Sending Ahead and Leaving Behind

Text: Luke 10:1-9, Titus 1:1-9

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

            When Jesus was about to head into all the towns and villages of Galilee and beyond, He sent 72 of His disciples ahead of Him with a message: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Years later, when Jesus’ Apostle St. Paul left the island of Crete, he left behind Titus as the bishop, the pastor who would ordain and oversee other pastors on the island, putting the Church there into good order. And just as Jesus had sent His disciples ahead with a message, St. Paul left Titus behind with a message: “Hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught,” that Word being nothing less that Jesus Christ Himself, the Word manifested through the preaching that Jesus had entrusted to His Apostles.

            Sending ahead and leaving behind—it’s a pattern that our Lord works with over and over again. Throughout His ancient people’s history, He sent ahead prophets with a message. Whenever there was going to be some earth-shaking event, the Lord would let His people Israel know ahead of time through messengers and words of warning. When those prophecies were fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, He then left behind messengers after His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. These messengers were the Apostles, who went out into all the world with the good news of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. Sending ahead and leaving behind; our Lord always surrounds His people with His Word, ahead of time and after He’s come to them. In fact, it happens so much with God’s people—prophets before and after, Apostles being sent ahead to all the towns Jesus is going to visit, and left behind when His work of redemption is done; and even now pastors called to preach and serve in places, moving wherever God would have them serve ahead of and after our time in any given place—it happen so much that sometimes the lines can seem blurred between who’s running ahead and who’s following behind. And indeed, it’s meant to be that way. For when it’s different messengers but always the same message—look to Jesus alone—then it becomes crystal clear that it’s the message we should be focused on. Everything else becomes secondary at best.

            We’ve recently come out of a time in the Church year when those lines between Jesus’ first arrival and His final return get a little fuzzy. Then, to make it even more complex, we also have to take into account all the other arrivals Jesus still has in our lives—when He shows up in His Word and preaching, when He arrives to forgive our sins in the Absolution, when He comes to be with us in His body and blood in the Divine Service. The messages can start to overlap—Jesus is coming soon, whether it’s at Christmas or the end of time or on Sunday morning. He’s arriving to heal and forgive sins, whether it’s in Galilee or here today in the sanctuary. He’s setting us free from all that would harm us, whether it’s in the gifts of grace that He’s sharing this moment or when He comes back at the end of time.

            So whether it’s a message about something coming soon or about something that’s already happened, one thing remains consistent: Jesus never leaves His people by themselves. He always sends messengers ahead and leaves messengers behind so that His beloved people are always pointed to what Jesus is doing for them—past, present, or future. His messengers will always point back to what He accomplished on the cross and forward to what He will bring with Him when He returns. Sending messengers ahead and leaving messengers behind—it’s what our Lord does to strengthen our faith in Him.

            Today is the feast day when we recognize one of those messengers, St. Titus. Titus was a young Greek man who heard the preaching of St. Paul and was converted. He seems to have had some training in philosophy and poetry. He quickly became a trusted friend and traveling companion of St. Paul, delivering letters for Paul to congregations that Paul had visited or was going to visit. He even helped reconcile some of the conflicts that we know arose in those earliest Christian congregations. While visiting the island of Crete, Paul recognized that the Church was in need of strengthening and organizing, so when it was time for him to leave, he appointed Titus as the bishop there to put things into good order and ordain faithful, stable men to be the pastors throughout the island. He seems to have accomplished this, because after things were well-established, Titus himself returned to missionary journeys throughout the Greek-speaking world. But his message was always the same: turn away from your sins and divisions, be reconciled to God and one another, be forgiven, look to Jesus.

            This is the pattern and the message that the Lord has given to His Church. He will never leave His flock unattended. He sends undershepherds, who hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that they can give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it. They do this not by their own strength or charisma or skills or abilities, although the Lord can certainly make good use of those. But rather, they shepherd the flock with the tools that God has given them. They have the staff of the Sacraments—the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. They have the medicine of the Gospel to heal the sick and weak among the flock. They have the cudgel of Law to nudge the flock back to safe pastures and to wield against the wolves who would prey upon Jesus’ beloved Church.

            And you can be certain that there are wolves. They’re not merciful; they’re not kind. They may say smooth and pleasing things to find a way to be in the middle of the flock, but their goal is to draw away Jesus’ disciples to follow them. They speak twisted things, trying to bend the Word to their own purposes, their own glory. It’s dangerous with such spiritual predators out there, especially when our own fallen nature is always susceptible to chasing after those things: greed, lust, thirst for worldly glory and power. With wolves from without and our traitorous fallen nature within, this world can be a treacherous place for a lamb of Jesus’ flock.

            For the sake of certainty then, Jesus sends His Word ahead of us to blaze a path and leaves His Word behind to serve as a rear guard. His messengers go before Him and follow after Him so that we’re always surrounded with His good news of forgiveness and peace with God. He uses this pattern for our certainty. I am not in this position of pastor, preacher, and messenger because of anything I have in myself, any skill or strength or resource. I cannot speak with confidence because of my own ability to make things come to pass or cause the good things I speak of to happen. I speak only what was left behind for me to speak: God’s Word, the sound pattern of teaching that Jesus Himself gave to His entire Church. I only use the tools that Christ has left for me use: baptizing His people, nourishing you with forgiveness and eternal life in His Holy Supper, strengthening you with His Word. He’s set me here so that you would not be left alone, so that you would be certain that He is coming to you; just as He reassured the people of Crete through Titus, just as He told the people of Galilee through the 72 disciples.

            The kingdom of God has come near to you. It’s at hand. It’s here, with you, within you, forever. Look to your Savior, Jesus, and receive the peace He alone gives. In the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen.