January 26, 2007 - St. Titus
“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” (Titus 1:5)
Crete! Talk about a miserable assignment! It sounds nice at first – an island in the Mediterranean, but Crete was no vacation paradise. The Cretan philosopher-poet Epimenedes noted, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, and lazy gluttons,” to which the apostle Paul adds, “This testimony is true,” (Titus 1:12-13). It was a rough and rugged island of sailors, pirates, and outlaws. Not exactly a cushy place to serve as a pastor.
But that was “paradise” for Titus, where he was charged with the task of appointing pastors in all the towns where congregations had gathered. Pastoral work often takes one into strange territories and tough neighborhoods. Surprisingly, the qualities of the pastor-bishop remain the same: a faithful husband, good father, solid reputation, not a drunkard or violent or dishonest. Hospitable to strangers, self-disciplined, faithful. Able to teach sound doctrine and refute false doctrine.
The strength of the pastoral office lies in the Word of God, not in the pastor. Of course, good and upright men need to be chosen for the office. They also need to be courageous in the face of opposition, yet gentle with those who are struggling. But the strength of their office is in the Word they preach and teach. Whether on the island of Crete or in an American city, suburb, or small town, it’s the Word of God that does its killing and making alive work, killing the sinner and raising up the saint. That work goes on in the suburban soccer mom and the Cretan pirate.
Perhaps you are living in a place that is “less than desirable,” a place that challenges you. Maybe the people around you are not like you and may even scare you. Yet wherever the Gospel is, wherever the Body and Blood of Jesus are being given out, wherever people are being baptized, there is a little piece of paradise. God is at work – calling sinners to repentance, gathering congregations of believers, raising up pastors. Jesus is not simply the Savior of the salvageable or the Redeemer of the respectable. He is the Savior and Redeemer of all, who gathered all to Himself in His death and who seeks to save all from sin and death.
That gives us a different perspective on places and people. We see things not through the lens of our own happiness and convenience, but through the Cross of Jesus. Those crude Cretans were died for by Jesus, as were you. That troublesome neighbor, that rude relative, that quarrelsome co-worker, they are loved by God in Jesus Christ, as are you.