As I was pondering the Scripture passage that we will be hearing this Sunday at St Mary’s (Philippians 4:2-9), I was struck by a couple of details that had never really stood out to me before. The passage includes a puzzling couple of verses that I suspect most of us usually skip over, eager to move on to the more familiar territory Paul covers with his instructions for living as he closes his letter. The verses I mean are verses 2 and 3, which read:
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Who are Euodia and Syntyche, who are mentioned nowhere else in the Scriptures? We really don’t know, though their Greek names suggest that they were not native to Philippi, which was a Roman colony, and they had evidently been helpful to Paul in proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ. Similarly, who is the “loyal companion” Paul mentions, and who are Clement and his other unnamed co-workers?
Generations of monks and scribes through the centuries must have wondered why the Holy Spirit saw fit to include these verses in Scripture as they copied out this letter!
Here is why I think they weren’t just wasting their ink. There are two points I would like to draw to your attention.
Firstly, let us recognise in these verses how much Paul valued the co-workers who shared his labour, including Euodia and Syntyche. He was not simply a roving evangelist who moved quickly from city to city, preaching a message for one or two nights before moving on. On the contrary, he laboured to form Christian communities as he travelled, mentoring teams of people who would continue to teach and lead the communities when he was called elsewhere. And he continued to care and pray for them even when he was separated from them by distance. We have recognised the ongoing concern and affection Paul had for the Philippians as we have read through his letter to them. Paul’s desire for the communities he formed and especially their leaders to be united is a theme we see continually in his writings. We should be no less eager to live as a caring and harmonious community today. It is what makes us stand out from the world as Jesus’ disciples (John 13:35).
Secondly, let us note how Paul asks his “loyal companion” to “help” Euodia and Syntyche (v. 3). Paul realises that the best way for the two women to achieve reconciliation is to involve a trustworthy mediator to act as a peacemaker between them. We don’t know what the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche was, though it is reassuring that Paul was able to write to them in a single letter, rather than writing separate letters to each. Their conflict had not yet brought about a total rupture in the community. But how many communities break down because disputing parties refuse to involve a mediator? How many conflicts continue to escalate because the different sides persist in demonising each other, rather than inviting someone to help them listen? As I write these words, the television news is carrying footage of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, the result of long-unresolved bitterness and hostility between nations and people groups that refuse to be reconciled. Who will be a mediator to bring this hostility to an end?
Our Lord is the God of peace (Philippians 4:9) who blesses not the winners in a conflict but the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). Let us pray that some peacemakers may quickly appear.
Matthew Briggs, Ministry Team