What do you think of when you hear the word “imitation”? Perhaps what comes to mind is a cheap substitute for the real thing, as in cooking we have imitation vanilla.
We also think of people who imitate others but in a way that renders them inauthentic because they are not being themselves.
Still, there is a good sense in which imitation can take place. When a child imitates the good traits of a good parent because they love them, look up to them, and want to be like them, that is a good kind of imitation.
Well, imitation is what our text for today is all about from 3 John 9-15. Listen for God’s word to you…
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
John here gives a very basic command to his reader, Gaius, and in turn to us. That command is: “Do not imitate what is evil but what is good.” The Greek word that John uses here is μιμοῦ. This word is not used very often in the New Testament, but it was an important word in Greek culture. Another form of this word is “mimesis”. In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the creation of works of art. To the ancient Greeks it was very important that works of art should correspond to the physical world, which was understood as a model for beauty, truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since. We get our modern English word “mime” from mimesis. The corresponding word in Latin is “imitatio”.
Thomas à Kempis was a German-Dutch monk who lived from about 1380 to 1471. Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times. One of his copies of the Bible is preserved at Darmstadt, Germany, in five volumes. Thus, Thomas had a deep acquaintance with the Scriptures. His own writings abound with biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament.
One of Thomas’ jobs in his monastery involved the instruction of novices, and in that capacity, he wrote four booklets between 1420 and 1427. Those books were later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: “The Imitation of Christ”. Thomas More later said that “The Imitation of Christ” was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Thirteen translations of the Imitatio Christi and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700. One of the famous quotes attributed to Thomas à Kempis is:
Without the Way, there is no going,
Without the Truth, there is no knowing,
Without the Life, there is no living.
So, this idea of good imitation became very important in Christianity and we can trace this idea of “good imitation” at least as far back as 3 John.
In the verses we have read today, John gives us two examples, one to follow and one not to follow, one to imitate and one not to imitate. Intriguingly, their names both begin with the letter “D”.
The example not to follow, not to imitate, is Diotrephes. John gives us several reasons why we should not follow Diotrephes’ example. One of these reasons is because Diotrephes loves to be first. It has been said that there are two kind of people in the world, those who walk into a room and say, “Here I am” and those who walk into a room and say, “There you are.” Diotrephes was a “Here I am” kind of guy.
I have met at least two people in my life who had every reason to be “Here I am” type of people. Both of these men were friends of my parents. The first was Senator Mark Hatfield. I have an indelible memory of Mark in my mind…
I accompanied my parents to the Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. in 1976 when Gerald Ford was President. I remember standing with Mark Hatfield outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. All sorts of important people were swirling around, and many not-so important who would have liked to have a word with Senator Hatfield. But he was talking to my parents and his eyes were completely focused on them. I am sure we have all been in similar situations where our eyes might be distracted by various people in the room. Not so with Mark Hatfield, he was always completely focused on the person he was talking with at any given moment. He was a “there you are” kind of person.
The second person I think of who had every reason to be a “here I am” type of person was Billy Graham. I read a story once about the time when Billy was in London for his first big series of meetings that was drawing thousands of people. His name and photo were in the newspaper countless times. There were billboards with his name and face plastered all over London. The meetings went on for many weeks. And one evening during that time, Billy walked into a restaurant to eat dinner. Suddenly, a hush fell over the whole room. Everyone knew an important person had entered the room, they all knew who he was, and all eyes were trained on him.
But Billy Graham was not a “here I am” type of person. Billy was one of the humblest men I have ever met. The one time I was able to have an extended conversation with him in his home in Montreat, North Carolina, I was hardly able to ask him a question. Do you know why? Because he was pestering me with questions. He was getting me to talk about myself. He was seemingly more interested in me than I was in him. That’s an example of a “there you are” kind of person.
It is clear which type of person the author of this little lost letter wants us to be. John wants us to be “there you are” kind of people, not “here I am” kind of people like Diotrephes.
Now, here’s the thing about people who love to put themselves first…they are threatened by other people who might possibly take the limelight away from them. That was the case with Diotrephes.
We don’t really know much about Diotrephes except that he must have been some kind of leader in the church that Gaius was part of. Diotrephes obviously fancied himself to be the leader par excellence. He was threatened by anyone who might be perceived as more important than he was. And so, Diotrephes would not even welcome John to his church. Imagine this picture. Here is the leader of a small local church in the Roman Empire in the first century and he won’t even welcome to his church one who was a personal disciple of Jesus Christ.
In order to justify his stance, Diotrephes even spread “malicious nonsense” about John and the disciples who gathered around him. Diotrephes’ non-welcoming posture extended not only to John but to other believers. And Diotrephes tried to stop others in his congregation from welcoming John and other believers.
It sounds astonishing doesn’t it? It is hard to believe that such an unwelcoming Christian let alone an unwelcoming church could exist. But guess what? I have seen the same kind of unwelcoming attitude among Christians today.
Twenty years ago, I served a church in Pennsylvania where we were blessed to see the congregation grow from 40 to 200 in attendance in 6 years. I will never forget the time we were having dinner at the home of a new member of the church. We were there along with several other members of the church. That evening, this new member said to me, “I think our church is the perfect size right now. I hope we don’t grow any bigger than we are.”
I was so flabbergasted that I did not know what to say. But I was thinking, “Wait a minute. You joined the church not too long ago. What if those who were members before you didn’t want to welcome anyone new? If they had acted like you are acting now, then there would not have been any room at the inn for you or your family.”
It never ceases to astonish me how close-minded we can be as Christians. After all, the person we claim to follow, Jesus Christ, told us to make disciples of all nations. What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to lead people to Christ but then not let them in our church? I don’t think that was what Jesus had in mind.
Paul said in Romans 15:7, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
Did Christ accept us with qualifications? I don’t think so. Therefore, we should accept one another without qualifications, without exceptions. Or, as some versions of the Bible translate Romans 15:7, “Welcome one another.”
Enough about Diotrephes who we should not imitate. Let’s look at Demetrius whom John calls on us to imitate.
John says, “Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.”
Who was Demetrius? The name is mentioned in only one other place in the New Testament. In Acts 19, beginning in verse 23 we read…
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
Now, we do not know if the Demetrius mentioned in 3 John is the same Demetrius mentioned in Acts 19, but it is possible. If so, then it would appear that this Demetrius, who was once a maker of silver shrines to the goddess Artemis, and who opposed Paul, eventually came to faith in Jesus Christ. If the Demetrius of Acts 19 was converted, many would have come to know about it.
So, we do not know if that was the case. But we do know what John says about him, that he was well spoken of by everyone, and even by the truth itself. What does this mean? How does the truth speak?
I cannot help but think once again of Jesus’ statement in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Ultimately, I believe, the truth is personal. Ultimately, I believe, the truth is found in Jesus Christ. So, what John may be saying in 3 John 12 is that even Jesus spoke well of Demetrius. Exactly how this would be, we do not know.
But one thing I believe is certain. The best thing that could be said of anyone is that Jesus spoke well of that person. What could be more wonderful than to one day have Jesus say to you: “Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”? (Matthew 25:23)
Jesus also said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)
The question is: Who do we want to imitate? Do we want to be like Diotrephes or Demetrius? Do we want to be “here I am” kind of people or “there you are” kind of people? Do we want to be spoken well of by other mere human beings, or do we want to be spoken well of by the King of kings and Lord of lords?
John’s parting word is one that can make us more like Demetrius and less like Diotrephes. That word is “peace”. In Hebrew the word is “shalom”, and it refers to fulness of health in all dimensions of one’s life—emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual. That is the kind of peace Jesus wants to give to us, if we will let him. And that kind of peace can make us into the kind of people the Lord created us and redeemed us to be.
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