Lectionary Gospel reading: Matthew 18:15-20
As
we continue on our journey—our pilgrimage—through Matthew’s Gospel, this Sunday
morning we find ourselves in chapter 18. The context is Jesus, not for the
first time, teaching on the nature of the kingdom of heaven, or what it looks
like to live under the kingship of God in this world. And in verses 15-20,
Jesus talks about discerning and participating in the will of our heavenly
Father. The presenting issue is one of separation between brothers in need of
reconciliation, and there is a process—a sequence of practices—that will help
us get from where we find ourselves to where we need to be.
“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.” In other words, if someone has acted wrongly [and some of the ancient
manuscripts include ‘against you’ while others omit ‘against you’ which
suggests to me that this applies whether the wrong is directed towards me or
not] arrange a time to speak with them face-to-face in private. Not in the heat
of the moment of being wronged; not in (self-) righteous anger vented across
(anti-) social media. This is the first step, and, if it works, it works: the
matter is resolved.
“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.” In
other words, if at first you don’t succeed in reconciliation, bring in a couple
of mediators who can help you. Remember, the goal is not that I am vindicated
in my sense of having been wronged, but that we are reconciled, and so the
primary role of these witnesses to every word is making sure we have heard and
understood one another.
“If
the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;” In other words,
if reconciliation cannot be reached through mediation, the next stage in the
process is to attempt to reach reconciliation communally, the whole church
community seeking to discern what needs to happen.
“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.”
At
this point we had better pause and reflect on what Jesus has been teaching his
disciples, his apprentices, about how they should relate to Gentiles and tax
collectors. We should ask, what has Matthew—whose livelihood was collecting taxes
within the administrative structures of the Roman (Gentile) empire—wanted the
community for whom he writes to understand here? Let us look back over the
Gospel.
In
chapter 4:12-17, Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah, to locate Jesus’
light-bringing vocation in ‘Galilee of the Gentiles,’ and, in this context,
Jesus summarises his mission by proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
has come near.”
In
chapter 12:15-21, Matthew again quotes Isaiah to describe Jesus’ activity as
proclaiming justice to the Gentiles, thus being the one in whom the Gentiles
will hope.
In
the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus confronts the self-righteousness of those who
saw themselves as being a divinely chosen and special people, pointing out that
they are no different to—and certainly no better than—the Gentiles and tax
collectors they looked down on (Matthew 5:43-48).
In
chapter 9:9-13, we hear about Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector to follow
him, and see Jesus eating in the house [as guest, as host?] with tax
collectors. When asked why he is doing something so scandalous, his response
is, I am practicing mercy.
In
chapter 10:1-4, Matthew the tax collector—that is, not to distinguish him from
Matthew the fisherman, but, rather, to underline and circle and highlighter pen
that he was a tax collector—is one of the twelve apostles, or sent ones.
In
chapter 11:7-19, Jesus reminds the crowds that he has been derided as a glutton
and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners—and yet, wisdom is
vindicated by her deeds.
All
this, we have already come across before arriving at chapter 18. And, just to
bring the point home, in chapter 21:2346, Jesus tells a hostile assembly of
chief priests and elders of the people, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors
and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of heaven ahead of you. For John
[the baptiser] came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe
him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after
you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”
“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.” In other words, if you have spoken with them
face-to-face, and with mediators, and, ultimately, the counsel of the church
has not persuaded your brother or sister that they have wronged you, perhaps you
are the one who is in the wrong.
I’ll
say that again: if it has got this far, and they have stood their ground, perhaps
you are the one who is in the wrong. Maybe you are the one—indeed, by
this stage, the community—who needs to repent. Because maybe, just maybe, the
brother you think has wronged you has gone ahead of you into the kingdom of God
while you refuse.
If,
at no point in the process of discernment they have come to see things as you
do.
Jesus
continues:
“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.”
The
goal is to be free of the things that prevent us from entering the kingdom of
heaven. The warning is that Jesus takes our agency seriously enough to allow us
the chains we bind ourselves in. The good news is that Jesus takes our agency
seriously enough to allow us to free one another. And that, whether in chains
or free, he is with us.
Where
the church has chained herself—to those who promise earthly power, to
patriotism, to institutional racism, to any dogma opposed to the kingdom of
heaven—Jesus shares our chains. He has been here before, a light dawning on
those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, proclaiming justice, keeping
hope alive, practicing mercy.
That
is, I think, what Matthew would have us realise today.
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