Reconciled

Proper 18

Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

This morning’s gospel includes on one level the very best advice we have on conflict resolution. The basic principles of going first to the person directly, then involving two or three witnesses, then taking it to the community make perfect sense in any context. That’s truly helpful because we are so regularly in conflict. Let’s face it, people are very difficult to get along with – not you, of course, but those other people. You know who they are.

The conflict could be within our families, in our workplaces, our neighborhoods or really in any context. The idea of trying to work it out first one-on-one saves everyone trouble, and avoids any embarrassment as well. Including two or three witnesses also keeps it pretty well contained, and helps to ensure that people are hearing each other clearly. Finally, taking it to the community as a last step offers a chance for the issue to be finally resolved.

But this isn’t solely about conflict in general, Jesus is speaking specifically about conflict within the Church, the community of faith formed to be a witness to him. And Jesus himself is instructing us, building upon principles that are already in the Law of Moses.

Please note that in this context, there is no uncertainty about what is wrong. This isn’t a matter of two people trying to work something out with different perspectives and opinions and so forth. Someone has sinned against someone else, and therefore against God also. There is a clear opportunity.

The first instruction is to “go.”  That means we must take the initiative to bring whatever the issue is to light. That may be the hardest part of this whole passage, depending on your personality. Some of us like to avoid conflict, some of us are perfectly comfortable speaking candidly. Some of us just want to keep the peace above all else. Whatever our preferences, he said “go.”

If the person won’t listen, Jesus says to get two or three witnesses, just as prescribed in The Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 19:15). That increases accountability, while also making sure it’s not a personal grudge. If that doesn’t work, we are to take it to the community and be willing to remove them, to ex-communicate them.

We may not feel comfortable taking any of these steps, but as we heard God say through Ezekiel this morning, “If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.” In other words, God says, “Speak up - or else.”

But to do that for the Lord, we must approach the conversation with his right heart. Turn to Leviticus 19:17-18. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Now we see the context of “love your neighbor as yourself”! When someone sins against us, they have sinned against God. Our primary goal and purpose is to help repair that break to actively pursue their reconciliation to God. As Jesus says, to regain them; not merely to have an issue resolved.

Even that last step of putting them out of the community is meant to be done in love. What did Jesus do with tax collectors? He ate with them. Matthew himself was a tax collector and Jesus called him into leadership. What did he do with Gentiles who approached him? He healed them or those they loved. Removing someone from the community is a means to pressure them into seeing the error of their ways so that they can repent. It’s the same principle as a time out for a child.

This is precisely what God has done and is doing with all of us and anyone who repents and seeks reconciliation to him through Jesus. He holds us accountable, calling us to repentance, which leads to forgiveness and reconciliation with him. This is how he draws people into his kingdom, one by one. We all have to acknowledge our sin and sinful nature, repent and by his grace and mercy be restored to him.

Jesus is delegating some of his authority to his followers so that we can be incorporated into his mission. Jesus always spoke the truth. He never wavered from telling anyone the truth, not his followers, not the religious authorities, not Pilate when he was about to be crucified. Undergirding the truth, every word of it, was his love and heartfelt desire to draw people away from the pain of sin and death and into new life in him.

What we bind on earth is bound in heaven. What we loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Our authority must always be aligned with Jesus’ will. He remains the final judge, but we are to do our best to faithfully represent him.

By the time Paul wrote to the church in Rome, he had spent decades planting churches and watching Christian communities struggle with conflict—with one another, with other churches, and sometimes with Paul himself. He had learned through experience what Jesus was teaching his disciples: communities are held together not by everyone agreeing about everything, but by the love of Christ shaping how we treat one another.

Now, nearing the end of his life he is writing to a church he has never met in person and he is sharing with them the sum total of all he has learned in his decades of faithfully following Jesus through all the challenges and hardships he has faced himself and for others.

It all comes down to, “Owe no one anything except to love one another.” Love may mean confronting sin. Love may mean speaking a difficult truth when silence would be easier—and hearing a difficult truth when everything in us wants to defend ourselves.

Think of all the strife, pain and suffering that would be eliminated in this world if people simply loved their neighbors as themselves, not just in acts of charity but in confronting the exploitation and cruelty that manifests and drives so much evil.

We are his witnesses. When as few as two or three at a time, or as many as gather in his name, he is with us! When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well he told her that the day was coming and now is here when the true worshippers would worship in spirit and in truth.

That is where Jesus calls his Church to live. In truth, because love cannot ignore sin. In love, because truth without love cannot restore. Wherever we seek truth and love together, Jesus promises us something extraordinary: He is with us.

Speak the truth in love, and never waver on either.

He is with us!

AMEN!