…for Demas, having loved this present world [or age], has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…11 Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service… (2 Timothy 4:10-11 NASB)
Paul spent his last days in this present world in the Mamertine Prison in Rome, waiting for the certain execution that would deliver him to the eternal age. Except for Luke, Paul is alone. Some of Paul’s team have left with his blessing in order to continue their missions. However, Demas’ leaving was desertion.
Later, church tradition paints Demas as a heretic. I remember hearing that he was enticed to a worldly life of sin. I now think something else was happening. Demas did what John Mark had earlier done—desert.
In Nero’s Rome, it was risky to be close to Paul. I think Demas was unwilling to take the risk because he was clinging to life in this present world. Thessalonica was safer. Demas could not say, with Paul, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Demas is both a warning and an encouragement. Living in fear of death is not faithful living, and certainly not joyful living. If we are to love the world as God so loved it, as Jesus did, we should be willing to take up our cross here, while longing for life there, with Christ.
Here is the encouragement in this passage. Look who Paul wants to be with him, John Mark! Yes, that very same Mark who deserted Paul earlier. There is hope for Demas and those of us like him. We can yet fix our eyes on life forever and turn to life in this present world with courageous, loving service. We can also face plagues, financial uncertainty, and wars with true hope.
And on this day, let me place before you one other example, and a beautiful one at that. Martin Luther King Jr. constantly faced serious threats to his life. In his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech (1965), Dr. King, referencing Moses looking over the Promised Land, said:
… We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
“I’ve been to the mountaintop.”
May we be so consumed with the vision of God’s Kingdom and His purposes; so passionate about our calling in this world; and so confident in His promises that we will not desert our mission because we love the present age just as it is.