St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20
Matthew 18:15–20
15 “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
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Divine Mediation
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As you know, I have recently returned from some time off on my home soil. It does good stuff to me. I can achieve a level of recuperation – a verb that Gail loves to say – and recharge that does not happen anywhere else – I am beginning to understand all the reunions that happen every Labor Day celebration here in Toluca. People love to return here. Some of us may not have such a connection with our places of birth. That is absolutely fine. I am certain some reasons must be respected. Nonetheless, I guess the more positive one’s relationship is with our home soil, the more emotional restoration one experiences. I will put a pin on the magic of home soil for now. This is not what the sermon is about, but it is an introduction to things yet to come.
So, as part of this recuperation process, I love to walk through the streets of the neighborhood where I grew up. It brings a lot of good memories. It is mostly the same after all these years. Some stores and bakeries have changed ownership. Some new ones have opened. However, the condominium buildings and the houses are unchanged for the vast majority. Some big mansions have been turned into banquet venues. Some streets have been gated for security reasons. However, the local country club was still there.
I have such wonderful memories of that club. It is kind of different down in Brazil in general. A recreation association may be called a “country club,” but that does not mean your parents must be super wealthy to be members. At that time, any middle-class family could afford a membership to a social club and have access to playgrounds for kids, swimming pools, gymnasiums, tennis courts, basketball and volleyball courts, soccer fields, clubhouses, etc. They did have a code of conduct, and one could be expelled from the club. So, most people would abide by it, which made for a safe and bummer-free zone for members and their families. We could just relax and have fun. It was like a sanctuary protected from the troubles of this world. Nothing like the faith communities of Jesus’ time, or our time, for that matter.
Let’s get something clear right out of the bat. Jesus came because we are broken. In Matthew 9, verse 13, he said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” So, if he called and we answered. If we are sitting here. Then, there you have it.
A community of sinners made saints only by the Love of Christ will often face conflict because sinners are bound to sin against one another. It is not only the flagrant and intentional aggression towards another person. On the one hand, turf wars, and patronizing are ways to establish power and rob the other person of voice. On the other, there is the hurt we cause without realizing. They are also hurtful. They break trust and affect our ministry for Christ. We can say silent treatments are often meant to hurt someone, usually in retaliation because we felt hurt. Furthermore, passive, as we know, may also be aggressive. We sin against our neighbor because of the things we do and because of the things we don’t do.
And here are some of the things we often don’t do. We often don’t say, I am sorry. That shows weakness. That is to be meek – except the meek are supposed to inherit the Earth. Also, we usually do not allow someone to say, I am sorry. We want to show strength, power, and righteousness because it makes us feel better than others. We want to hold the perceived moral high ground. Except we cannot make ourselves righteous. Only Jesus can.
It was probably the same in Jesus’ times. So much so that he provides his disciples with this formula to mediate and resolve conflict among them. Jesus could see this coming. The passage we heard today from Matthew is part of a long discourse in chapter 18 after the disciples asked who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I suspect Jesus expected some elbow power among his faithful followers. A well-placed elbow can be devastating, right?
I am trying to say, beloved children of God, that the ministry of the church of Jesus of Nazareth will never be a protected, bummer-free zone. It was not meant to be a social club in the first place. Case point: the transfiguration. This is awesome; let us make dwelling places here. No, this is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him. The ministry is not up here; it is down there amid the broken.
There was a time when I understood Jesus’ promise of being with us when we gather in his name to be only when we meet with an overall joyful mindset that places him as our center and top priority. This is absolutely still true. We have experienced it. That is why we insist and persevere, hoping to become what Jesus expects of us. But this is not what he is promising here.
Paul wrote in Romans, chapter 5, verse 8, that “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” So what Jesus is saying is that he promises to remain with us in our brokenness, in our unrighteousness, in our wickedness, in our inability to love God above all things, and the neighbor as ourselves. He is here sitting with us, listening, watching, teaching, and redeeming until we quit dying by taking life away from each other. Jesus will remain with us until we turn around, follow him, and live. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 