The Labor of Living with Sinners

Jesus is at his most challenging in Matthew 18: 15-20. It would be easier if we read his Rule as a "how-to" step-by-step procedure for dealing with sinners within our community. But it's so much more than this. It's a mandate for restoring relationships with the community that we call the Body of Christ. To make our way carefully through this demanding, difficult process for confronting and addressing conflict, we first are challenged to understand Jesus' terminology and his context:

• "Member of the church" (verse 15) means that the sinner is part of our family.
• How to define "sin"? I like Rev. Richard Aguilar's broadening of sin as missing the mark: "misguided beliefs and misdirected behavior. A miss in life! Miss the boat. Miss the bus. Miss the Appointment. Miss the ball. Miss the shot. Misunderstand. Miscommunicate." ("Day One," 8/31/11).
• To confront someone as an act of discipline is not to punish a family member, but to restore that person back into the family. Discipline, correctly used, has the same root as disciple. So discipline is most productively used to teach and restore to truth with wisdom and love.
• "Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector" is a phrase that has been traditionally used to cast out a sinner who rejects repentance and turning away from sin. However Jesus ate with Gentiles and tax collectors. Jesus says that those we consider last will be first in the kingdom. I believe Jesus admonishes us to try, try again to restore that one who has broken relationship back into relationship - much more demanding of our patience and perseverance, as we're reminded in the immediately following verses to forgive 77 times.
• Jesus once again uses the phrase "binding and loosing" - our authority as a community to heal and reconcile.
• And Jesus concludes with the promise of his presence "when two or three are gathered in my name." This is a powerful promise that Jesus will be with us in the midst of conflict and will be an agent of reconciliation when we include him in the process. Gathered in Jesus' name means we meet face to face, talk candidly, and listen with love because Jesus' honor and worth are involved when we invoke his name.

So what difference does it make whether we go to the trouble of reconciling ourselves with those who have offended us or have caused great pain within the community we call our church? The church is distinct from other organizations to which we belong primarily because we gather in Christ's name. Because we are together in Christ, we can expect our church to be a place of healing and a place of grace. While it is God's grace that we seek, it is our labors of love on this Labor Day weekend that facilitate the possibilities of God's grace (freely given) to weave reconciliation throughout the Body of Christ.

Why would anyone want to be a Christ-follower?

Immediately after being blessed by Jesus as the rock upon which Jesus will build his church, Simon Peter is scolded/rebuked by Jesus - "Get behind me, Satan!" Wow- what a reversal!

How and why has Peter stumbled? Read Matthew 16: 21-28. The question to us is, "How do we identify with disciple Peter with our own stumbling blocks?"

Do we struggle with pride, busy-ness, a consuming desire for financial security, the need to achieve to prove ourselves, laziness or apathy, addictions to alcohol or the internet or sex or drugs, fear of the unknown, an egotistical thirst for power or strength, fear of being vulnerable to others, a desire to avoid all suffering......the list of stumbling blocks is endless.

Jesus challenges us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. Many interpret this as a burdensome call to martyrdom and masochism. But Jesus' way is a way of love and joy. He calls us to turn outward TOWARD the world, looking for our passions in the ways we can serve others. These stumbling blocks work as barriers, not only separating us from Jesus, but also separating us from the abundant life that accompanies those who work toward the kingdom of God being realized bit by bit here on earth. To partner with Jesus is to claim a vision of hope in the final victory which Jesus has already won. We don't have to repeat the crucifixion. We're called to trust in the resurrection.

May God give you countless opportunities to recognize the faith-filled way to love and truth in which you serve others when you counter hunger, homelessness, and hopelessness in the place you are today.

True Confessions

Who do people say that Jesus is? Who do YOU say that Jesus is? Jesus confronts us with these 2 questions in Matthew 16: 13-20. If pressed to speak other people's understandings of Jesus, do you think they might see Jesus akin to modern prophets such as Martin Luther King or Gandhi? More importantly, if you have to confess who Jesus is, would you speak from your perspective as man/woman; teacher/student; father/mother/grandparent/child; employer/employee/retiree; person of faith/person of little faith?

In our Matthew scripture, Peter moves beyond rational, intellectual, academic understandings to confess Jesus as Messiah, Son of the living God. Jesus blesses Peter as having received this revelation from God. Peter confesses who Jesus is out of his love for Jesus and his experience as a disciple walking alongside or behind Jesus.

As summer rhythms give way to fall routines, we too are challenged to answer this question as the touchstone for our faith - whether it's a strong faith or a faltering faith. When we are able to speak about Jesus and who he is in our lives, we speak genuinely and uniquely out of our experience. How we think about Jesus shapes who we are and how we make daily and more life important decisions. Rather than let others speak for us, we are invited to take responsibility for what we believe and what we value.

So...who do YOU say Jesus is?

The Response

You might have heard or read in the news about the Texas prayer rally hosted by Governor Rick Perry, held in Houston over the weekend, that attracted 22,000 people to pray for our nation and for all those “who had lost hope.” Our own Governor Brownback attended this rally, called “The Response,” and he quoted the Beatitudes to the people gathered there. An estimated 80,000 other people joined the rally via live-streaming on the Internet.

Read the Scripture from Psalm 133 and Matthew 15:21-28.

Now, you might be thinking, what an awesome display of Christian faith – all gathering together to pray! But the underreported story is that of the bigger event just a couple miles down the street at the Houston Convention Center, where 100,000 people gathered: “Some families camped out for hours to gain admittance into Houston’s first-ever, citywide back-to-school event at George R. Brown Convention Center, where free backpacks, school supplies, uniforms, haircut vouchers, immunizations, and fresh produce were provided.” (Read more here.)

Just miles between the two groups: one group proudly proclaiming their faith, as outside, thousands of people gathered to get basic needs for their family. Where do you think the church should be? With what group would Jesus be hanging out? There’s definitely a boundary in between the two.

With the Scripture today, we also have two groups: the Jewish men and the Canaanite woman. The Canaanite woman would probably be lining up at the Convention Center for basic needs. She was a triple outsider to the Jewish men because of her sex, ethnicity, and religious-cultural background. She wasn’t like them. She was different. And she crosses all those boundaries because of her faith and her love for her daughter. She doesn’t care about the social norms because she is in need of mercy. I imagine thousands of those getting school supplies and food in Houston were the same type of parents – willing to humble themselves by admitting their need in order to care for their children.

Does Jesus immediately reach out, offer healing, admire her boldness and her faith, heal her daughter, show her the mercy that she pleads for? She cries out as Peter did last week – “Lord, help me!” Jesus first ignores her. Then he calls her a dog. And then he praises her faith and declares her daughter freed from the demon.

Have you ever been called a dog? Have you ever, through your actions or thoughts, dehumanized someone and metaphorically called them a dog? Have you ever excluded someone from God’s love or God’s church? Have you ever been excluded?

As Psalm 133 exclaims, “How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!” Let’s unify thoughts and actions, prayer rallys and meeting people's real physical needs today. Let’s reach out to our sisters and brothers, no matter what social, racial, political, or socioeconomic boundaries we have to cross.

HELP!

When was the last time you asked for help? Was it for someone to mow your lawn? To pick up a book you dropped? Was it to watch your children? Or maybe you are someone’s “helper” – are you the one people go to for help? Do you ever get to ask for help yourself?

Our Scriptures this week come from Romans 10:5-15 and Matthew 14:22-33.

The Gospel is a story many people are familiar with – Jesus walking on water. A more surprising story title might be “Peter Walking on Water.” We know that Jesus is miraculous, the Son of God, the One who makes the impossible possible. But Peter? Peter denies Jesus. Peter doesn’t “get it”, time and time again. Peter makes mistakes, just like you and me. And yet Peter walks on water. Surely that is actually the miracle, that is actually the surprising and exciting part of the story!

Peter was probably feeling pretty good about himself – he escaped the terrifying boat and was doing what Jesus told him to. And then he started to slip. We’ve all been there before – tottering on a high ropes course, on the edge of getting our dream job, having a really good date, the cancer leaving. And then it just all goes wrong. We start to sink.

What do you do then? Do you cry out to Jesus for help? Do you call your mom or your son or your teacher or your pastor? Do you fake it, that everything is okay?

If you cry out, is there someone there to catch you? Is there someone there to hear your cry? Is there someone there to build you back up, to bring you back to the top of the water, to offer you salvation?

I invite you to rest in these questions the rest of this week. Do you think Trinity is a place to find salvation, help, the presence of Jesus, people to lift you back up? Do you think Trinity can be that place? How can we do better? What do we need to change?

Hope certainly lives in my heart – that salvation is near, that we can help each other, that we can respond to the call of Jesus in our lives.