“Dispatch to a young soldier (of Christ Jesus)” (St. Luke’s: Friday, September 22nd, 2017; 1 Timothy 6.2c-12)

Operation Juno.  Receiving and giving orders – that was an important part of my training during boot camp this summer.  During the exercise called Operation Juno, we spent several days in the woods at the Farnham training centre.  I recall preparing to lead my “section” (a group of 8 chaplaincy candidates) during a combat scenario…  It was 4 a.m. on a Friday.  All was quiet at Forward Operating Base Passchendaele.  There I was, dressed in my combat uniform, with cam-stick on my face, sitting on a bench waiting for the Warrant Officer to arrive and deliver his orders for the next mission.  As I sat in the dimly-lit shack, I fought to stay awake – it had been two days since I had gotten any sleep.  In our shelter, my 7 comrades from 2 Section were waiting for me to return and give them the initial briefing that would allow them to begin preparations for our mission while I completed preparing my official orders for them.

Soldier of Christ.  “Fight the good fight of the Faith”!  In his letters to Timothy, St. Paul often speaks of the Christian life in military terms and describes himself as a “soldier” who had been enlisted in the army of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Paul’s use of military imagery may be explained in part by the fact that the apostle was in daily contact with Roman soldiers during his imprisonment.  In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul describes the “armour of God” – truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God – in terms of the weapons and equipment of a Roman infantryman (cf. Eph. 6.10-17).  In the verses immediately following the end of today’s first reading, Paul tells Timothy:

“In the presence of God …and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment …until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6.13-14). 

Calling upon God and Jesus as witnesses, Paul commands Timothy to obey his orders until the return of Christ (should Timothy be around to experience it).  Paul understood his apostolic vocation as a mission that had been entrusted to him by Jesus, his Commanding Officer.  As the apostle often says in his letters, he had been “entrusted with the gospel” (cf. 1 Tm. 1.11).  Since meeting the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul had spent his life travelling around the Roman Empire, proclaiming that Jesus – not Caesar – was Lord and calling people to allegiance to Christ and to put their trust in him rather than in the Emperor.  Obviously, such a mission was anything but easy.  In Paul’s second letter, he invites Timothy to “Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2.3).

Final Orders.  As Paul is in prison for the last time, he comes to the realisation that, as he puts it in 2 Tm. 4, “the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.  Even as he waits for the inevitable moment of his execution, Paul can confidently say that he has completed his mission.  And yet the apostle knows that the struggle will continue long after he disappears from the ranks.  St. Paul knows that the time has come to transmit orders to the next generation of combatants in “the good fight of the faith”.  For the past week, we have been meditating on Paul’s first letter to Timothy during daily mass.  St. Paul’s letters to Timothy and to Titus are known as the “pastoral epistles”, letters in which the aging apostle hands on practical wisdom for young Christian leaders, letters that sometimes sound like a last will and testament.  These are my final wishes; this is what I must tell you before I die.  I think the timing of these readings is especially appropriate in light of the upcoming Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.  Paul offers a challenge to Timothy to be an example to God’s people in spite of his young age (cf. 1 Tm. 4.12).  May these readings inspire us to pray for the young people of Montreal as well as for the Holy Father and the bishops who will gather to discuss how to accompany young Catholics as they seek to find their place in today’s Church and today’s world.  So what were the orders that St. Paul had transmitted to Timothy?

Shun the love of money.  Towards the end of today’s reading, the apostle tells his apprentice to “run away from” certain things and to “chase after” other things: “…shun ‘all this’; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness” (6.11).  What does Paul tell Timothy to run away from?  Answer: the desire to be rich.  Money is the common thread that runs through all of today’s readings.  Paul is concerned with Timothy’s ability to complete the mission that was entrusted to him at the moment of his baptism and ordination (cf. 1 Tm. 6.12, 20; 2 Tm. 1.6).  In his second letter, Paul tells Timothy: “No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer” (2.4).  The apostle desires that the young “soldier” maintain a sense of detachment from material wealth, so as to remain unencumbered with all of the preoccupations that often accompany riches – the fear of losing what one possesses, dealing with debtors and creditors, the temptation to compromise one’s convictions in order to protect one’s assets or in order to increase one’s affluence, etc.  In the first reading, St. Paul shares the very practical wisdom of today’s psalm: “we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it”.  We could say that at the moment of death, everyone’s bank balance is the same.  Of course, there is also wisdom in planning ahead, so as not to leave unresolved financial burdens behind you.  But again, Paul’s concern is for Timothy to remain free, to enjoy freedom from the “trap” of the love of money and so to remain faithful to his commitment to dedicate his life to the gospel.  Of course, as today’s Gospel tells us, wealth can be used to further God’s work (cf. 1 Tm. 6.17-19).  What counts is being faithful to the vocation that we have received from Christ and fulfilling our mission.

Pursue Godliness.  Among the many things that Paul urges Timothy to “chase after” is “godliness”.  This term means “reverence, respect, piety and holiness” and is mentioned 8 times in Paul’s first letter to Timothy (cf. 2.2; 3.16; 4.7-8; 6.3, 5, 6, 11).  Timothy is also exhorted to be an example of purity in his interactions with all members of the community (cf. 4.12; 5.2).  This is a counter-cultural challenge.  The “bad news” of this challenge is this: those young people who commit themselves to living as a Christian in today’s world will be perceived as being crazy.  Practicing chastity, giving your life away for a cause that is greater than your personal ambitions, practicing forgiveness?  These are elements of a radical lifestyle that few people will understand (but that they desperately need to witness).  The “good news” of Paul’s challenge is this: those young people who committed themselves to living as a Christian in Paul’s world were perceived as being crazy.  Being a Christian in a non-Christian culture is never easy, but it’s within those cultures that living the Christian life can have the greatest impact.  In the early years of the Church, it was the Christians who were the ones taking care of the sick and the poor and caring for the widows and the orphans.  Let us pray for all young Christians that they will be empowered to respond to Paul’s challenge and take God’s love into today’s world.  Amen.