Romans 13:8–14
Saint Matthew 18:15–20
In my former congregation we had a man who was difficult to say the least.
His family has been members since the cornerstone of the first building was put in place and no matter how sparse the crowd was he, his wife, and his children always occupied the very last pew of the church just like his father did.
He loved to read Scripture in worship and, when he did, he did it well. The only problem was that even though the text from the New Revised Standard Version was printed in the bulletin he always brought his own bible to the lectern which was the King James Version and caused some confusion to those who were not familiar with his proclivities.
These were minor matters but on other occasions his disruptive tendencies were more difficult to overlook.
During the week of Christian Unity the local Roman Catholic priest and I decided to preach and lead forums in each other’s churches.
When my parishioner saw Father Sakowitz coming down a narrow hallway toward him he turned on his heals and made an obvious show of going the other way. Clearly, he was not going to shake hands, or even acknowledge the presence of a Catholic priest in his Lutheran Church. I’m sure he believed that Father was not just a priest but a Papist.
The breaking point came when we were approached by a congregation of Korean Presbyterians about renting our building. They were good people, very kind, very friendly, very Christian.
Needless-to-say, my always cantankerous member was against it.
The usual reasons were put forth: Wear and tear, use of electricity, messing up the kitchen, etc. But he pushed it one step too far when he said, “I’ll never forgive them for what they did during the Korean War.”
As luck would have it I had just finished reading David McCullough’s very fine biography Truman and my last nerve had been worked. I shot back at the man in front of God, country, king, crown, and congregation. “The Korean War ended in July of 1953! That was six months before I was born and I’m old! Get over it!”
He never did.
I confess that my response was not in keeping with the words Jesus and Saint Paul have placed before us in today’s readings. So, as you listen to what I have to say remember that these words may be being spoken by the chief of sinners who needs to hear them the most.
I like to call Jesus admonitions “Evangelical Order” because they offer a careful and precise directions over what to do if a fellow believer hurts you or the community in some way.
Dr. Thomas G. Long, reminds us in his commentary on this passage:
Matthew has no romantic illusions about the church. He knows that the church is not all sweet thoughts, endlessly patient saints, and cloudless skies. In Matthew's church, people ‑‑ no matter how committed ‑‑ are still people, and stormy weather is always a possible forecast.1
The trouble for Matthew’s community is the same as it is for most churches today.
According to a study from Duke University “In 2012, the average congregation had only 70 regular participants, counting both adults and children”2 while “a huge church in Matthew's day included at the most 50 members. Their gatherings were much more like small family reunions -- maybe 20‑30 people. We can easily imagine how the actions or attitude of one family member could spoil the festive gathering for the rest.”3
In our deeply divided culture we know what these occasions can be like. We dread the thought of having a holiday, or even coffee, with family members who are on opposite ends of the political spectrum from us. Nothing is more unpleasant than sitting between an MSNBC loyalist and a FOX News aficionado.
And now, we can even be forewarned about just how unpleasant our anticipated encounter may be by following their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts. The only upside of knowing what might be in-store at the next gathering is that we can decide to use paper plates instead of the fine china just in case things get out of hand.
In this instance Jesus first instruction is particularly helpful.
While we may stew over what to do if one member of the clan shows up wearing “Make America Great Again” hat and another arrives sporting a Biden campaign button as big as their chest, Jesus suggests there might be a better way to handle the matter. Go and talk to the two parties involved privately. Tell them no buttons and no hats. Tell them that for one night at least your house with be for all people and therefore it will be a politics free zone.
Now I know this is easier said than done. It is very hard to go and tell a person face to face that what they do upsets you. As C.S. Lewis said once: “It is much easier to pray for a bore than to go visit him.”
One of my favourite people and preachers Judith Watt said in a sermon:
The process outlined is set up so that no one will be shamed. No one is to be called out in front of others. Go first, and speak privately about the offense. By implication, no one should be shamed by being talked about behind his or her back. The first step if you are hurt, or have been offended, is to talk to that other person privately. And if you aren’t heard, then to take a couple of people with you, not as people on your side, but instead ... for the purpose of being sure both you and the one who has offended you are hearing one another. The process is meant to lead both parties to greater knowledge, to lead both parties to growth and expansion, to lead both parties to a wider ability to love, to bigger hearts, to expanded understanding. When that happens, both people are preserved and the well‑being of the community is preserved.5
Restoration is the ultimate goal but Jesus is also a realist and he knows that some people will hold on to their grudges, their differences, their anger no matter what. They may be like my former parishioner and hold on to their anger for a lifetime.
If, after numerous attempts at restoration, they still refuse to be reconciled to a person or to the community, Jesus says, “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”6
Some of us believe that Jesus might have said this with a smile and a nod to the Gospel’s author who was standing right next to him at the time. It may have even made Saint Matthew laugh because before he met Jesus he was a tax collector.
Throughout his ministry Jesus “was a great friend to tax collectors (for which the pious ridiculed him), and the inclusion of Gentiles ... is at the heart of everything Christian. Dare we imagine Jesus giving a little wink,”7 in Matthew’s direction and Matthew laughing out loud as he made a point to remember what Jesus said and include it if he ever got around to writing all of this down.
When he heard Jesus refer to tax collectors Matthew may have thought back to his colleagues at the office still pouring over accounts and trying to finagle an extra nickel from their fellow citizens. He may have remembered the puzzled looks around the the place when he announced that he was giving it all up to take his life in a new direction by going on this adventure with Jesus. He may have even heard again in his mind them calling him a “loser” and wondering what was in it for him.
Matthew made sure to include this little encounter because he knew that lives could be changed when people met Jesus because his was!
Gentiles, tax collectors, sinners, and other ne’re-do-wells, were the objects of Jesus’ love and so are we. It’s called “forgiven grace” and it is where we all stand.
We bring nothing to Jesus and receive everything in return. “You did not choose me but I chose you.”7 he said once and then added. “And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last...”8 Our only task is to spread the love we have received around.
Saint Paul reminds us that we don’t owe each anything but to reflect the same love to others that we have been given by God. All the laws of God he says “are summed up in this one saying: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. Love hurts nobody: therefore love is the answer to the Law’s commands.”9
How different is that from the attitudes of our prevailing culture where, “Somebody hits me, I hit back harder” has become a mantra. Or, “if somebody hassles you, forget them. It’s their problem, not yours.”
Christians offer something greater to each other. The opportunity to become restored in Christ’s love and God’s grace.
Every week the Korean congregation that I mentioned earlier would have a light lunch after church. It was mostly soup and bread spiced up with some Kimchi on the side. The soup warmed our hearts while the Kimchi had most of us Anglos reaching for the antacids.
Every week they invited us all, every single one of us, including the member who couldn’t get over what happened in a war he did not serve. Every week while we had spent the hour it took them to worship drinking our coffee and conversing they would invite us down to fellowship hall for lunch and many of us accepted except, as you might have guessed, the man who decided to keep nursing a grudge from a lifetime ago.
Had he made the effort he may have discovered something.
He would have discovered that many of them fled their country during the war in fear for their lives. He would have even discovered that some had fled North Korea after suffering years of religious oppression. He would have discovered that the people who couldn’t forgive were as committed Christians as he believed himself to be. He would have discovered that he had more in common with his Korean brothers and sisters than he had ever imagined.
But instead, he made himself an outsider. Instead he rejected the fellowship they offered. He couldn’t accept that they too had been embraced by Christ’s love and been restored in him. He never understood because he refused to understand that God’s forgiving grace was so broad that it even reached out to individuals and groups he disliked. God’s forgiving grace was so wild and untamed that it even included Roman Catholic priests and Korean Presbyterians.
Every day of our lives the choice is put before us.
It is a tougher choice than we ever might have imagined because it asks us to not only accept God’s forgiving grace for ourselves but to understand that this very same grace, love, and forgiveness is being extended to others, even those people we do not particularly like.
As my pastor friend, Judy Watt observed, “We ought to remember that what makes a church a church is presence of so many troublesome people.”10
You, me, everybody has that potential to be a troublemaker, but we also have the potential to be people who reflect God’s forgiveness, grace, and love in our lives.
Now, all we have to do is figure out what kind of of person we will be, today, tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of our lives. May God help us as we not only try to figure this out but to live this out.
1. Thomas G. Long, Matthew (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), p. 209.
2. Mark Chaves and Allison Eagle, “Religious Congregations in 21st Century America,” n.d.
3. Brian Stoffregen, “Matthew 18.15‑20 Proper 18 ‑ Year A,” Matthew 18.15‑20, accessed September 4, 2020, http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt18x15.htm.
4. C. S. Lewis, Prayer: Letters to Malcolm (London: Fount, 1998).
5. Judith Watt, “Protecting Community” 8 A.M. Worship. Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. (September 10, 2017).
6. St. Matthew 18:17. (NRSV) [NRSV=The New Revised Standard Version]
7. James Howell, “What can we say September 6? 14th after Pentecost” James Howell's Weekly Preaching Notions (blog) (Myers Park United Methodist Church, July 1, 2020), http://jameshowellsweeklypreachingnotions.blogspot.com/.
8. St. John 15:16. (NRSV)
9. Romans 13:8-10. (PHILLIPS) [PHILLIPS=J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English: a Translation (London: William Collins Sons & Co., 1960).
10. Watt, op. cit.
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