Jack McKinney

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church

October 28, 2007 – Harvest/Reformation Sunday

Text: 2 Timothy 4:6-18

Famous Last Words

For some reason we have a strong curiosity about the last words a person speaks. And the more famous the person is, the stronger our curiosity grows. The categories in which these famous last words fall are almost endless. There are poignant quotes we have heard many times such as Jesus’ last words from the cross: “God, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And Julius Caesar’s plaintive cry to his treasonous friend, Brutus: “Et tu, Brute?”

Other people had more mundane matters on their mind when the end came. The writer, Oscar Wilde, is reported to have said: “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” Apparently it was the latter. The great showman P.T. Barnum’s final words are reported to have been: “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” And the famous comedian, Lou Costello, apparently used his last breath to say: “That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.”

Of course character holds true in many instances. Those who live arrogantly die in the same state. John Barrymore, the great actor, gave this ironic reply to a friend concerned about Barrymore’s fate: “Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.” Upon which Barrymore succumbed to convention and died. General George Sedgwick, a Union commander in the Civil War, is reported to have grossly underestimated the enemy’s capabilities when he made this prediction as his final declaration: “They couldn’t hit an elephant from that distance.”

But perhaps my favorite last words come from Lady Nancy Astor who awoke briefly from her final illness and saw all her family gathered around her bed. She said, “Am I dying or is this my birthday?” Oh, wouldn’t that sweet confusion be a nice way to depart this world.

Our passage this morning from 2 Timothy 4 is considered by some to be the Apostle Paul’s last words. He is in prison, most likely in Rome, and is writing his final instructions to his young protégé, Timothy. His famous line from verse seven has become one of the most frequently quoted sentences in all the Bible: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” And those sentiments serve to reinforce the image of Paul that many people have. He was a rugged individualist, the lone wolf Christian, striking out on his own to save the Gentile world. He will receive his crown in glory because he has done so much to spread the message about Jesus with little or no help. The only problem with that impression is that it is completely erroneous. Even though Paul had a large ego, and wasn’t above boasting about his achievements, he himself reveals the secret of his success in this text. And that secret was not his radical spirit of independence.

To be honest, the part of this passage that I am drawn to is not really Paul’s famous words, as eloquent as they may be. No, there is something seemingly benign going on in the closing of this letter that is more revealing to me. In this text we see mention of several friends of Paul’s who are in different cities doing the work of the church. There are names we may recognize like Timothy, and Titus, and Mark, and other names that we do not know like Crescens, and Tychicus, and Carpus. The point is that while Paul is confined to prison, and restricted by physical limitations such as the loss of his sight, other people are carrying out the work that he began. The churches that Paul helped to start in those various cities could not have made it if these people, and many others, had not been willing to lead them in Paul’s absence. At the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans we see a much longer list of people Paul thanks for help in his ministry. That list includes women and men, fulfilling various roles in the church regardless of gender, and demonstrates an awareness on Paul’s part that he needed all of these folks in order to succeed in his mission.

But something else is going on in the way Paul closes this letter to Timothy. He reveals a yearning for companionship. He details the list of people who have left him, for both positive and negative reasons, and tells Timothy that only Luke is with him now. He almost pleads with Timothy to come and asks him to bring Mark along as well. That request is interesting when you consider Paul and Mark had a famous falling out on the first missionary journey. But now, years later, Paul senses his need for companionship, including with Mark. Paul’s vulnerability is quite clear in this text. He is lonely and seems aware that the end is near for him. He wants nothing more than to have friends around him as that time approaches.

On this Reformation Day we are called to remember that famous moment when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg and challenged the Catholic Church on numerous issues. Luther, like Paul, is seen as this radical individual taking on the world by himself. The popular image is that Luther decided to confront the Vatican with no help whatsoever, and brought about the Protestant church by sheer courage and force of will. That image is far from the truth, however. Luther did not actually plan on splitting from the church; he simply wanted to correct the problems he perceived in it. But his first step snowballed into a much larger movement, pushed along by forces beyond Luther himself. The princes in Germany became the political and financial backers of Luther’s movement because they wanted greater independence from the Catholic hierarchy. Other reformers like Calvin, Zwingli, Melancthon, Knox, and the Anabaptists often disagreed with Luther, and with each other, but their influence helped spread this growing dissent from the monolithic church. The point is that while Luther took the first step in the movement known as the Protestant Reformation, he needed the help of many others to make it come to fruition.

We remember people like the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther because we perceive they are heroic figures willing to risk, willing to strike out on their own to complete almost impossible missions. And while there is much to admire about these men, there is a danger in an uncritical acceptance of that popular image. The American ideal that celebrates radical independence over all other virtues can be a dangerous thing, especially in the church. Paul and Luther were dependent on many others in order for their movements to succeed, and the same is true for us, both as individuals and as a church. We need each other. When we struggle with personal crises and problems, we need each other. When we are alone and afraid, we need each other. And when we finally realize we can’t do it all on our own, that is when we really need each other.

In May of 1995 KaKi and I attended a dinner for doctoral candidates at Baylor University on the night before my graduation. This dinner is a long-standing tradition at Baylor and is held in the most beautiful room on the campus. It was a grand evening. The president of the university was there with other members of the administration and faculty. The menu was amazing as we were served by waiters in black tie, and we dined while listening to exceptional music. As the meal came to a close, the doctoral candidates from the various schools in the university were told that they would have a few minutes to make remarks about their journey that had led them to this place in their lives. None of us were prepared for this and I was one of the first individuals asked to get up and speak. In that unrehearsed moment, as I looked at my wife and those gathered there that evening, I had an epiphany. My achievement was not my own. Not by a long shot. Looking at KaKi I remembered all the sacrifices she had made for me to be there. I thought of the countless papers she had typed, her willingness to live on very little so that I could continue my education, and her unfailing support and encouragement when I became despondent. And seeing KaKi reminded me of other family members like my mother who had made so many sacrifices for me as a boy and who had kept pushing me when I despised school. And then I looked around the room and saw various professors under whom I had studied. It dawned on me that I owed them an enormous debt, and seeing them reminded me of other teachers from seminary and college and all the way back to grade school who had invested their lives in me so that I could be at that dinner on that evening. And so the only thing I could say, at least the only honest thing, was thank you. For if it had not been for the people in that room, and countless others before, I would never have been there that night.

We live in a culture that values individual effort and achievement over virtually everything else. We recognize that if people are going to make it in this world they must be willing to work, to sacrifice, and to overcome the obstacles that inevitably arise. We use phrases like “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” to promote the idea that it is up to us if we are going to succeed. But beneath this commendable attitude rests a grand deception. For the reality of life is that we are dependent on other people, regardless of how much we resist that truth. And while some of us consider any kind of dependency as weakness, in actuality recognizing our interdependency can become one of our greatest strengths, especially in church.

Today is that annual moment when we as a congregation acknowledge our interdependency. Harvest Sunday is important not only because it is the official beginning of our pledge season; it is also a concrete reminder that the mission of our church requires the time and investment of all of us. What we love about Pullen, what we hope for Pullen, is about so much more than personal preferences or individual commitments. By pooling our resources, talents, time, and energy we are stating an obvious truth: We can do so much more together than separately. The church depends on all of us. It depends on our money, and our service, and our leadership, and our prayers. So, after a few moments of silence, we are all invited to come forward and place our commitments and hopes and prayers into these prayer walls. And by doing so we will be declaring that fighting the good fight, and finishing the race, and keeping the faith are not just individual goals. It takes all of us, working together, to make for such a happy ending.