(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
We have had proclaimed to us today a letter written to Titus. It is as letter to one who was to lead the Church into the second generation, the time after the death of the Apostles. It reflects this time change and adjustment.
The first generation of believers had considered all believers as equals. Male and female, slave and free, rich and poor stood together in this first-generation Church.
This equality was something the rest of the people did not understand. The prevailing practice of the day was patriarchy, where the husband and father ruled his household with the wife, children and slaves under him, male before female and the free members before the slaves. This was the normal of the pagan world and those who did not practice this were considered abnormal, weird or bad citizens. It is not hard to imagine that the Christians felt like second-class citizens and discriminated against.
Hence, the injunction to Titus to teach obedience to those in authority and outwardly to conform to the patriarchal culture. Yesterday’s reading from Titus, for example, encouraged wives to submit to their husbands so as not to have the Gospel discredited by their behavior.
In one sense it seems that the Church accepted patriarchy in order to live in the society of the second-generation’s world. That patriarchal society is being challenged in today’s world. This may bring the Church back more closely to the egalitarian life of the first-generation of believers.
The Spirit of God directed the Apostles in their mission, their work and their teachings. The Spirit of God directed the leaders of the successive generations of believers. The Spirit of God still directs the Church in our generation.
The letter to Titus was written in a time of change, from the first generation to the next. It is proclaimed to us in a time of change, from one liturgical year into the coming season of Advent. It is proclaimed to us in a time of society’s change from one presidential administration to another. As the Spirit has guided the Church throughout history, the Spirit will not abandon us as we live as Church in today’s society.