Matthew 18:15-20
with Psalm 149
After weeks on end of the stories of
Jacob in the book of Genesis, this morning’s reading from Matthew feels like a
breath of fresh air. Ahhh . . . here is
our old friend Jesus, offering us lessons on how to be the people of God. Like falling into bed each night, or meeting
an old friend for coffee, this return to the gospels feels like a familiar
comfort to me.
We are kind of jumping into the middle
of the conversation here, so it helps to look back a few verses so we can get
some context. Jesus is speaking to his
disciples, and the paragraph for this morning is part of a longer speech in
response to the question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Folks are asking about who is the best
among them and Jesus reminds them that the more important issue is how everyone
gets along together. It is not about
ranks, he seems to say, rather it is about keeping the flock together. He talks about being humble in leadership,
about protecting the weak ones within our midst, and about searching for that
one lost sheep. And finally then he
comes to today’s section about conflict in the church.
Now we all know how much we wish the
church was a perfect place, but we also know that no gathering of broken human
beings could ever be perfect. There is
just as much conflict in the church as anywhere else in our world, and it
certainly has always been that way. Why
else would we find Jesus himself discussing church conflict?
The question is, “how do we correct
one among us who has gone astray?” This
has been interesting to watch lately in the big Christian church community with
Houston pastor Joel Osteen. I am sure
most of you are familiar with his flawless smile and perfectly coifed hair on
the cover of his many books. I know
quite a few folks watch him at home on Sunday mornings when they can’t make it
out to church, and he is certainly entertaining. Well, Joel got into trouble a few weeks ago
when his mega church neglected to open its doors as a shelter right away after
hurricane Harvey. Small churches around
the area were helping out, but the mega church in the basketball stadium
wasn’t.
You can hardly blame Pastor Osteen for
this mistake since helping the poor and destitute isn’t the gospel he preaches,
and that’s not the kind of church he runs.
Joel preaches prosperity gospel which encourages everyone to help
themselves to the blessings of God in their life. While his is a church of small groups and
bible studies, it is not a place of food banks and soup kitchens. And it is most definitely not a shelter.
Anyway, the point is, the greater
church community corrected Joel on his understanding of the gospel and the role
of church through the voice of social media.
Chastised on twitter and Facebook, with folks posting photos of a church
that clearly was untouched by the floods, he finally changed his mind. While Joel and I probably still disagree on
what the gospel is about, in the grand scheme of things, I think the greater
Christian community did a pretty good job of bringing him back into the fold.
So how do we live out this
reconciliation process in the local church?
Well, Jesus seems to be offering a step by step outline in the reading
for today. He starts off by telling us
that if someone in the church sins against us, hurts us, does us some injustice
or harm, that it is our responsibility to rectify the situation. The burden is on the person who has been
wronged, which is difficult for us.
Jesus tells us to approach the individual who harmed us one on one and
see if we can rectify the situation together.
If that doesn’t work, then we are told to “phone a friend” and bring
along someone else from the church to help hear the case and find a solution. Only after we make every attempt at
reconciliation are we told to allow that person to leave the faith community.
Jesus paints a pleasant picture here
but I am not sure I have seen it really work out that often. Most often I have seen churches that look
more like the people in Psalm 149. It’s
all singing and music and praise God, for about 6 verses until all of a sudden
people have two-edged swords in their hands and they are executing vengeance on
the nations and punishing the peoples!
Churches get in knock-down drag-out fights just like everywhere
else. Personally, I have often been hurt
by people in churches who disagreed with me about something and I have
witnessed folks do it to each other over and over again. People get their feelings hurt in a
disagreement, come out swinging, and before you know it everyone is headed to
the church down the street instead.
Now this congregation in particular is
one of the sweetest, most agreeable congregations I have ever seen. There is something in the air here that makes
everyone really value the peace of this particular community. That is why you have such long pastorates;
this congregation is really a gem. You
might not follow Jesus’ exact prescription for conflict management, but you do
seem to value reconciliation more than punishment. And it makes you a pleasure to work with and
this calling a true joy, so thank you.
Even this wonderful church can benefit
from Jesus’ message which is that the community itself should work together for
its preservation. If we come at every
conflict with a two-edged sword in our hand like the folks in Psalm 149 then we
risk cutting the community into pieces.
I have seen it many times in church communities. But, if we approach conflict with patience
and grace, then we are able to hold things together and to keep the community
as whole as possible.
Jesus says to treat the one who
disagrees with us, as if they were a Gentile or a tax collector. At first this seems like a harsh punishment,
reducing the one with whom we have conflict to the status of an outsider. But, if we step back and imagine how Jesus
himself treats Gentiles and tax collectors then we find something else. For these are just the people Jesus spends
time with. Tax collectors and sinners,
Gentiles and outcasts, are just the folks that Jesus is so often engaging in
ministry with. So too, if we are forced
to say goodbye to friends in the church over conflict, we are called, like
Jesus to continue to minister to them in the community. Once again we find reconciliation as the
goal, rather than punishment.
Today we are gathering around the
communion table, and this is the central place for reconciliation within the
Christian community. When it comes to
conflict and committing injustices, we must admit that we all stand as sinners
before our God. No one in the church is
perfect. Part of coming to the table is
confessing our imperfections, confessing the wrongs we have committed, and
admitting our sins before God and the community as a whole. That is why that Prayer of Confession is so
important to our worship service. We do
it at the start of each Sunday, so we can once again share peace as a community
confessed and forgiven, a community of reconciliation.
When we gather at the communion table
we gather as a forgiven people. We know
that we have all sinned, and that we all stand equally in need of God’s
grace. We eat of one bread and drink of
one cup, reminding ourselves of our one-ness in the Lord. This is a table of equals, a table of
community, a table of peace, and a table of reconciliation. This meal is the living embodiment of the
forgiveness that God extends to us and that we in turn strive to extend to one another.
As we return to the words of Jesus
this week, we return to a reminder of who we are as the church community. Our goal is not to have all the right answers
or to be a perfect uniform place.
Rather, our goal is to try to hold together this band of broken people
for as long as we can. When we hurt one
another, which we are bound to do, we are called to work together for
reconciliation and forgiveness.
Jesus tells us that this should be a
community of peace and love, not a place where we are cutting out those who
have sinned. Jesus reminds us that it is
only when we are all gathered together, those who are right and those who have
been wrong, that we will find Jesus among us.
That is what makes a community of faith.
May we continue to be such a community.
Amen.
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