Homily 6 — Titus 3, verses 8 to 15

“I want you to affirm these things constantly, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to people. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. Reject a man who is a heretic after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sins, being condemned by himself.” [a]

Having spoken of God’s love for humankind, of his care for us beyond words, of what we were and of what he has done for us, Paul adds, “I want you to affirm these things constantly, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works.” That is: speak about these things, and from thinking them over, urge people to give alms. For what has been said applies not only to humility, to not being puffed up and not insulting others, but to every other virtue as well. So too, when he reasons with the Corinthians, he says, “You know that our Lord, though he was rich, became poor, so that through his poverty we might become rich” (Second Corinthians 8, verse 9). Having thought over God’s care and his overflowing love for humankind, he goes on from there to urge them to give alms.

And not in an ordinary or offhand way, but “so that they may be careful,” he says, “to maintain good works”: that is, to help those who are wronged, not with money only but with patronage and protection, to defend widows and orphans, and to be a refuge for everyone in trouble. This is what it means to maintain good works. For these things, he says, are good and profitable to people.

“But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and futile.” What do these “genealogies” mean? In his letter to Timothy, too, he mentions “fables and endless genealogies” (First Timothy 1, verse 4). Perhaps in both places he is glancing at the Jews, who prided themselves on having Abraham for their forefather and neglected their own part. That is why he calls these things both “foolish” and “unprofitable”; for it is folly to put one’s trust in things that bring no profit.

By “contentions” he means disputes with heretics. He does not want us to toil over them for nothing, where nothing is to be gained, for they come to nothing. When a man is perverted and has made up his mind never to change it, whatever happens, why should you labor in vain, sowing on a rock, when you ought to spend your honorable toil on your own people, talking with them about almsgiving and every other virtue?

How is it, then, that elsewhere he says, “if God perhaps will grant them repentance” (Second Timothy 2, verse 25), but here, “Reject a man who is a heretic after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sins, being condemned by himself”? In the earlier passage he is speaking of correcting those there was hope for, who had simply set themselves in opposition. But when a man is known and plain to everyone for what he is, why do you contend with him in vain? Why do you beat the air? And what does “being condemned by himself” mean? That he cannot say no one told him, no one warned him. Since he stays the same after he has been warned, he stands condemned by himself.

Verse 12: “When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis.” [d]

What are you saying? Having appointed Titus to preside over Crete, are you calling him back to yourself again? It was not to take him away from that work, but to train him all the more for it. That he is not calling him to wait on him, as though he took him everywhere as his follower, is clear from what he adds: “For I have decided to spend the winter there.” Now Nicopolis is a city of Thrace.

Verse 13: “Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way with care, so that they lack nothing.”

These men were not among those to whom churches had been entrusted, but among his companions. Apollos was the more forceful of the two, being “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18, verse 24). “But if Zenas was a lawyer, he ought not to have been supported by others.” By a lawyer, though, he means here a man learned in the laws of the Jews. And he seems to be saying: supply their needs generously, so that they lack nothing.

Verses 14 and 15: “And let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, so that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith.” That is, either those who love Paul himself, or those who are faithful. “Grace be with you all. Amen.” [g]

How, then, can you command him to stop the mouths of those who contradict, if he must pass them by when they are doing everything to their own destruction? He means that Titus should not do it chiefly for their benefit, since once their minds are perverted they would gain nothing from it. But if they were harming others, he had to stand up to them, contend with them and meet them bravely. So if you are forced to it, seeing them destroying others, do not keep silent, but stop their mouths, out of concern for those they would destroy. It is not possible, indeed, for a zealous man of upright life to keep entirely out of disputes; but do as I have said.

For the evil comes from idleness and an empty kind of philosophy, from being busy with words alone. It does great harm to pour out a flood of needless words when one ought to be teaching, or praying, or giving thanks. It is not right to be sparing with our money and lavish with our words. We ought rather to spare our words than our money, and not to give ourselves over to every sort of person.

What does “that they may be careful to maintain good works” mean? That they should not wait for those in need to come to them, but should seek out those who need their help. This is how the thoughtful man shows his care, and he will carry out this duty with great zeal. For when good is done, it is not those who receive the kindness who are benefited so much as those who do it; they are the ones who gain and profit, for it gives them confidence before God. But with those disputes there is no end to the quarreling; that is why he calls the heretic beyond correction. For just as neglecting those for whom there is hope of a change of heart is a mark of laziness, so spending effort on those diseased beyond remedy is the height of folly and madness, for we only make them bolder. [i]

“And let our people,” he says, “learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, so that they may not be unfruitful.” You notice that he is more anxious for them than for those who are to receive their kindness. Those men could probably have been sent on their way by many others; but I am concerned, he says, for our own people. For what good would it do them if others were to dig up treasures and support their teachers? That would be no benefit to them, for they would remain unfruitful. Could not Christ, then, who fed five thousand men with five loaves and four thousand with seven loaves, could he not have supported himself and his disciples?

Why, then, was he supported by women? For women, Scripture says, followed him and served him (Mark 15, verse 41). It was to teach us from the very first that he cares for those who do good. Could not Paul, who supported others with his own hands, have kept himself without help from anyone? Yet you see him receiving help and even asking for it. And hear the reason he gives: “Not that I seek the gift,” he says, “but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit” (Philippians 4, verse 17). [j]

And at the beginning, too, when people sold all their possessions and laid the money at the apostles’ feet, the apostles, you see, were more concerned for them than for those who received the alms. For if their only concern had been that the poor should be relieved by any means at all, they would not have judged the sin of Ananias and Sapphira so severely when they kept back their money. Nor would Paul have charged people to give “not grudgingly or under compulsion” (Second Corinthians 9, verse 7). What are you saying, Paul? Are you discouraging giving to the poor? “No. But I am thinking not only of their advantage, but of the good of those who give.”

Do you see that when the prophet gave that excellent advice to Nebuchadnezzar, he was not thinking only of the poor? He does not stop at saying, “Give to the poor.” What does he say? “Break off your sins by almsgiving, and your wrongdoings by showing mercy to the poor” (Daniel 4, verse 27). Part with your wealth, he means, not so that others may be fed, but so that you may escape punishment. And Christ again says, “Go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, … and come, follow me” (Matthew 19, verse 21). Do you see that the command was given so that the man would be led to follow him? Since riches are a hindrance, he commands them to be given to the poor, training the soul to be compassionate and merciful, to despise wealth, and to flee greed. For the one who has learned to give to those in need will in time learn not to take even from those who have something to give. This makes people like God.

Virginity, fasting and sleeping on the ground are harder than this; yet nothing is so strong and powerful to put out the fire of our sins as almsgiving. It is greater than all the other virtues. It sets those who love it beside the King himself, and rightly so. For the effect of virginity, of fasting, of sleeping on the ground, stays with those who practice them, and no one else is saved by them. But almsgiving reaches out to all and embraces the members of Christ, and actions whose effects reach many are far greater than those confined to one.

For almsgiving is the mother of love — of that love which is the mark of Christianity, which is greater than all miracles, and by which the disciples of Christ are made known. It is the medicine for our sins, the cleansing of the filth of our souls, the ladder set up to heaven; it binds together the body of Christ. Would you learn how excellent it is? In the time of the apostles, people sold their possessions and brought the money to them, and it was distributed. For Scripture says, “Distribution was made to each as anyone had need” (Acts 4, verse 35). [l]

Now tell me: setting aside the future, and leaving the kingdom to come out of account for the moment, let us see who were the gainers in this present life, those who received or those who gave. The first grumbled and quarreled with one another. The second had one soul. “They were of one heart and of one soul,” Scripture says, “and grace was upon them all” (Acts 4, verse 32). And they lived in great simplicity. Do you see that they gained even by giving in this way? Tell me now, among whom would you want to be counted: those who gave away their possessions and had nothing, or those who received even the goods of others?

See the fruit of almsgiving: the things that divided and hindered them were removed, and at once their souls were knit together. “They were all of one heart and of one soul.” So even apart from almsgiving, parting with riches brings gain. I have said these things so that those who have not inherited anything from their forefathers may not be downcast, as though they had less than the wealthy. For if they choose, they have more. They will turn more readily to almsgiving, like the widow; they will have no cause for hostility toward their neighbor; and they will enjoy freedom in every respect. Such a person cannot be threatened with the confiscation of his goods; he is above every wrong. [n]

Those who run away with no clothes to hamper them are not easily caught, but those weighed down with many garments and a long train are soon overtaken. So it is with the rich man and the poor. The poor man, even if he is seized, will easily make his escape; the rich man, even if no one holds him, is tangled in cords of his own: countless cares, distresses, passions, provocations, all of which overwhelm the soul, and not these alone, but many other things that riches drag along behind them. It is much harder for a rich man than for a poor one to be moderate and to live frugally, and harder for him to be free from passion. “Then the rich man will have the greater reward.” Not at all. “What, not if he overcomes greater difficulties?” But these difficulties are of his own seeking. We are not commanded to become rich, but the very opposite. Yet he prepares for himself all these stumbling blocks and hindrances.

Others not only strip themselves of riches but wear down their bodies, as travelers on the narrow way. Instead of doing this, you heat the furnace of your passions hotter still, and pile more around yourself. Go, then, into the broad way, for that is the one that takes in people like you. But the narrow way is for those who are hard-pressed and hemmed in, who carry with them nothing but the burdens they can bring through it: almsgiving, kindness to others, goodness and gentleness. If you carry these, you will easily find your way in. But if you take with you arrogance, a soul inflamed by passions, and that load of thorns, wealth, you will need a wide space to pass through, and you will hardly be able to make your way into the crowd without striking others and crashing into them as you go. In that case a wide distance from others is needed. But the one who carries gold and silver — I mean the achievements of virtue — does not make his neighbors flee from him, but draws people closer to him, even to the point of linking themselves to him. [o]

But if riches in themselves are thorns, what must greed be? Why take that along with you? Is it to make the flame greater by adding fuel to that fire? Is the fire of hell not enough? Think how the three young men overcame the furnace. Imagine that furnace to be hell. In distress they were thrown into it, bound and shackled; but inside they found plenty of room. Not so those who stood around it outside.

Something of the kind will happen even now, if we bravely stand up to the trials that surround us. If we hope in God, we will be safe and have plenty of room, and those who bring us into these tight places will perish. For it is written, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it” (Sirach 27, verse 26). Though they bind our hands and our feet, the trouble itself will have power to set us loose. Look at this miracle: those whom men had bound, the fire set free. Suppose certain people were handed over to the servants of their friends, and the servants, out of regard for their master’s friendship, treated them with great respect instead of harming them. So the fire, as though it knew that the three young men were friends of its Lord, burst their fetters, set them free and let them go, and became like a pavement for them, and was trodden under their feet. And rightly so, since they had been thrown into it for the glory of God. Let all of us who are in trouble hold fast to these examples. [r]

“But look, they were delivered from their trouble, and we are not.” True, they were delivered, and rightly. For they did not go into that furnace expecting to be delivered, but as men going to certain death. Hear what they say: “There is a God in heaven who will deliver us. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up” (Daniel 3, verses 17 and 18). But we, as if bargaining over the Lord’s discipline, even set a deadline, saying, “If he does not show mercy by such a time…” That is why we are not delivered. [s]

Abraham certainly did not leave home expecting to receive his son back again, but ready to sacrifice him; and it was beyond his expectation that he received him back safe. And you, when you fall into distress, do not be in a hurry to be delivered. Prepare your mind for every kind of endurance, and you will soon be delivered from your trouble. For God brings it on you for this purpose, to discipline you. So when we learn from the first to bear it patiently and do not sink into despair, he soon relieves us, since the whole purpose has been accomplished.

I would like to tell you a story that teaches a lesson and has much profit in it. What is it? Once, when a persecution broke out and a fierce war was raging against the church, two men were arrested. One was ready to suffer anything at all. The other was prepared to submit firmly to being beheaded, but shrank with fear and trembling from other tortures. Now see how God arranged things for these men. When the judge took his seat, he ordered the one who was ready to endure anything to be beheaded. The other he had hung up and tortured, and not once or twice, but from city to city. Why was this allowed? So that through his torments he might recover the frame of mind he had neglected, shake off all cowardice, and no longer be afraid to endure anything.

Joseph too, when he was eager to get out of prison, was left there. Hear him saying, “Indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews; but mention me to the king” (Genesis 40, verses 14 and 15). And for this reason he was left to remain there, so that he might learn not to put his hope or confidence in people, but to cast everything on God. Knowing these things, then, let us give thanks to God, and let us do everything that is to our advantage, so that we may obtain the good things to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.