Encore Post: Titus was a gentile who came to faith through the preaching of St. Paul early in the apostle’s ministry. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on several trips to Jerusalem and with Paul on his missionary journeys. He was presented to the apostles in Jerusalem as a test case. Did he have to be circumcised to be a Christian or would faith in Christ be all he needed? They decided he did not need to perform the rite.
Titus was a skilled mediator and trusted by Paul to bear his letters to the Corinthian Church, where he brought peace and reconciliation with the Apostle. Later he would be entrusted with bringing order to the church in Crete, where he would serve as bishop into his old age.
The Lutheran Church remembers this faithful pastor and bishop on January 26.
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We in the Lutheran Church seem to have a greater affinity for St. Paul than for St. Peter. Perhaps, we are drawn to Paul more because of his clarity when it comes to speaking of being justified freely by grace through faith. He says it everywhere, nowhere clearer than in Ephesians 2:8–9. Maybe too it has to do with historical reasons. Peter, of course, had been called the rock, and for some this meant it was He upon whom Christ would build his Church. Peter than became the Pope, and the Lutherans could not go along with the office of the pope as the office of the pope had become so corrupted through the centuries up to Luther’s time. Maybe that is why when I did a quick search on names of our churches, I found nearly 500 churches associated with St. Paul to around 150 named after St. Peter.
But let us remember that Peter did not always just work with the Jews. In Acts 10, Peter learns through the vision that God makes no distinction between Jew or Greek when it comes to salvation. God does not show favoritism. And in our reading from Acts 15 we get the same confession from him: We believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will.” Those who confess Jesus to be the Christ are the Lord’s people, no matter their nationality or what we in today’s world call race. Again, God makes no distinction. God made one human race. Let us be very clear on that.
Those who are saved are the ones who make the confession: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus tells us that not even the blessed Apostle Peter could say that without the Father making it known to him. Just as we ourselves cannot by our own reason or strength confess Jesus is Lord. Rather we are brought to that knowledge when we are gathered by Holy Spirit calling us by the Gospel.
It is on this confession of Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God that everything else flows and is built. And what a beautiful body and habitation that has been built: The Church. And Peter and Paul made bold confession of Jesus being the Christ, to both Jews and Greeks. They saw how the Spirit of God was poured out by the grace of our Lord so that all might come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This confession however does not come without cost. With the confession of Jesus as the Christ comes the cross, the one which Jesus bore in our stead, and the cross born by Peter and Paul for our benefit, as well as our own crosses, to follow Jesus where He leads. To follow Jesus through death and into life.
Peter saw Christ’s death first hand. He was the one who upon calling Jesus the Christ did not want Jesus to do the very things which the Christ came to accomplish. Peter could not accept that Jesus would have to suffer death by crucifixion. But Jesus showed him what He and the entire world would benefit by his bitter sufferings and death: redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life in a resurrected body. And Peter proclaimed this until he too would suffer death on account of Christ’s name.
Paul’s story is similar, for God desired Paul to be his servant and show him how much he must suffer for the name. And Paul would have plenty of instances where he would be persecuted against, stoned, arrested, ship wrecked, etc. He ultimately would die a martyr’s death as well for the sake of Christ.
We too face our own crosses for the sake of the Name which was placed upon us at Holy Baptism. We might not die a martyr death, but we can begin to feel the society of our nation growing more and more hostile to those of us who call Christ Lord, who believe what the bible says about Holy Marriage, about Male and Female. While a riot can have hundreds of people in close proximity to one another, a church service can only have 10 souls at a time. The voice of the faithful are being drowned out and cancelled in the public square. And it might even feel like hell is here right with us and we are being trampled. But know this: Jesus says, “On this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” It may look like Satan owns the day, but he has been defeated, Christ has died and Christ is risen, and his resurrection is made your resurrection by the proclamation of Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
So the Church continues to confess the truth about Christ, a confession that we could not know by our own reason or strength but it has been revealed to us by the grace of the Triune God. The apostles’ confession and witness to Christ is still on going, for by their witness, the Church still is being built up by the grace of our Lord, calling the young and old to rest but above all to souls distressed, longing for rest everlasting. The rock is not Peter or Paul, but the confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who suffered and died for the sins of the world and rose on the third day and then ascended to the right hand of the Father, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
May we confess with Peter and Paul the truth of Christ and be built upon the rock of Christ Jesus and look to him for grace and forgiveness, that we might be saved from the assaults of death and hell now and forever. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Encore Post: On January 25th, the week after the celebration of the Confession of St. Peter, the Lutheran Church gives thanks for the Conversion of St. Paul. This miracle brought to faith one of the most important missionaries, theologians and pastors in church history.
Saul of Tarsus was born to a well-to-do Jewish craftsman. His father made leather and canvas goods such as sails and tents. His father was a Roman citizen, a status inherited by his children. His home city had a good reputation, which served him well. His father was a faithful Pharisee, and provided his son with both a first-rate classical Greek education and the best training for eventually becoming a Rabbi. Like many of his educated countrymen, he had both a Hebrew name–Saul and a Greek name–Paul.
Paul became a disciple of one of the greatest Rabbis in the history of Judaism — Gamaliel. He excelled in these studied and may well have served in the Sanhedrin. He was so zealous for his religion that he became a persecutor of the followers of Jesus and a witness of the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr.
Intent on arresting every Christian in Damascus, Saul set out with a warrant from the Chief Priest. Along the way, Jesus appeared to him in light so bright it knocked him off his mount and blinded him. Jesus identified himself and commissioned Paul to go to the Gentiles. He directed Paul to Ananias who forgave his sins and baptized him. Paul’s sight was restored.
The Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to write 1/4 of the New Testament. He would take the gospel to the ends of the Roman world, including Spain. The Apostle to the Gentiles fulfilled his mission well.
