Proper 18 -- Ezekiel 33: 1-11; Psalm 119: 33–40; Romans 12: 9-21; Matthew 18: 15-20
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at The
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Springfield, Illinois on Sunday, September 7, 2014.
“FOUR OBJECTS OF LOVE”
(Homily texts: Romans 12: 9–21 & Matthew 18: 15-20)
Non-Christians
in the very early years of the Church’s life often made this comment, when they
saw how Christians behaved: “See how
those Christians love one another!”
Love is the
essence of the Christian life. If we
think about it, we are called to focus our love on four different areas:
- God
- Other Christians (that is, those in the Church)
- The Church
- The world
Let’s
examine each of these focal points of our love, using our epistle reading and
our gospel reading for this morning as our guide, each in order:
God:
God’s love for us, made known in the person, life, teachings, suffering,
death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, forms the foundation of our
focus on God, and our ability to return God’s love. St. Paul states this truth quite well when he
says (in Romans 5: 8), “God proves his love for us in that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for us.” In its
purest form, the Christian life is essentially a love affair between God and
us. When God’s love is poured into our
hearts, we are given the ability to love others. The reason for this is that we do not deserve
God’s love, but He loves us anyway, in spite of ourselves. So as we have freely
received the wonderful gift of God’s love, we are called to share that same
gift with others.
Other Christians: The second focus of our love flows out of our
first love, the love of God. We are
called to love others who are of the household of faith, the body of Christ,
the Church. Turning to our epistle
reading for this morning, St. Paul seems to have our relationships with
brothers and sisters in Christ in view as he says, Let love be genuine.”[1] Then, he lists a number of things we ought to
do to foster close and loving relationships with others in the Church. He adds, “Hate what is evil, hold fast to
what is good; love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in
showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be
ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” (Verses 9–13).
That same,
deep concern for the welfare of other believers seems to lie at the heart of
the Lord’s teaching about Church discipline, as it is laid out for us in Matthew
18: 15 and following. Here, the Lord
addresses the matter of sin within the Church.
He says, “If another member of the church sins (against you),[2] go
and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained
that one.” Notice the process, which has
the welfare of the other individual paramount in importance: The interaction with the offending party is
to be a privately conducted affair.
Why? Perhaps the reason is that
the individual was not aware of his/her fault, and perhaps pointing it out
quietly might solve the problem, might prevent embarrassment, and might
forestall creating hard feelings among other Christians. It might also prevent other problems from
being created within the body of Christ.
So a deep and abiding concern for the welfare of the other person seems
to be a high priority for the Lord. Love
of the other is in view here.
The Church: It’s worth noting that Matthew is the only
gospel writer who uses the word “Church”.
He does so twice, in 16:18, and again here today’s passage, in verse
17. It is interesting, in light of this
fact, to note that Matthew’s gospel account often carries the nickname “The
Gospel for the Church”.
As the Lord
outlines the disciplinary process for a person who has sinned, a second step is
to take place, if the first, private encounter has failed to solve the
problem: The individual is to be
approached again, this time with two or three witnesses, who are to confirm the
interchange between the two persons. The
basis for this requirement lies in the Law of Moses, specifically in
Deuteronomy 19: 15. (Notice that the
circle of persons who know about the situation is getting wider.)
Finally, if
this second step also fails to remedy the situation, then the matter is to be
taken to the entire body, the Church.[3] Whatever decision they render is affirmed to
be God’s will, or, as the Lord puts it, “Whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Now, a
mystery confronts us, one I will attempt to explain, but will not attempt to
answer: The Lord says, that if the
offender refuses to listen to the Church, they are to be treated as a “Gentile
and a tax collector.” Some Christian
communities have taken this injunction to mean that the offender is to be
expelled from the fellowship of the Church, that is, to be excommunicated. But another possible meaning arises from the
Lord’s use of the words “Gentile” and “tax collector”: If we take the broad sweep of the Lord’s
behavior, it seems as though He was continually reaching out to just such
people, attempting to bring them into a relationship with God. So, we might allow ourselves to wrestle with
this a bit as we ask the Holy Spirit to unpack what the Lord intended by this
statement…..did He mean excommunication, or ongoing efforts at reconciliation?
The World: The focus of God’s love for is two-fold: It is focused on the individual, but it is
also focused on the world, and the people in the world.
The witness
of the Church to whom Matthew was writing was strengthened when its members
were united, loving one another, caring for one another. The world which watched Matthew’s Church
waited to see if being a Christian meant a different way to live.
That same
concern lies within St. Paul’s admonition in the latter part of our epistle for
this morning: He tells the Christians in
Rome that they are to: “Extend
hospitality to strangers, Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
them; Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep……If it is
possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave
room for the wrath of God…..no, if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they
are thirsty, give them something to drink….Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.”
Maintaining
peace within the Church is important, for when those in the Church are united
in love for one another, the Church’s witness to the world is strengthened. Divisions within the Body of Christ, whether
the divisions are within one congregation, or between different Christian
bodies, undermines the strength of the witness we offer to the world. We are called to set aside the ways by which
the world operates, and to live by God’s law of love.
After all,
the ways of the world are clear. The
world is plagued by distrust, hatred, and division. But God, in
Christ, calls Christians to demonstrate that there is a better, a higher
way to live. For we follow the One who
laid down His life for us, praying to His Father as He was being nailed to the
cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
May we,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, following the example of Christ, love God,
love one another, love the Church, and all for the sake of loving the world.
AMEN.
[1] The Greek word literally means “without
hypocrisy.”
[2] Some very good ancient manuscripts lack the
words “against you.” As a result, it is
difficult to ascertain what the Lord actually meant….did He mean that the sin
was a sin against another member of the Church, or was the sin any sort of grievous fault that would require correction?
I will let you live with that mystery.
[3] Matthew’s gospel account seems to have in
view a Church which has no distinctive, discernible leadership. The entire body seems to be the governing
body. No mention is made of any ordained
leadership anywhere in the text, and, at one point, Matthew records the Lord’s
statements to the effect that no one is to call anyone ‘Rabbi’, for you have
only one teacher, God; and no one is to call anyone ‘Father’, for you have one
Father, God in heaven. (A paraphrase of
Matthew 23: 8–9)
