And this is clear from the following: suppose there are ten thousand men in a city; if they all seize virtue and righteousness, they have increased it, for among the ten thousand they all become righteous; but if …

Do you see that good things increase the more when they are seized, while these things decrease the more when they are seized? Let us not, then, sit beside our poverty, but choose wealth. God's wealth is that many enjoy the kingdom. “He is rich,” it says, “toward all, and upon all who call on him.” Increase his substance; and you will increase it if you seize, if you are greedy, if you use violence. There is truly need of violence. Why? Because many are those who hinder us: wives, children, cares, worldly affairs, and with these the demons and the very leader of the demons, the devil. There is need, then, of violence, need of endurance. The violent man is in labours. How? He endures everything and stands firm against necessity. How? He almost attempts the impossible. If, then, the violent are like this, while we do not even attempt what is possible, when shall we obtain the kingdom? When shall we enjoy what we strive for? “The violent,” it says, “seize the kingdom of heaven.” There is need of violence and of seizing; for it is not simply set before us, nor ready to hand. The one who seizes is always sober, awake; he thinks and is anxious how to make his seizure at the right moment. Do you not see in wars that the one who wishes to seize something stays awake the whole night and is armed the whole time? If, then, those who seize the things of this life stay awake at night and arm themselves, how is it that we, who wish to seize spiritual things, which need greater zeal than these, sleep and snore even by day, and remain always unarmed and naked? For one who goes about in sins is unarmed and naked, just as one who lives in righteousness is armed. We do not fence ourselves around with almsgiving; we do not … lamps burning for ourselves; we do not learn the road that leads there; we are not sober, we are not awake; that is why we can seize nothing. If someone wishes to attack a king, does he not first expose himself to ten thousand deaths? Does he not fortify himself, does he not practise warfare? Does he not do everything to this end, and so rush to the attack? But we do not act so; we want to seize while we sleep; and that is why we come away with empty hands … they flee, how they run, how they cut their way through everything! There is need of running; for at once the devil runs after you and orders those in front to stop you. But if you are strong, if you are awake, you kick one and push another away, and escape them all like a bird; and you get away from here, and pass beyond the marketplace and the great din, which is this life, and come to the heights beyond them, which is the age to come. For there, as in a wilderness, there is no din, no one to trouble you, no one to hold you back. Have you snatched it? Little effort is needed after the seizing, so that what has been taken may not be taken away. If we run, if we look at none of the things lying before our eyes, if we think of nothing else than escaping those who hinder us, we shall be able to keep what we have seized in safety. Have you seized self-control? Do not stay; flee; get far away from the devil. If he sees that he can no longer overtake you, he will not even pursue you. So we too, when we no longer see those who have snatched something, give up, and neither run after them ourselves nor urge others to stop them, but let them go. So you too run hard at the beginning. When you are far from the devil, he will no longer even make an attempt on you, but you will be in safety, enjoying the ineffable good things without fear. May we all obtain them, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be glory, might, honour and worship to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.