A homily by Fr.
Gene Tucker, given at St. John’s Church ,
Centralia , Illinois on
“LOVE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL, LOVE FOR THE CHURCH”
(Homily texts: Romans 13: 8 – 14 & Matthew 18: 15 – 20)
“Owe no one
anything except to love one another,” St. Paul
said to the Christians who were members of the churches in Rome
The admonition we hear today follows on a series of short, to-the-point statements that we’ve been hearing on the past two Sundays as we’ve made our way through chapter twelve, and now into chapter thirteen of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Paul has
much to say about the business of “loving our neighbor”. But what he has to say doesn’t come out of
thin air, it comes from the wisdom that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself imparts.
And as we look at our gospel text for this morning, we can easily see that what Jesus has to say about discipline within the Body of Christ, that is, the Church, has much to do with the business of a deep, abiding love and concern for the welfare of the individuals who make up the Church, and for the Church’s welfare, as well.
So let’s explore what Jesus has to say as Matthew has relayed it to us. We’ll do so in a quite methodical fashion:
1. The first principle is one of confidentiality: Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone” (italics mine, of course). So the principle here is that the matter which has caused strain and stress between two persons is to be resolved privately, between the party who seems to be at fault, and the one who knows about the matter. Explicitly excluded is any possibility of creating gossip, or of “triangulating” the individual by drawing others into the matter. Jesus’ instructions make it clear that the source of trouble or disagreement is to be resolved at the smallest level possible, that is to say, involving only those who are immediately concerned with the issue at hand.
2. Restoration of broken or impaired relationships is the aim of dealing with perceived wrongdoing: Notice how Jesus puts this aim: “If he (your brother) listens to you, you have gained your brother.” Presumably, the person who is the offender would make restitution (if there is harm to another person), and would seek forgiveness from God and from others, as appropriate, once the offender has become aware of the offense. The object here is to seek amendment of life for the offender and restoration of relationships that have been threatened between the two persons involved. The welfare of the Body of Christ is protected as well, for divisions within the body are healed before further harm can occur.
3. Having begun with the smallest number of persons, Jesus now says that, if the initial encounter between the two principle parties has not met with success, then two or three witnesses are to be brought along so as to confirm the evidence against the offender. Jesus’ principle here comes straight out of Jewish law, where at least two or three witnesses were required to establish the guilt of a person (see Deuteronomy 19: 15). Hopefully, then, the offender will repent of his sin. Notice that Jesus has enlarged the circle of those who know about the matter at hand, but only slightly.
4. If this intermediate step does not solve the problem, then the Church is to be brought into the matter. We should pause here for just a moment to notice Matthew’s use of the word “Church”. His is the only gospel account to use this word, which is taken from the Greek (ekklesia). The Greek word refers to those who have been “called out” (its literal meaning). Applied to the Body of Christ, this word has come to mean those who have been called out of the world into a new relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In Matthew’s understanding, it is the entire body which is the final authority to “bind and loose”, that is, to declare what is acceptable and what is not, within the body.
It
is also worth noting that, in Matthew’s gospel account, there is no hierarchy
of Church leadership which is to make decisions about matters of discipline. The entire body acts as the authority as
Matthew presents Jesus’ teaching to us.
Matthew’s understanding of Jesus’ teaching is that every member of the
Church has a role to play in the leadership of the Body of Christ, each one
responsible to the Father as the model of Christ is followed.
It seems
that there are two aims:
1. To protect the Body of Christ from the
effects of sin and wrongdoing.
Sometimes,
parts of the Body of Christ (the Church) have focused on the first of the two
goals in the disciplinary process, to the exclusion of the second goal. Some Church groups have practiced “shunning”
whereby a person is to be avoided by members of the Church. Other Churches have formal procedures for
“excommunication” from the group.
But the
Church is also called to seek amendment of life among those who seem to have
gone astray, and seeking such amendment is to be done on a continuing basis. At
least that’s the impression I get from Jesus’ own example. Noticing that the Lord says that the offender
is to be treated like a “Gentile and a tax collector”, we can see (especially
with the latter category) that Jesus continually sought out the tax collectors,
offering them His love, first of all, and also the opportunity for amendment of
life and a wholesome and holy relationship with the Father.
May the
Holy Spirit enable us to lead holy and wholesome lives, may we seek to do no
wrong to a neighbor, may we seek to enable others so to live, as well.
AMEN.
