Festival of St. Titus of Crete, Bishop and Confessor
Posted on January 26, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 4:38-44 (NKJV)
4:38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.
40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.
42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Devotion
“And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.”
Remember this verse if you hear false teachers talking about our Savior. Even demons can know and say Jesus is the Christ. In Matthew 7 our Lord preached that lawless men can cast out demons and do wonders in His name, but still He condemned those men and will cast them out as faithless and wicked.
Demons should not be underestimated. In spite of modern assumptions, they are real, but they are not just the monsters we see in fiction, either. They are very shrewd servants of diabolical lies. They teach people to do prideful works and believe corrupt half-truths. By contrast, holy servants like St. Titus (who we commemorate today) were sent by our Lord to proclaim Christ in true faith and do wonders for the benefit of the Church as it would grow through the centuries.
The difference can be subtle, but we are taught to test the spirits (1 John 4). Titus was sent to preach and oversee in the Church according to Christ’s Words of humility and discipline, teaching repentance and trust in Jesus Christ alone for God’s mercy and regeneration. This is very different from the lies and sickness that come from the demons, even if they do use our Lord’s name.
Prayer: O Almighty God, who hast built Thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Head Cornerstone, grant us to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine that we may be made a holy temple acceptable unto Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
