Proper 18: Gospel, Matthew 18:1-20                              

Matthew 18:1-20

Matthew 18 is chock full of teaching from the lips of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel has five great discourses of Jesus which many commentators say mirror the five books of Moses. For our meditation today we are going to look at the final section of our reading, verses 15-20.

Do you remember as a kid never wanting to tell on someone? No one wants to be known as the neighborhood snitch or playground tattletale. Or perhaps it was just the opposite when an older sibling was the culprit of stealing a toy or giving a good black eye. Whatever direction from which you enter this dilemma, it is not a new one. (See Genesis 4:8ff) God calls us to be responsible for our brothers and sisters and in the church this is not an option.

God’s love includes keeping short accounts. With him. And by extension him teaching us to do the same with one another. Matthew 18 serves up the teaching of our Lord on family discipline, what some refer to as “church discipline.” But the focus is on the individual and here Jesus teaches us about true and loving care. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone” (18:15). A lesson crying out to be learned. Be open with brothers and sisters. If there is offense taken for anything, get it out on the table where the light of God’s forgiveness can sterilize. There’s an order to the process and if we break the chain at any point before completing the process, the broken link leaves a wound open for resentment and grounds for shattering the confidence of sin forgiven.

Talk to the offending brother or sister, says Jesus. Hopefully they will come clean and repent. If not, do not quit. Why does our Lord move us on to further the process? Because it mirrors his heart in his dealings with us. He keeps at it. So should we. Take a couple brothers with you this time and exert a bit more pressure in order that the heart would be so challenged that confession and restoration would send all away in joy. And if that doesn’t work, do not quit. Take the offender before the entire congregation and let the wound be opened to the larger community. Jesus, you can be sure, is praying from heaven that this will be the tipping point for the offending sinner. By the way, this is where many if not most Christian congregations let the ball drop. Our modern sensitivities of over sensitivity want to keep anyone from too much embarrassment. But no. Go ahead. Let a loving congregation cheer inside (and perhaps on the outside) as the offender repents. Jesus and the angels surely will.

And should that not suffice, do not quit. Simply turn the brother or sister out. Excommunication. Or outside of communion. But oh, joyous reality, even that is an element of redemptive love. The one originally offended wants the sinner back, the two or three taken as witness and the whole congregation wants him back. And most assuredly, the Lord wants to draw the sinner back with perfect love to make him whole once again. You see, to be my brother’s keeper should never be seen as a burden, except perhaps in carrying the burden of love. May we all gladly carry it together.