2 Cor. 8:16-24 (NRSV)
16 But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have. 17For he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you of his own accord. 18With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming the good news; 19and not only that, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. 20We intend that no one should blame us about this generous gift that we are administering, 21for we intend to do what is right not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of others. 22And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found eager in many matters, but who is now more eager than ever because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker in your service; as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.
The matter of who this famous brother could be, as well as the other unnamed “often tested” brother, has caused the scratching of heads for a long, long time. Although some have sounded absolutely sure, such as Pelagius when he wrote, “It is Luke”, or some more tentative such as John Chrysostom who thought it sounded like Barnabas (writing 1600 years ago, which is indeed a long time ago), there seems little concensus here in 2009 A.D. on the identity of the first brother, nor of the second.
In any case, here are three questions for us to consider and pray about:
1) Paul says Brother X was “famous …. for his proclaiming the good news.” Does that mean he was an “evangelist”? What does it mean to proclaim the good news? And what is the content?
2) What would have made him famous about it? Surely, one of the options to answer that question would be that his proclaiming of the good news could be measured in the number of people who came to faith in Jesus, that is, believed in the risen Lord Jesus as a result of his proclamation? And if that is the case, then this would underscore a classic definition of evangelism which says that it is proclaiming the good news in such a way and manner that people respond positively by believing in Jesus Christ. Does that not give pause?
3) That consideration of sharing, receiving and responding leads me to ask a third question: Who in The Episcopal Church could be said to be like Brother X, famous for their proclaiming the good news?
RGE+
