Lectio. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2: 11-14)

Meditatio. The book of Titus was addressed to a Greek convert of Paul's. This convert, Titus, appears in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1), Rome and then Dalmatia (2 Tim 4:10) [1], among other places. The book is general advice to a leader of a congregation, and includes some of the passages that most irritate the modern world. In particular, it instructs slaves to submit totally to their masters and for wives to submit to their husbands.

Yet these passages cannot be read literally, since we are all subject to God alone. Those who use them to seek to justify literal or metaphorical slavery commit idolatry. These passages must be read with a sense of their human context. In a society where slaves and wives were property, they had little choice about how to live. When one is a helpless captive, perhaps even forbidden to mention Jesus or God, how can one make manifest the Christ within? Christ flows forth only when one allows oneself to be "poured out as a drink offering", as Paul describes his own life in Titus 4. This is not submission to a human master, but submission to God. One can only do this if one is absolutely confident that the master will get his (or hers) in the end, that submission amounts to pouring coals on the heads of those who abuse their earthly positions to enslave others [2].

The language of the passage is complex and deserves some serious reflection. "Grace" (Greek charis) means favor, joy, pleasure, sweetness. Salvation (soterion) is a word used primarily by Luke, though the root word soteria is also used by John and in some epistles. It carries a sense of "preservation" or "health", which may be why it appealed to the physician, Luke. "It teaches us", referring to the grace of God, is a phrase based on paideo, from which we get "pedagogy", and refers to a tutor with disciplinary powers. It carries a sense of severity, chastisement or correction. "Self-controlled" (sophronos) and the root sophron appear only in Titus, and are variously translated "sober", "temperate" (Titus 2:2) or "discreet" (Titus 2:5). Other renditions include "sane", "sensible" and "prudent". Sophronos contrasts with nephelaios, also occurring in Titus 2:2 and meaning "abstaining from wine". The word "upright" is dikaio, a very important word reflecting the biblical identity of personal righteousness and social justice. No one who behaves unjustly is justified before God, nor can personal morality substitute for doing right to the poor, the helpless, the hopeless.

And so, the message of the passage, a very subtle message, is revealed. The sweetness of God, the joy that comes with knowing him, is also our disciplinarian, persuading us to renounce impulsive behaviors such as anger. Jesus surrendered himself completely in order to create from muddy humanity a new people purified of the impulses to do wrong. But how can sweetness be severe? How can joy bring pain? The answer is that if the grace of God is withdrawn, the full ugliness of this world strikes one's spirit like a fist. The brutality and dishonesty that we once accepted as normal are intolerable once we know God's grace.

As Paul said elsewhere, to live is Christ. Life in this world is sorrow, and only in Christ are we freed from that suffering. Therefore, one can tell those who follow Christ, because doing wrong causes them pain. And one can tell the pagans. For them, war and disease, anger and violence, poverty and the deprivation of freedom are very tolerable as long as they are things endured by others.

Contemplatio. Adoration. Thanks for the grace of God, for its sweetness and joy. These are what draw us toward better lives, healthy lives free of anger and impulsiveness. The grace of God teaches us patience, patience to wait for Christ, in whom we hope. Confession. There is no one righteous, no, not even one. All of us give in to wrongdoing and separate ourselves from God's grace. And in so doing, we experience the harshness of this world, a harshness that we once thought of as normal, but now know as Hell's shadow on earth. Thanksgiving. Thank You, Lord, for leaving the choice in our hands, for letting us seek you rather than demanding that we accept you. Supplication. Help us, Lord, to become single-hearted, desiring nothing more than the simple joy of dwelling in Your grace.