Psalm 119:33–40
Romans 13:8–14
Matthew 18:15–20
Our gospel today is just so jammed packed full of good stuff that Jesus tells his disciples, you and me and all those that are members of the Christian church. The verses of 15-17 are key for resolving conflict but most specifically conflict with a fellow disciple. Not just a member of one’s own congregation but any and all believers.
It is fortunate that as Christians, we love one another so wholly, so fully, so completely that we never have conflict. Isn’t this great, because when we love one another, we fulfill the law, as it says in the reading from today, from Romans 13. I cannot speak for each of you, but as for myself, if I believe that I can love people all the time, no matter what, then I am standing up here telling a lie. It is difficult to love others, always, in all things.
When the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.“[1] He is speaking of Christ Jesus, and it is only in Christ we can love. Yet, even with that, we sin because we are human. We fail to lean upon the cross of Christ for our strength in all things, all the time, in all places. Therefore, none of us can claim that we can love all, always. Therefore we also will have conflict with our sisters and brothers in Christ.
So now what do we do? How do we resolve our conflicts? Verses 15-17 give us the way, in Jesus’ own words, of how this conflict is to be resolved, between fellow disciples. Go, meet with the person whom you believed has wronged you. Do this alone, not in public, not before witnesses but alone so that you can speak, and they might listen.
Just what is it to listen to someone? The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines listening as a verb and it is to:
Give one’s attention to a sound.
Respond to advice or a request.
Make an effort to hear something.[2]
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary further refines listen when it says;
To hear something with thoughtful attention, give consideration {listen to a plea}
Jesus tells us to give the person the opportunity to listen but if we are not listened to, we are to take one or two others along with us. Now this next part is really important and relies upon the definitions I have just given you. Then give the person that has wronged you, another opportunity to listen, thereby every word that is spoken can be confirmed, witnessed by the others present.
By the way, this does not mean to take people with you whom you have explained the “story” to. It does not mean to take those that will always agree with you. It means to take those that can be objective, and listen. Just as I defined earlier, take those that can listen to each of you. Failure to take those that can be objective, and are only on your side, would be known as triangulation. This does no one any good and only causes more harm.
Be prepared that when you take witness, ones that can listen, the outcome may not be as you suspect. Our perceptions can be clouded over by all sorts of things in our lives. What we have perceived as a wrong against us may not in fact be a wrong and maybe, just maybe we are in the wrong and that will be revealed too.
What if the person still refuses to listen to you? This is when we are told to take it to the church and let the church speak to the disciple who has sinned. If the disciple still does not listen, then we are to treat this person like a Gentile and a tax collector.
This last part takes some background to understand. Gentile was originally meant to refer to all nations, except the Jews. When Jesus is speaking these words, a Gentile would be considered a non-Jew. By the time of Jesus, It actually was considered as a social scorn akin to being called a tax collector.[3]
For us today, tax collector carries all sorts of baggage. When you hear of tax collector, you might think of the Internal Revenue Service. We all have experiences with or have hear about the IRS. That can color how we hear tax collector. To make it clear, a tax collector in the days of Jesus, often were known to collect more taxes than required and pocket the rest. They were seen as some of the lowest of the low, of all people.
Now, I hope you are thinking to yourself, did Jesus really tell us to consider the ones who do wrong to us, who would not listen to us, and the church, as some of the lowest of the low people? What about God’s love for all of humanity is Christ Jesus?
That’s just it; God came into this world not for the righteous. God took on flesh in the form of Jesus, both human and divine. He walked the earth, kept fellowship with the sinners and tax collectors. Jesus’ suffering, death upon the cross and resurrection is for all. This is for the ones that “believe” they are righteous and the ones who know they are not.
When Jesus respond’s in Matthew 22, to the question about the greatest commandant, He says; “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [4]
Paul reiterates what Jesus says in Romans when he writes; “… any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “[5] The second tablet, of the 10 commandments, are all commandments related to neighbor. All of these commandments can be accomplished when we love our neighbor as ourselves but that love cannot be accomplished without the Love of Jesus Christ who died for all upon the cross.
Without Jesus, nothing is possible but through Him all things are possible. With Jesus we can love one another, love our neighbor, who includes the tax collectors, and us, the Gentiles, who are non-Jewish. We can love even the lowest of the low.
[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Php 4:13.
[2] Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
[3] P. A. Blair, “Gentiles,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 405.
[4] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Mt 22:37–40.
[5] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ro 13:9.
I gotta hand it to you, Doug, you may me think about this passage in a light I’m not sure I’ve really considered before. “Treat them like the tax collectors I broke bread with and even died for.” Thanks for the insight.