Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Jesus' miracle at the wedding seems like a big display, but it's not. Hardly anyone knows he has even done it. The master of the banquet doesn't and no mention is even made of the bride and groom. Who knows? The apostles and the servants. This is certainly the way Jesus would continue to operate: the Kingdom slips in among the least and lowly.

Jesus' divinity is opening up to the world even as he called the first disciples. This will not be a constant, because Jesus couldn't reveal everything to everyone. In this moment, though, he is showing a little of who he is to these early apostles. And all of them, as he told Nathaniel, are certainly going to see much more than that.

The book of John was written well after the other gospels, and is full of Jesus’s divinity. Of course, Jesus doesn’t levitate a foot off the ground the whole time. He’s still God Among Us, and the incarnation of Christ among people is just as important as the fact that Jesus is, in fact, God. And to kick things off, the apostle John, author of this book, presents John the Baptist. These aren’t the same person, each have their own role to play as the Kingdom of God unfolds.

It would be great if we could make the Gospel say what we wanted, wouldn't it? But that isn't the way it works, and we should avoid teachers who always seek to "tickle our ears." As Paul goes through his list of companions who have wronged him, it is clear that he hasn't been concerned about impressing anyone. He preaches the unfiltered Jesus, and that is the call of all disciples.

It really seems in this passage that Paul doesn’t like women much at all. Remember, though, that this wasn’t written to us. In the Ephesian congregation where Timothy was pastor, there was apparently an ongoing problem of order and pride. Paul is centering on the women’s issues here, because in that culture, it wasn’t customary for women to teach. A wealthy woman coming into the church would need to understand the need to be one in the body of Christ, and that meant not taking excessive measures to draw attention to themselves. It’s a tough passage, but remember that Paul was also a big proponent of grace. He wouldn’t hand these rules out for no reason.

Paul is writing his young protege, Timothy, from prison. It sounds like Paul needs some encouragement himself (having been abandoned by a few people), but this is perhaps the time to pass along encouragement to others. That bond of love, made possible by the moving of the Spirit, is what holds the body of Christ together.

Unity in the body of Christ doesn't come without some work, and Paul leaves Titus with a set of insights for how to complete that work. It is Christ who serves as our life and our example, but the Spirit knits together all of the body of Christ and makes us a true community. 

Paul isn't challenging Titus to upend the entire social structure of Crete, but to form a Christian subculture within that society. The roles of women, men, and slaves are already set in that place. In the body of Christ, however, those roles can look different. The peace and harmony that Jesus brings is unique, and we seek the same thing today in our own societies.

Good behavior is not the path to salvation, but it should be the quality of someone who is following Christ. Particularly in alignment with the two greatest commandments to love God and love your neighbor, those who wish to be leaders in the Church should show what Jesus looked like through their own example as much as possible. As Paul was depending on Titus to establish a new church in Crete, it was critical to use all means necessary to show what the body of Christ looked like.