To Titus, my loyal child in the faith we
share:
Grace and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
I left you behind in Crete for
this reason, that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should
appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: someone who is blameless,
married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and
not rebellious. For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not
be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for
gain; but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout,
and self-controlled. He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy
in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with
sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it.
There are also many rebellious people, idle
talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision; they must be
silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain
what it is not right to teach. It was one of them, their very own prophet, who
said, ‘Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.’ That testimony
is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so that they may become sound in
the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths or to commandments of those who
reject the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and
unbelieving nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are
detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
How many times have we heard
someone say about someone else, “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions.” I personally think that is why the Christian Church suffers. It's because the leaders don't live up to the standard set by society. It is important, as Christians, that we show
who we know God to be by our actions, lest we be counted with the hypocrites. I am reminded of the old camp song, We are One in the Spirit with the line "They will know we are Christians by our love!" However, we must keep in mind that we are ALL human, with all the brokenness that goes along with that. That's not an excuse, but more an overall assessment of the human condition and why we need Jesus. Jesus is the one who reconciles and restores the world to God.
The introduction of the letter
from Paul to Titus is full of encouragement for Titus. But, with his newly appointed position in Crete, there comes much responsibility and accountability. Paul sets the
bar high in his description to Titus of what it means to be an elder or a bishop. He
sets the description in contrast to those of a lesser caliber; those he calls rebellious. Paul doesn’t hold back and
warns Titus of the deceivers and rebellious people, especially those who
could be sitting right next to him! Nobody is exempt from ridicule.
How do we know the others are? Who are the false prophets, idle talkers, or deceivers? I would say that we know them by their
actions… There’s an old saying that if
it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck then it’s probably a duck.
However, if it doesn’t, then it’s probably not. So beware of those who “profess to know God,
but deny him by their actions."
In relation to our Lenten journey, this reading begs the question, “are we showing
the world who we know God to be by our actions?” If not, we probably need to
use this season to take a long hard look at ourselves and at what we are doing (or what we are
not doing). Lent is the season of change, repentance, and turning around. In Greek, it's called metanoia. It’s never too late to turn around and get going along the right path.
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