Sermon for September 18, 2017
Proper 18A – RCL – Track 1
Jesus said, “If another member of the church
sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If
the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 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. If the member 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.
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. 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. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there
among them.”
Today’s Gospel reading is hard.
Especially ff we read it in a very rule centric way. Then
it seems about how to exclude people.
It seems like a way to remove people from the community of God. And to tell you the truth I was initially
dismayed when I read it this week. This
has been a good week and a hard week at the same time. Good because Friday was my last day in my
office and my retirement starts on Wednesday.
Bad because we have had to invoke a health care directive for a friend
and make care decisions – and sometimes dealing with healthcare issues can be
trying. So I really did not want a hard
gospel reading today.
David Lose, a preacher I follow helped put this in perspective
for me. He asks if this is about rules
or about community. Is this about
excluding folks or finding ways to include.
Perhaps this set of “rules” is about community building and not about
expulsion. And perhaps it is our own sin
that allows us to read this as a neat little rule-book on getting rid of people
who we don’t like.
After reading what comes before in Matthew’s Gospel and what
comes after it I really do not think it is right to read it as a way to
exclude. We need to read it as a way to
include. The passage just before this in
Mathew we hear Jesus saying that there is joy in heaven when a lost soul is
found and just after this passage Jesus blows Peter’s mind – again! – by
telling him that we need to forgive people not once, not twice not seven times
but 70 times seven times. In other words
our work is one of forgiveness and not judgment.
So how can we unpack this gospel as one that builds up
community? One of the sins that we as a
society have is that of talking about people, both individually or as groups,
instead of talking directly to them. We
are quick to react to a Facebook post or a rumor about someone and judge that
person as being evil or incompetent, or lazy.
It is far too easy to demonize people we don’t talk to. So perhaps this set of rules is a command to
actually approach and talk to someone rather than judge them behind their
backs. And if we have trouble talking to
them then we should bring some folks with us.
Not to gang up on them but to help us understand as a community a
behavior that seems out of place.
We don’t know what another person or group of people are going
through. I don’t know all about what
causes people to be homeless. I do know
from talking with some of our homeless community that there are many factors
including the insane cost of housing in California that put people on the
streets. I do know that people judge
people who have been in prison – even if they have fully served their time and
are not on parole. I do know that people
with mental health issues are judged by society as if their illness was their
own fault. When instead society is just
as culpable for not providing health care – including mental healthcare to our
wounded and hurting members.
So perhaps instead of judging this gospel lesson is about talking
to people. Listening to what is
happening in their lives. Trying to
understand what is going on. Listen
before judgment.
And of course, sometimes we do have to finally draw a line and
say that some behavior is unacceptable.
We do have to provide for the safety of others. But excluding someone should be the
exception.
And if that happens then this lesson says we should treat them as
a Gentile and a tax collector. As an
outsider and one who society as a whole despised. Which I actually find funny
because who did Jesus hang out with and listen to and work into positions of
leadership. None other than outcasts,
sinners, and tax collectors.
So one way to read this gospel lesson is to talk to people who
are bugging us. Talk to people who have
offended us in one way or another. And
if that doesn’t work talk to them in community. If an intervention into the bad
behavior doesn’t work. Then what. Set
some ground rules. Treat them as our
neighbors and work to provide ministry to them and forgive them.
And that is hard work. As
I said it is much easier to post something on Facebook, react to someone else’s
post, than it is to talk to the offender.
It is easier for us to categorize people by groups – the homeless, the
mentally ill, the GLBT, the democrats, the republicans, etc. than it is to talk
to people before we react.
Our society today is extremely reactive. We react to the divided and polarized nature
of our world with vigor and emotionally – and hopefully we are reacting to the
policies that exclude and not necessarily to people who are enacting the
polices. Our energy is best spent when
we can work to change policies without demonizing the other. Our energy is best spent when we stand by
people who others want to exclude and who society wants to remove.
I personally am fearful for those who could get deported because
of a policy decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program
or DACA. Which could see young people
who are productive members of society.
Young people who have followed the rules - had background checks,
registered with immigrations officials and paid a fee could be expelled.
These young people are facing an uncertain future and could get
deported to their “home” country – a country that is not their home and in fact
is likely quite foreign to them. Not
because of who they are individually or actions that they individually have
taken but because our society is fearful of foreigners. I don’t understand it. It is like some people think all immigrants –
and particularly those who have come to this country without permission are
terrorists. When in fact many people come to perform jobs that others in this
country do not want to perform. I read
this week that central valley grape growers are having to switch to mechanical harvesting
because they are having trouble finding labor.
And yet our government has for years refused to acknowledge the
realities of this important labor force and find ways to regularize it – to use
a perfectly good bureaucratic term.
This passage really is not about rules for excluding. It is about
rules for building up a beloved community.
It is about recognizing that all of us from time to time are prickly and
can cause others to be upset. This is
about talking to people and reconciliation.
Jesus tells us that not only is it important for our communities but it
is cosmically important too. When we
bind or loose, when we remove people we should remember that God cares. If we recognize that it is about more than
our own feelings, and that God cares and wants nothing more than to build the
beloved community here - than perhaps, just perhaps, we will work harder at
building community instead of tearing down community.
Both the reading of this text in context with what becomes before
– Jesus saying that heaven rejoices at the return of one who was lost, and the
next bit which commands us to forgive with radical abundance is summed up by
Paul in our Epistle reading today “Owe no one anything, except to love one
another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments,
“You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You
shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love
your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love
is the fulfilling of the law.”
Today’s gospel reading is hard.
And it is hard because it takes work to really build up a
community. And it takes more work to
fulfill the law and love all of our neighbors – even the outsiders and tax
collectors of our own day. It is hard to
build relationships and it takes work.
And sometimes it does even take rules about behavior that will cause us
to remove someone for a season.
If we can truly follow the command to reach out to the lost and
to provide radical forgiveness then we can build God’s beloved community
here. And when we build that community
we will be able to be change agents in a society that is dearly in need of Love
and reconciliation.
Amen.
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