Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke – Ending Credits
Philemon 1:23-25 – “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
As we finish our short series on Philemon, Paul addresses several people at the end of his letter by name. Although they are lesser-known people in the Bible, there are many lessons we can take away through their story. In total, we will go walk through 5 characters at the end of Paul’s letter.
The first is Epaphras, who was a hardworking and key player in building the church in Colossi. Paul introduced him as a fellow prisoner and minister of Jesus Christ. He was known as a man of prayer who prayed wholeheartedly for the people in the church of Colossi that we can see in the Bible. When Paul was initially imprisoned in Rome, Epaphras was not there. How was it possible that he ended up in a roman prison with Paul? Epaphras had worked in Turkey, however, it can be concluded that he traveled nearly 2000 km and had been voluntarily imprisoned to see his beloved friend and coworker in Christ. We can learn from Epaphras when we see someone struggling or experiencing hardships due to their faith, that we can share in their struggles together.
The second is Mark, who had initially joined, but eventually dropped out from a mission team that included Paul and Barnabas. Paul was rightfully upset that Mark had dropped out. When Paul began planning for his second mission, Barnabas wanted Mark to join them but Paul denied it due to his failures during the first mission. However, 20 years later, Paul wrote in a letter that Mark was faithful and useful and requested that Mark be brought to him. Although it is unclear, between his failures during his first mission and 20 years later, Mark became someone who was useful to God’s kingdom. Similar to Mark, we may be shaken and giving up easily but still remain true and useful to God’s kingdom at the end.
The third is Aristarchus experienced a lot of hardship together with Paul. When Paul was doing his ministry in Ephesus, there was a riot, resulting in many people being killed. While the 12 disciples had abandoned Jesus, but Aristarchus is different. Additionally, he was together with Paul was imprisoned. He stayed with Paul and followed him, experienced imprisonment and shipwreck together. While Paul never said Aristarchus was his spiritual son like he did with Timothy, Onesimus, and Titus. He never received recognition, but Aristarchus remained faithful to the end.
The fourth is Demas. Demas is someone who appears twice aside from Philemon in the Bible. He was mentioned in Paul’s letter to Colossi, who he had introduced as a faithful fellow worker for Jesus Christ. However, in Paul’s last letter written in 2 Timothy, states that Demas was one who “in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Thus, unlike Mark and Aristarchus who finished their ministry faithful to the end, Demas was mentioned as someone who started faithful but was led astray. We should be wary and learn from Demas. While we can be faithful, we may be led astray at the end and into love with the world instead of Jesus.
Finally, the last person mentioned at the end of Paul’s letter to Philemon mentioned was Luke. Luke was a physician who was with Paul until the end. Interestingly, he wrote a letter gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Based on his life, he was never mentioned as having preached in public. However, he was good at writing. Thus, while we may not all be at the forefront of ministry, we can think about the gift that we have that can be used for God’s kingdom.
As we can see from the ending credits of Paul’s letter to Philemon, faithfulness to Jesus Christ can manifest in many forms. The journey of faith is not always on the straight and narrow. However, as we continue to follow in Jesus’s footsteps, we should be mindful of our gifts and how we can be used for God’s kingdom. Although we may have mishaps along the way, we should be steadfast and persevere amidst adversity and share in our struggles together with fellow believers. Finally, we should be mindful that the temptations of this world can lead astray even Demas, who had started as someone faithful to God’s kingdom.
Reflection Questions:
What were your main takeaways from this week’s message?
Is there a character in the Bible from this week’s message that you resonated with? If not, is there someone else? How and why?
