[stephenkhoo]

Thursday, 26 January, 2012, Ss Timothy & Titus, Bishops
SUPPORTING EACH OTHER IN THE MINISTRY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 2 TIMOTHY 1:1-8 OR TITUS 1:1-5; LUKE 10:1-9

“The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.” Indeed, these words of Jesus still hold true for us all even after 2000 years after Christ. The harvest is great before us. There are still many who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior. Many are still hungering to find Him, especially in Asia where many still do not know Him; and also in the West where faith has become more of a culture and institution than a personal knowledge of Christ.

It is significant to take note in today’s gospel that the work of evangelization, of spreading the Good News cannot be undertaken by individuals alone but always together with fellow Christians. The gospel tells us that “the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit.” Jesus knows better the challenges of attempting to spread the gospel. He knows that we need encouragement and support from each other if we were to find courage and persevere in the work of proclaiming the Good News. If we are alone, we will surely crumble in the face of opposition, failure and disappointment. Regardless, one cannot be creative and proactive in finding the best strategies to spread the gospel without collaboration with others.

On the theological level, collaborative ministry and mission is a necessity, since the goal of our mission is to bring others into communion with the Lord so that all of us are in communion with each other. Necessarily, if our goal is communion, it must be accomplished in communion as well. Consequently, Jesus’ intention of forming the College of Apostles or sending out the disciples in two is to reiterate that those who want to share in His mission must work as a team in collaboration with each other in love, fraternal support and communion if we are to bear fruits in our labour.

St Paul grasped this principle fully and embraced it in the way he reached out to the nations. He knew that he could never accomplish the work by himself alone. It was his great foresight, humility, selflessness and generosity that prompted him to recruit new collaborators to share the mission with him wherever he went. He had with him able, young, committed and zealous men to help him, as in the case of Sts Timothy and Titus, whose feast we celebrate today. Being able to recruit new people into the ministry and mission is essential for progress and extension. If we find ourselves unable to find new people to join us in our ministry, we are in big trouble as it means that we are moving towards decadence and eventual extinction. Instead of blaming the situation, perhaps, we need to look at the way we lead or the kind of passion and enthusiasm we fail to infuse into our followers. Paul must have been such a passionate lover and preacher of the gospel that he was able to attract young men like Timothy and Titus to join him, among many others.

But getting people to join us in the ministry is only the first step in the work of evangelization. The greater challenge is to empower them to work closely with us. Unfortunately, it is a fact that many Church leaders, clerical, religious or lay are divided among themselves. Quite often, Church leaders operate their ministry as if it is a private ministry. It becomes more of one person’s ambition rather than a mission of the Church. They act like dictators and control the members as if they are their sheep rather than the sheep of Christ. Psalm 95 makes it clear, “he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” (Ps 95:7) The sheep and the flock do not belong to us but we are only acting on behalf of Christ to tend the sheep. Isn’t this was what the Lord said to Peter, three times, “feed my sheep”, “take care of my sheep” and “feed my lamb”? (cf Jn 21:15-19) With this in mind, wherever he went, St Paul was clear that his work was to found new churches and then appoint leaders to take over and build upon what he had established. He explained to Titus, “The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to get everything organised there and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you.” (Titus 1:5)

One of the most discouraging factors in Church ministry is the lack of fraternal support from both members of the Church and fellow Church leaders. More often than not, Church leaders have to lead alone with the help of a few collaborators. Quite often, Church leaders are parochial minded, only concerned with their own interests. We are not supportive of others whom we perceive to be of no direct benefit to our projects. Not infrequently, we even have fellow Church leaders criticizing, dampening and acting as wet blankets the initiatives taken by fellow leaders. Without support from our confreres and fellow members, Church ministry becomes a burden, a lonely enterprise, fraught with frustrations, pain, disappointments instead of joy. Without joy in the ministry, we are on the wrong ship!

Indeed, Paul was so fortunate to have such great collaborators in the persons of Timothy and Titus. Both were entirely loyal to him. They were much younger than Paul but they respected him and were obedient and supportive of his work. They were great partners in spreading the gospel and pastoring to the new found churches. St Titus was a true pastor whom Paul called his “partner and fellow worker” (2 Cor 8:23). He was instrumental in building the churches in Corinth and Crete. Paul sang high praises of him too when he told the Christians in Corinth, “I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative.”(2 Cor 8:16f) Besides Titus, Timothy, the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother also helped Paul to found new churches, namely, the church at Philippi. Later on, he assumed leadership in the Church at Ephesus. (Acts 16:1-5; 1 Tim 1:3) Paul had this to say of him, “I have nobody else like him here, as wholeheartedly concerned for your welfare: all the rest seem more interested in themselves than Jesus Christ!” (Phil 2:20f) Indeed, Paul was so grateful to Timothy’s unwavering support for him that he told the Philippians, “But you know how he has proved himself by working with me on behalf of the Good News like a son helping his father.” (Phil 2:22)

Interestingly, Timothy and Titus did not try to upstage Paul by trying to become more popular than him. They were happy to be his companions and fellow colleagues. They took direction from Paul and served him faithfully. They did not see themselves as competitors for glory and recognition of their work but always for the service of the gospel united in complementing and empowering Paul in his ministry as much as he empowered them. We do not see any tinges of jealousy or power struggle among them. But this is not the case in Church ministry. Often, we have so-called collaborators and fellow leaders trying to outshine their superiors or even undermine their authority and influence by speaking ill of them and passing disparaging remarks when they cannot agree with them. When that happens, the poor leader will end up having to spend time and energy trying to control his sub-leaders instead of leading the group to greater heights.

How did St Paul manage to get such strong supporters and loyal collaborators? What is his secret? It is this: proper nurturing! If St Paul could get such staunch and committed coworkers, it was the way he nurtured their faith and their leadership. Indeed, St Paul showed himself to be not just a leader but a father in faith and leadership. He called Timothy “dear child of mine.” (2 Tim 1:2) He called Titus his son (Phil 2:22) and “my true child in a common faith.” (Titus 1:4) Both Timothy and Titus must have felt Paul’s genuine fatherly love and care for them. Paul must have been a great mentor in the faith for them.

Most of all, Paul was a man who empowered those under his charge. He would encourage them when they were timid and felt inadequate for their tasks. He wrote to the young Timothy who was placed in charge of the church in Ephesus, encouraging him “to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but with me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy.” (2 Tim 1:6-8) He did not see them as his competitors but as collaborators and more, as his own children and brothers in the faith. Because of their deep brotherly love for each other, there was a deep trust in each other and mutual understanding, a common heart, a singular devotion for the gospel and the mission. For these reasons they worked well together. When there is no trust and confidence between collaborators, suspicion of each other’s motives and intentions will make collaboration a very difficult task as we spend half the time guessing each other’s motives.

Of course, this nurturing was already put in place by their own parents. The seed of love and faith were implanted by their parents whom we read were devout Christians. St Paul remarked, “I am reminded of the sincere faith which you have; it came first to live in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I have no doubt that it is the same faith in you as well.” This brings us to the whole question of formation and nurturing by our parents. If we want our children to be great leaders in the future promotion of the gospel within the Church or in the secular world, we need to ground them in their faith and set good examples for them so that they too will imitate us in our love for the Lord, the gospel and His Church. Without nurturing, we cannot have great disciples and leaders for Christ. And when that happens, the Church becomes impoverished and the gospel will suffer.

So let us support and encourage our leaders to realize the invitation of Christ to bring the Good News to all of humanity. What is important is that Christ is made known to all peoples regardless who the messenger is. When we focus on Christ and His gospel and on the mission, we will focus less on ourselves. We are here to serve Christ’s cause according to the charisms and office He appoints us to. By not supporting the leaders placed over us, we are usurping those whom the Lord has anointed for the office. When that happens, our objectives of accomplishing Christ’s mission would surely be compromised and weakened. Conversely, leaders must empower their sub-leaders and lead them in faith and in love through an exemplary life and leadership so that they can mentor others.