Thomas Woodrow Wilson worked as the president of Princeton University and served as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election and becoming the 28th president of the United States. President Wilson distinguished himself as a scholar and statesman. Known for his high-minded idealism, president Wilson led America into World War I in order to “make the world safe for democracy”. President Wilson was a leading advocate for the League of Nations, for which he was awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize for peace. During his second term in office the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, was passed.[1]
One could make a strong argument that Thomas Woodrow Wilson was a great man. However, as is often the case, behind every great man is a great woman. The woman behind President Wilson was his wife, Edith. Edith was born among the hillbillies of western Virginia. She briefly attended Martha Washington College to study music. However, after two years Edith left school and followed her older sister to Washington where she quickly married a much older man whose family owned and operated the city’s oldest jewelry store. For 12 years Edith socialized with the country’s most prominent politicians and did her fair share of traveling abroad. Sadly, Edith’s husband unexpectedly died, and she was left to run the family business, which she did with great success.
Sometime later, Edith was introduced to the recently widowed president of the United States. Edith and Woodrow hit it off and the two of them were married. Edith submerged herself into her new life as first lady. She understood the stresses upon her husband and did everything she could to help and support him, even traveling with him to war torn Europe. Edith was given a private upstairs office and was allegedly granted access to classified documents, war time codes, and presidential mail. Edith sat in on meetings and gave her husband withering assessments of political figures and foreign representatives. Unfortunately, the stresses of the presidency became too much for President Wilson and in 1919 he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed and cognitively compromised. Edith didn’t miss a beat. She immediately took over many of the routine duties and details of government. When people came to see the president, they met with the First Lady. She determined which policies and decision would be brought to her husband and she was the one that communicated her husband’s policies and decisions to the staff. For nearly a year and a half this is how the executive branch of the United States operated. During that time Woodrow Wilson was recognized as president, but for all practical purposes Edith Wilson was the first female, albeit unelected, president of the United States. Thus, giving credence to the phrase behind every great man is a great woman.
Saint Timothy was a great man. Timothy was the son of a mixed marriage; his mother was a Jewess, and his father was a Greek. People spoke will of Timothy[2]. Though he was young and occasionally timid, Timothy set a good example for others in speech, life, love, faith, and purity[3]. The great missionary, Paul recognized Timothy’s abilities and selected him as a traveling companion and coworker on several of his missionary journeys. When the Christians in Thessalonica faced sever suffering and strong opposition, it was Timothy who was sent to strengthen and encourage them.[4] When jealousy and quarreling among church leaders threatened to divide the church in Corinth, it was Timothy who was sent to restore unity among them.[5] Finally, when Hymenaeus and Alexander were teaching false doctrine in Ephesus, it was Timothy who was sent to rebuke the heretics and restore the preaching of sound doctrine.[6]
Though he does not get as much recognition as his mentor, the great missionary saint Paul, one could make a strong argument that saint Timothy was a great man. However, when we take a look at 2 Timothy 1:5-6 it is not surprising to discover behind this great man are two great women. In verse 5 we read about Timothy’s “5 … sincere faith, which [saint Paul observes] first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” We honestly don’t know a great deal about these two women. This is the only place these two women are mentioned in Scripture. But that in and of itself is saying something. To get a shout out from the great saint Paul and have your names preserved by the Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture is kind of a big deal.
There are, however, a few things we know about these women. First and foremost, these women were believers. These women looked forward to the promised Messiah; they looked forward to the one who would come to free them from the curse of sin, who would be pierced for their transgressions and crushed for their iniquities, whose would endure punishment so that they could have peace and allow himself to be inflicted with wounds so that they could be healed. We don’t know when it happened, but eventually these women came to know their Messiah by the name Jesus. Perhaps, judging by his familiarity with these two women, Paul himself was the one who told them how Jesus suffered and died on the cross in order to pay for their sins, and how three days later Jesus rose from the dead in order to secure their salvation.
We know that Lois and Eunice believed in Jesus as their savior. We also know that Lois had a grandson and Eunice had a son named Timothy. Now, typically, fathers were responsible for their son’s spiritual education. However, in Acts 16:1 we learn Timothy’s “mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose [his] father was a Greek.” Therefore, the responsibility of training up young Timothy in the way he should go was left to his mother and grandmother. Though Judaism did not provide women advanced education in the Scriptures, these two women manage to (and I’m going to quote saint Paul here) “make Timothy wise for salvation”[7]. Additionally, Jewish children did not start studying the scriptures till they were five or six years old. However, Lois and Eunice made sure that “from infancy” Timothy knew the holy Scriptures; they made sure he knew about the promised Messiah who would save him from his sin. It is because of the efforts of these two great women that Timothy becomes a great man.
Now, you probably know where I am headed with this. Today is Mother’s Day. I’m sure the mothers here today have figured out that I am holding up Lois and Eunice as examples for them to follow. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you were starting to think, “oh great! I can’t wait to be compared to Lois and Eunice. That’s exactly what I wanted for Mother’s Day; to feel bad about myself because my faith isn’t as great as the faith of Lois and Eunice.” But before all you grandmothers and mothers head down a shame spiral, let me point out that saint Paul doesn’t described the faith of Lois and Eunice as powerful and perfect, rather Paul described their faith as “sincere”, and Paul said this “sincere” faith “lived in” Lois and Eunice. By referring to their faith as a sincere and living faith, we get the impression that the faith of Lois and Eunice moved; we get the impression that there were ups and downs; good days and bad days. A sincere and living faith is not some pretty thing that is stored away with the fancy silverware and fragile china. A sincere and living faith is used and abused; it has dings and dents, scratches and scars. A sincere and living faith rarely accomplishes marvelous deeds and wondrous acts. Rather, a sincere and living faith quietly and subtly influences the kind of words that are spoken and the type of actions that are taken. What I am saying is, Lois and Eunice didn’t have a faith that was drastically different than the faith that lives inside the grandmothers and mothers that are here today. Grandmothers and mothers, all you have to do to follow the example of Lois and Eunice is live your sincere faith.
Lois and Eunice lived their sincere faith in front of Timothy, and the faith of these two women had a profound impact on the young man. The faith of these two women gave Timothy everything he needed to become a great man. But in order for that to happen, the sincere faith that lived inside of Lois and Eunice would need to live inside of Timothy. That is why in verse 6 saint Paul encouraged Timothy to “fan into flame” his own faith. It would be overly critical and rather uncharitable for us to assume that there was something lacking in Timothy’s faith that caused Paul to encourage this fanning of a flame. It is far more likely that Paul is simply recognizing and reminding Timothy that though two great women stood behind him, their faith was just that, their faith. In order for Timothy to be as great as the two great women who stood behind him, Timothy must maintain a sincere and living faith of his own. In order to do that, Timothy wasn’t to treat his faith like some family heirloom that was passed down from generation to generation and placed upon a bookshelf where it collected dust alongside other discarded memorabilia. Rather, Timothy was to treat his faith as though it were a fire. Like a fire, Timothy’s faith was to produce heat and light; Timothy’s faith was to be felt and seen by others. In order for Timothy’s faith to be felt and seen timothy would need to tend his faith like one tends a fire. To prevent his faith from deteriorating into a pile of smoldering ashes, Timothy would need to continually feed his faith, not with wood, but with the Word of God. Timothy was to treat his faith like a fire so that the sincere faith that first lived inside of Lois and Eunice would burn for generations to come.
It is very likely that the vast majority of us, who believe in Jesus as our savior, have that faith because a woman of faith has stood behind us. It is a gift of God’s grace to grow up in the presence of a woman who has a sincere and living faith. If God has gifted you with such a woman, then I encourage you to find some time today to thank God for that gift, and if that great woman is still living, find a way to show her some appreciation. Buy her a gift, make her a card, take her to dinner, if you want, but if you really want to show her how much you appreciate her, make sure the sincere faith that lives inside of her, lives inside of you. Use the Word of God to fan your faith into flame so that it can be felt and seen by others; so that someday, when your children are grown, you can be like Lois or Eunice; you can be the one standing behind a great man or a great woman.
May God bless the great women who have stood behind us and the great woman who stand among us with a very happy Mother’s Day. Amen.
[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Woodrow-Wilson/Later-years
[2] Acts 16:2
[3] 1 Timothy 4:12
[4] 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2
[5] 1 Corinthians 4:17
[6] 1 Timothy 4:15-16
[7] 2 Timothy 3:15