Finishing the Race – Strong! (3)

  

Demas – From Honorable to Dishonorable, Part 3

 

“Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus” (2 Timothy 4:9 – 12).

 

This is one of those passages that we tend to gloss over, after all, these are just names. Suppose our names were in this passage? How would we feel if they were glossed over, skipped over the way we skip over nonessential elements in life?

 

Of course these names are people, and they were people who mattered to Paul. We have people in our lives who matter to us and these people have names – we can’t separate the names from the people; “Jim” is Jim, “Mel” is Mel, “Linda” is Linda.

 

The more I read this passage, the more I see. What do you see? What are the likelihoods? What are the possibilities? As we continue to think about Demas, can you identify someone who is the opposite of Demas in this passage, as well as in the other two passages in Colossians and Philemon that we’re considering

 

“Make every effort to come to me soon.” Paul wants Timothy to hurry up and get to him, and the first reason why he wants him to come quickly is that Demas has deserted him. The fact that Paul lists Demas’s abandonment first, ahead of those fellow workers who were on mission to Galatia, Dalmatia, and Ephesus, says something about the impact Demas’s desertion had on Paul’s heart. Thankfully Luke was still with Paul. Paul had anticipated that Demas and Luke would both be with him, but now there was only Luke, the beloved physician.

 

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” (2 Timothy 4:6). Paul is in prison once again. This time is the last time, this is apparent to Paul – execution awaits him; it is not a question of “if” but “when”. Demas had stood with Paul during Paul’s previous imprisonment, and certainly he would stand with Paul during this present imprisonment.

 

But wait, Demas is gone, he has deserted Paul; Demas has loved the present world and has deserted his friends Paul and Luke, he has left them alone. Crescens, and Titus, and Tychicus have gone on individual missions to serve Christ; Demas has gone on a mission to serve himself. Paul commissioned Tychicus and Titus and Crescens to go and serve; Demas commissioned himself to abandon his friends and to love himself and the present evil age.

 

This is a blow to Paul, and no doubt to Luke. Paul writes to Timothy, “Come quickly.”

 

“Come quickly because I am going to leave this world soon through execution, and one who was close to me, one whom I love, one whom I depended on, one whom I shared much joy and laughter and love with, one with whom I endured and overcame many challenges, one whom I was certain would be with me until the very end; this one, my friend, my beloved, my Demas…has deserted me. O Timothy come quickly! Come quickly!”

 

Now if, when we read this passage in 2 Timothy, we are simply thinking about Paul and Demas and Paul’s other friends, then we are missing the point. For I ought to be allowing the Holy Spirit to take the Word of God and challenge me in terms of my friendships and other relationships. If the Holy Spirit had intended us to gloss over passages such as this, He would not have included them in the Holy Word, these passages, just as the genealogies, have Divine meaning.

 

What do we “see” in this passage? How are we responding to this passage?