Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost |
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Scripture |
Matthew 18:15-2015“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. 16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
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Devotional |
The procedure, outlined by Jesus in Matthew 18, is how and what it means for his disciples to be at peace with one another. Jesus assumes that those who follow him will wrong one another and they will be caught in what may seem irresolvable conflict. The question is not whether such conflict can be eliminated, but how, his followers are to deal with conflict. He assumes that conflict is not to be ignored or denied, but rather conflict, which may involve sins, is to be formed into the open. 1 Matthew has the most to say about conflict. Conflict has been part of the Christian community from the beginning. This is the place of the good, the bad, and the ugly. I suppose if you have been in the church long, you may have been referred to as one or all of these at some time. Matthew’s community must be in conflict. They are attempting to understand how to deal lovingly with breaks and tares in their own fabric as time passes and Jesus has not returned. “Here we see developing the earliest legal procedures for excommunication, procedures designed to protect both the individual and the community. The sinner is guarded against arbitrariness and hasty action brought by a single individual or even by two or three leaders. The leader is protected from his own prejudices and from hasty action. The congregation is guarded from violent disruption and from the slow erosion of unresolved antagonisms.” 2 How do we live when we hurt and anger each other? Jesus tells his disciples that if one whom they believe has sinned against them does not listen to them, then they are to take one or two others with them to confirm the meeting. If the person still does not listen, they are to go to the whole church. If the person continues not to listen, they are to be treated as a tax collector or Gentile. They are to be treated as someone no longer a member of the community. Stanley Hauerwas describes excommunication this way. “Yet excommunication is an act of love. Excommunication is not to throw someone out of the church, but rather an attempt to help them see that they have become a stumbling block and are, therefore, already out of the church. Excommunication is a call to come home by undergoing the appropriate penance.” 3 Is this treatment of a tax collector or Gentile any different from how Jesus would treat them? 1 Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew. Grand Rapids : Brazos Press., 2006. p. 165 |