Upcoming Sunday Gospel
Readings
Sunday 10 September
2017
Matthew
18:15-20
Jesus said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go
and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to
you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or
two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence
of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to
the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such
a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
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Hopefully
this is a reading that we never need to actually use. But it is certainly a good one to keep in
mind for those moments when conflict arises in our midst. If we don’t think conflict does arise in the
Church, among believers, we are ostriches with our heads in the sand. And what do we do when these moments come
up? The temptation is to do the opposite
of what this Gospel instructs. How often
have we heard of believers gossiping about other believers; how they have been
wronged by others? We hear way too much
of this! And what ends up coming of this
gossip? We tear down one another. We inflict pain and suffering on others,
causing offense not only for those who have offended us but also for those who
have not been directly involved in the offense.
That larger offense in fact is one of the greatest stumbling blocks that
we as Christians place in the way of the Gospel for those outside the Church
who need to hear the Gospel. These
outsiders look at us and think and say, “If that is the way Christians are with
one another, count me out; I want no part of that.” And there are a number of persons who speak
this way, who believe that Christians are simply a band of hypocrites. And sometimes we are!
Jesus
challenges us to go directly to the one who has caused the offense and tackle
the offense head on. In this model, the
only time we are to draw others in is when that private encounter and
conversation has not brought any reconciliation and forgiveness. And when others are drawn in, they are
included not as advocates for either party, but simply as a witness to the
conversation and the attempts to heal what is broken and to seek reconciliation
and forgiveness. And if this does not
work, it is then that the presence of witnesses is enlarged beyond a handful to
the fullness of the Church.
It
is at this point that things get really interesting. If reconciliation is not possible even with
the witness of the fullness of the Church, Jesus tells the one who has sought
reconciliation and forgiveness to treat that one as a “Gentile and a tax
collector.” Often we think this gives us
the freedom to write off that other person, the offender, as a lost cause. Only remember that Matthew is the Evangelist
that has passed this wisdom of Jesus to the Church. Matthew was a tax collector at the time of
Jesus’ call to discipleship. The apostle
and evangelist was sought out by Jesus as a “tax collector.” Jesus didn’t write him off! Nor does Jesus give us the freedom to write
off anyone, even those who offend us.
Rather Jesus directs us to continue to seek these ones out, in the hopes
that at some point yet to come, reconciliation will occur.
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Father Timothy
Alleman
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