Two weeks ago, I participated in a pastoral ordination for one of our members of Mennonite World Conference. The event had been on our calendar for the entire year—it was much anticipated. Because I had been asked to give leadership to the ordination, I did a lot of research on the practice of ordination within the Mennonite Church, trying to get my head around how to relate a structure or process for ordination within my sending denomination (MCUSA) to a much less-defined practice within the church in this case. In the end, I think we managed something that could be deemed a success—a blending of practices, roles, and personalities that marked one pastor’s identity as a servant of God to the people to whom he has been called.
In my own preparation for the event, the text that grabbed my attention was 1 Timothy 4:12-5:2, a text in which the three participants named above—the pastor, God, and the people—are clearly visible.
The text is marked by a frame of implicit conflict or potential conflict within the church. Such conflict is acknowledged in Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth” (4:12), and in his counsel to Timothy, “Do not speak harshly to an older man” [Greek: presbyter] (5:1). In other words, at the beginning and end of this unit of scripture, conflict or the potential for conflict in the church is assumed. If it was not so, why then does Paul deem it worthy to affirm Timothy’s calling in the face of those who would “despise his youth”? Likewise, if the potential of young leaders such as Timothy to deride older leaders were not present, why then do we find Paul warning Timothy not to “speak harshly to an older man” (5:1)? Indeed, the text acknowledges that conflict is close at hand.
But if the context of the text is conflict, then the substance of the text pertains to how Timothy—the addressee of this epistle (1 Tim 1:2)—might conduct himself within that conflict. And though Christ is nowhere mentioned in this unit, we might not be surprised to learn that the method Paul lays down for Timothy for dealing with conflict has Christ written all over it. To those who would despise his youth, Timothy should—rather than returning derision in the form of speaking harshly to an older man—“set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (4:12b). Timothy is not to concern himself with the insults of others, becoming fixated on them, but to “give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching” (4:13). These are the things—the things of God and not the things of human beings (Mk 8:33)—that Timothy should “put into practice”, “devote [himself] to”, “continue in” (4:15, 16). Timothy’s responsibility is to the scripture, the teaching of scripture, and his own integrity to that scripture-shaped life in the presence of others. Indeed, Timothy is to “pay close attention to [himself] and to [his] teaching” (4:15). As far as it concerns Timothy, the pastor for others, the scripture judges him before it judges his flock.
The conduct of a Christian leader, therefore, is self-reflection, humility, and submission to God rather than the presumption to be like God. The leader sets an example (4:12) of dependence on God which the people can follow—not with regard to the leader but to the leader’s Leader. The goal of the church is not to play “follow the leader”; the church follows the leader in following God.
As implicit in the text as the conflict is the power of the example of “love, faith, and purity” to overcome the conflict. It is entirely possible, even likely, that for a time the example will be despised by those who love darkness more than light (Jn 3:19). That does not mean, however, that the example of love is not ultimately efficacious, for it is the power of God for all who have faith and even now are victorious precisely in keeping their purity in love in the midst of derision. In the best of times, by God’s grace, the example of enduring love (which is Jesus Christ himself) will even win the derisive. The example of “love, faith, and purity” always leaves open the door to redemption, the cessation of hostility and the embrace of peace—and that is why Paul commends it to Timothy. Indeed, Paul insists that the example “will save both [Timothy] and [his] hearers (4:16).
At the very heart of the text is an image of the “saved” church. It is an image of the people of God, so to speak, “in the beginning”, perhaps before the despising of youth and cruelty to the old had become a threat to genuine peace. Paul reconstructs the memory for Timothy. “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders” (4:14). The memory of what the people of God once were points to the reality of what the people of God will be. Before it forgot its true calling, the community recognized the gift of God to individuals among them and acclaimed God’s gift by a show of support in the presence of all. That which was given to one “through prophecy”, God’s Word breaking in to human experience, was affirmed by the many “with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. [Greek: presbytery].” He who would deride those who called him, and those who would despise the one they called, are themselves called to remember who they really are in Christ.
-Joe
