Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about someone in the Bible.
We don’t talk much about him.
And most of us probably don’t know him.
He isn’t particularly gifted like Paul;
Nor is he particularly pivotal like Peter.
But he’s caught my attention.
And I’ve been finding ways to give him more air time.
It Only Takes One(siphorus)
His name is Onesiphorus.
It’s hard to pronounce.
And it only appears twice in the NT (2 Tim 1:16, 4:19).
Apart from three short verses (2 Tim 1:16-18) where Paul describes him, we know next to nothing about him.
So what’s so special about him?
Here’s the backstory.
Paul is in a bad place. He is arrested a second time in Rome. This isn’t like his first (house) arrest in Rome, where he lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God … without hindrance (Acts 28:30-31).
This time it seems like the end is near for Paul.
He says: the time of my departure has come (2 Tim 4:6).
But Paul isn’t just in a bad place physically. He seems to be in a bad place psychologically too. He reflects on his life of ministry and zeroes in on Ephesus, the capital of Asia.[1] This is where he spent the most time in, preaching and pastoring tirelessly. So fruitful was his ministry that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10) – so fruitful that his ministry in the capital had a ripple effect on the rest of the province.
But when he reflects on his ministry in Asia, he hears only one thing – echoes of failure and betrayal reverberate in his ear. He tells his young mentee: You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me (2 Tim 1:15). So vulnerable is Paul with Timothy that he is willing to admit that what was once his most successful ministry is now a symbol of betrayal – all who are in Asia turned away from me.
And so, Paul is in a bad place physically and psychologically.
But he doesn’t stay there…
He turns his attention away from an entire province (Asia) to a single person, Onesiphorus.
Sometimes it only takes one person to lift us up. One person who truly cares.
Another prominent Christian minister, Christopher Ash, wrote in his book Zeal Without Burnout that he once experience burnout and depression. At that point in his life, something snapped – no bible verses, no Christian songs and no prayers encouraged him. But one day, after service, a sister in Christ simply asked him how he was doing. She was sincerely concerned and he could feel it. That sincere concern lifted his spirits in a way that nothing else did.
Sometimes, it only takes one person who truly cares.
For Paul, that person was Onesiphorus.
He showed Paul a love I wish for all of us to experience
And more than that, a love I wish we learn to imitate for others.
None of us can be like Paul – he is highly gifted, highly trained and highly courageous.
But all of us can be like Onesiphorus – we can love.
So how can we love like Onesiphorus? Let us look closely at 2 Tim 1:16-18.
First, we can go out of our way to love when life gets difficult.
Onesiphorus lived in Ephesus not Rome. Yet, aware that Paul would benefit from his presence, Onesiphorus travelled to Rome (v17). This journey wasn’t just a short scoot flight away. It could take weeks and you were exposed to the perils of the open waters.
Yet the danger of travelling to Rome might have been outweighed by the danger of being in Rome. It seems it took considerable effort to locate Paul in Rome. Onesiphorus had to search earnestly till he found Paul (v17). Onesiphorus had to be earnest in his pursuit because the search process could have been life endangering. Every time he asked about Paul’s whereabouts, he would also be associating himself with a prisoner of Rome. What if they also jailed him as a fellow trouble maker? Every question he asked lowered his “credit score”. Every conversation he initiated increased his risk of detention. But he was not ashamed of Paul’s chains (v16).
Onesiphorus chose to (literally) go out of his way to love when life got difficult for Paul.
Is God calling you to be an Onesiphorus to your Paul?
Second, we can grow in love.
We all have different personalities but no one is born to be an Onesiphorus.
No one wakes up one day to discover heroic, sacrificial Christlike love in their hearts.
Rather, love is something we can grow in. It is the fruit of the Spirit. It is a muscle that can grow when regularly exercise it. He who is faithful when the stakes are small, can be faithful when the stakes are high.
Onesiphorus didn’t become heroic overnight. He began by loving and serving in his home ground, exercising love when things weren’t too difficult. Paul speaks of all the service he rendered at Ephesus (v18). And in doing so faithfully, he became the kind of person who could love when the stakes were sky high. When loving becomes costly. When the time came, he was not ashamed of Paul’s chains (v16). And because of his love, he strengthened the influential Apostle to finish well.
Sometimes, it only takes one.
[1] Asia here refers to the province of Roman Asia. It doesn’t refer to the continent Asia that we live in and know today.