The Collect
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Readings:
Psalm 83
Numbers 12
Gospel: Matthew 18:10–20
10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Commentary:
The passages suggested for today deal with teachings by Christ on the topic of forgiveness and reconciliation. With that said we have to remind ourselves of the contextual implications, in that when Matthew wrote this Gospel, late in the first century, the church was suffering persecution from without and growing pains from within—the growing pains expressing themselves in various tensions and disputes. In this chapter, Matthew recalls sayings of Jesus that emphasize the importance of Christians living together in harmony. While there is concern for the individual, the welfare of the ekklesia—the church—the community of faith—is paramount.
That principle sets us apart from the secular world, where people are more inclined to emphasize individual rights than our responsibilities to each other. In today’s world, people often walk away from relationships quickly and easily. Rather than allowing us to just walk away, Jesus calls us to explore possibilities that might lead to reconciliation. He outlines a deliberate, intentional process. He will not let us easily off the hook, but requires us to take the initiative.
Conflict among the community, appears to have been the root cause for these teachings, as Matthew presents them in chapter 18, At the beginning of the chapter we find the disciples arguing among themselves as to which of them is the greatest, and they take this argument to Jesus for his ruling and pronouncement. However, just as he frequently turned the silly questions of the pharisees into a teaching moment, he did the same to his disciples, by taking a child from those gathered there and setting it in their midst and telling them; “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. ” (Mt. 18:3-6)
Verses seven to nine deal with the avoidance of temptations. Then with verse ten he again references little children; “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” but here we see a rhetorical use of “children” in that Jesus is not speaking of actual children, but any member of the community that strays away into sin. We see a verification of this premise in verse 11, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” While the phrase “that which was lost” applies to all who are sinners or who haven’t accepted Christ, we see in verses 18 to 20, a process of reconciling with those members of the church who have gone astray, verifying our premise that Matthew is reporting sayings of Jesus that emphasize the importance of Christians living together in harmony, as mentioned in the first paragraph above.
Matthew gives us the parable of the lost sheep as a teaching of Christ that the church should make every effort to reconcile with those that have departed by entering into sin. “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” (vs. 12-14)
This parable is similar, yet different to the parable of the Lost Sheep recorded in Luke 15:3-7. “The evidence suggests that these are two similar parables, both taught by Jesus, but with very different aims.” (Carson)
Here, Jesus emphasized the love and care we should have for all in the Christian community. Verse 15 deals with the need for reconciliation with another member of the community of faith; “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” This reflects the joy of the shepherd who goes in search and recovers the lost sheep (see verse 13).
However, if the offending member of the community is unrepentant, he or she is to be removed from the community. “But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” (vs. 16-17) It should be remembered that the Jewish people had the habit of wiping the dust from their feet after passing through a Pagan or Gentile community, as a sign that they did not retain any of the “sin” of those in that village or household. However even though they shunned those they considered heathen—non Jews—as well as publicans—tax collectors—they still did business and a certain degree of social intercourse with those that were to be avoided. In essence what Jesus is saying here is to—in extreme conditions—insulate the Christian Community from those that might sow discord.
This process of insulating the community of the faithful from harmful members, must be approached with care and brotherly love, keeping in mind the lessons found in Matthew 7:1-3; “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ” Or in other words, do not hold the offender to a higher standard than you would want to be held to, but treat them as you would want to be treated.
Also, in the Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (13:24-30; 36-43), Jesus dealt with the problem of evil among the good. He warned against trying to separate the weeds (evil) and wheat (good), saying,“But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.‘” (13:29-30). This goes hand in hand with the contextual meaning of Matthew 7:1-3, but more thoroughly explained in John 8:3-11 where find this story; “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. ”
In this passage from John, the scribes and Pharisees wanted Jesus to stand in judgment of the woman, acting as judge and jury to condemn her to death for the crime of adultery. They were not asking Jesus to discern, to determine if she had indeed committed adultery, no, they wanted him to sentence her to die by stoning. This was a part of their tradition, one that Jesus was adamantly against. Sins against God were to be prosecuted by God, not mankind, as taught in the parable of the weeds (Mt 13:29-30).
Jesus did not tell her that it was acceptable to commit adultery, in fact he told her to go and sin no more. His position was that [1] apparently her accusers were just as guilty of adultery and [2] this was not a capital offense to be punished by death.
While it is important to insulate the church from the seeds of discord, it is just as important to always be willing to go in search of the lost sheep, verse 13, and hopefully be rewarded as we find in verse 15.
Again, such actions must be humbly and according to the Word, this is quite binding in the eyes of God, even if the unrepentant ones just go to another church. “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” “The binding and loosing generically = exercising judgment on conduct; here specifically = treating sin as pardonable or the reverse.” (Bruce)
“Each church has the keys of its own door. When those keys are rightly turned by the assembly below, the act is ratified above.” (Spurgeon)
“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
“If two of you agree on earth” There is real power in agreement in prayer and in the presence of Jesus. This is exactly what the unrepentant ones miss out on.
In the ancient Greek, agree is literally “to symphonize.” Jesus wants us to complement each other like a great orchestra. “It is a metaphor taken from a number of musical instruments set to the same key, and playing the same tune: here, it means a perfect agreement of the hearts, desires, wishes, and voices, of two or more persons praying to God.” (Clarke)
Finally, Jesus implies that unity and brotherly love in the community. “to symphonize” will be rewarded; “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” What greater reward can there be on Earth than for Jesus to be with us.
Benediction
Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Thought for the Day:
Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.
― C.S. Lewis
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