This section of the Gospel from which we have read this morning (Chap.18) is known as Jesus’s instructions on “Church discipline”. So it does not sound like a lot of fun, and on top of that, it does not seem to make much sense with what have been talking about in those two past weeks: Peter acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, and then Jesus revealing to his disciples what being the Messiah actually means: being the one who will be put to death by the religious leaders. Our lectionary actually skips a whole chapter (Chap. 17) and so it can be a bit of a shock that after having dealt with very spiritual matters, talking about Jesus’s divinity, mission and sacrifice, we end up today with what seems like very down to earth church business.
So how are we to understand that?
Well, first of all, let’s remember that as Peter acknowledges Jesus’s divinity, Jesus puts Peter in charge of the church, which may or may not be the institutional church. At this point the Greek “Ekklesia” only means “Community”. Jesus having in mind his death, Resurrection and ascension is certainly concerned about the way people are going to organize themselves and carry on his message, so church business at this point is anything but trivial. As Jesus announced it to Peter, the community will be now representing Jesus to the world.We find again in Matthew (for the second time) this expression: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven“. If you remember, we talked about how binding and loosing were matters of interpreting the law (What is “binding”, mandatory, and what can be “loosed”, let go off). What I didn’t have time to explain two weeks ago is that some translators think that the way the English renders the Greek is not accurate, a literal translation would be: “Whatever you bind on earth will be what has been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be what has been loosed in heaven” and it makes much more sense, does not it? It is not the church that decides what happens in heaven, rather, the church should manifest, incarnate on earth what God’s will is in heaven. We can be reminded here of the Lord’s prayer: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. But back to our text now, we understand here that Jesus wants his church, his community of followers to be an example of forgiveness and strive for reconciliation between its members. This is not just down to earth business, manifesting forgiveness and seeking reconciliation is actually manifesting, incarnating God’s will on earth and this is the sense of all of Jesus’s mission.
Now how does this happen?
Well, again, we have to understand that it is just not about church business because otherwise we would downplay the real meaning of the text. For example, many commentators say that this passage we have just heard is about conflicts, differences of opinions, or maybe hurt feelings, all things that are bound to happen in a community. Well, certainly. But Jesus speaks about “sin” and I don’t think conflicts or hurt feelings may enter in this category. Actually, the beginning of Chap. 18 is all about how Jesus sternly warns the disciples about scandalizing or abusing the little ones among themselves. At the beginning of Chap. 18, Jesus asks the disciples to be humble as children and then: “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depths of the sea” (v.6) and then “If your hand or foot cases you to stumble, cut it off” (v.8) and then again “Take care that you do not despise one of those little ones” (v.10). So this is very serious matter and remember that, at this point, Jesus is really mad at religious leaders who are condemning his person and his ministry. So again, Jesus is not talking about difference of opinions or hurt feelings, Jesus is talking about misuse of power, spiritual abuse, that can take many forms: sexual abuse, financial abuse or even emotional abuse, sexism, racism and so on. And I think we all know what a mess the church has gotten itself into concerning these matters and what a terrible job we have done dealing with that. Worst of all, we have done a terrible job with that in the name of forgiveness: The evil that happens in the church is often swept under the rug, “because we have to be forgiving people”, “because Jesus has said so”.
Well now, this is really not Jesus what Jesus is saying, is it? Jesus asks his disciples to confront evil that happens in the community and to do it concretely, by confronting the ones who sin and by holding them accountable. Mind you, again, this is not about being the “morality squad”, as the text has often been interpreted, especially at the time of the Reformation. This isn’t about judging people’s lifestyle. This is about the very specific actions some church members take or maybe the words that harm and/or endanger people in the community. The church needs to be proactive about people using the community to their own advantage and to meet their own needs. The first line of the text reads: “If a member of the church sins against you” but it has to be noted that a lot of manuscripts do not mention “against you“, so there is an ambiguity as to decide if Jesus only asked the offended to take matter in their own hands or if it is for everybody to feel responsible when they notice something wrong, an ancient version of our “If you see something, say something“. I would go with the later. In any case, forgiveness is not cheap in the Gospel, evil needs to be confronted, sin needs to be dealt with. But there is another side to it: Looking for ways to first talk with the person individually, and then involving two or three witnesses before involving the whole community, Jesus invites his disciples to proceed with gentleness, looking to correct the offender and offering them a chance to amend themselves, rather than shaming and condemning people.
So you may notice there is really a balance: We have to be realistic and to take action with offenders, but it not cancel culture either. The church community should always aim to correction if the offender is repentant and then forgiveness and reconciliation. What I would like us to notice and to understand is that that’s another way in which Jesus’s teaching is counter cultural today. Jesus’s teaching is first counter cultural because often we prefer to ignore evil rather than to have to deal with it, to confront it, but Jesus’s teaching is also counter cultural because, on another side, we also prefer to condemn people and exclude them rather trying to lead them to repent and change their behavior so they can still be part of our communities. Wisdom and actually the Spirit of the Gospel is in this in-between, where we can be in the same time gentle and firm, honest and discreet, indulgent and yet holding people accountable. I think the key is that Jesus was very aware of people’s shortcomings but he was also very aware that we have the ability to repent and to change. Actually, this is the basis of all of Jesus’s ministry: calling to repentance, calling people to turn back to God. (Actually if you read Mark’s Gospel, you will notice that he never develops Jesus’s teaching, all he says is that Jesus “(…) preached repentance”). There is an awareness of the depths of our sin, but even deeper than that there is also an awareness that people are meant for God. We hear so often these days that people can’t change, right? But being a Christian is all about believing that people can change, if they are willing the church should also provide this space for them while making sure, first thing, that vulnerable people are safe.
So this is very realistic isn’t it? Jesus acknowledges that there is sin in the church and we have to deal with it (it’s not just a “nobody is perfect” kind of thing). The church isn’t pure, because we are not there yet, but the meaning and mission of the church is lost if we don’t understand that we are meant to build each other up and to hold each other accountable for our actions when they cause harm, whether intentionally or not. And this is really hard work. It’s so much easier to either ignore evil doers or to just condemn them. And yet I think this is where our passage really connects with what we have talk about last week: Jesus puts the cross at the center of his mission. Loving, forgiving, amending is going to cost us, there is no easy way. Which takes this matter of “church business” to a whole new level of spirituality: Our spirituality is not something that happens in our heads, when we have a nice walk at sunrise or meditate at home, all things that are certainly encouraged but yet: Spirituality is really about the way we treat each other and the way we grow with each other, the way we strive to love each other. There is a quotation I love that says: “If you think you’re enlightened, go spend three days with your family”. And it is true isn’t it? It’s when we are together with others that we realize what’s really inside of us and it’s not always pretty. And yet, Jesus promises that this is right there that he is standing with us in the church: “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them“, doing the hard work of seeking agreement and reconciliation.