Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – St. Titus, 2021

26 January 2021

Text: Rom 15:1-13

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today is the Feast of St. Titus.  He was part of the first wave of men ordained by the apostles, as St. Paul ordained both him and St. Timothy.  The books of the Bible named for them are actually pastoral letters that they received from St. Paul with guidance for carrying out the life of the holy ministry.

St. Titus, who as a Gentile, went on to serve as a bishop in Dalmatia, and according to tradition, went back to Crete, where Paul had previously left him to serve.  He ministered there as a bishop until his death in 96 AD.

While St. Paul was Jewish through and through, he lamented that more Jews did not confess Jesus as Messiah.  St. Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles, and brought the Christian faith to Pagan Europe.  And from where, the faith would be spread centuries later, as explorers sailed around the world. 

And as we near the end of St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome, he is focusing on the thorny issue of culturally and ethnically diverse people being grafted together into one holy catholic and apostolic church.  He counsels all of us to consider the faith “of the weak” as we exercise our Christian liberty, to “please his neighbor for his good” – even as our Lord Jesus Christ did.  And this is not easy.  It takes endurance, and through this endurance “and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  He goes on to call God the “God of endurance and encouragement” as well as the “God of hope.”

St. Paul cites several passages from the Old Testament to prove that the Gentiles are indeed part of God’s kingdom, even as are the believing descendants of the Jews who were chosen in the Old Covenant.  This is important to understand in its context, dear friends, for the word translated as “Gentiles” literally means “nations.”  And it was our Lord Himself who commanded the apostles to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…”  St. Paul ordained St. Titus for this very purpose: to proclaim Christ to the nations and to baptize men and women from every nationality – so that they might have hope.

We have hope, dear brothers and sisters, because Jesus died for us, His blood was shed for us, and in His name and by His sacrifice, we have life – life that is eternal, life that overcomes death and the grave, life that conquers sin – that of the devil, of the world, and of our own sinful nature. 

What St. Paul wrote to the Romans applies to us today: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.