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.