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Matthew 18: 15–20
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your name. Amen.
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Last week, when I realized that this passage on church discipline was
our gospel passage for this morning, my heart sank. Who wants to
think about “church discipline” on an otherwise bright,
sunny morning in September? I certainly didn’t, so I
began looking at the alternative texts, the Old Testament reading and
the Epistle. But they weren’t any more cheerful. The
Lord’s word to the prophet Ezekiel, with its dire warnings to the
wicked in the Temple community, was hardly uplifting. And
Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome was also full of warnings
against activities he called “works of darkness.” Church
discipline, evidently, was everywhere. I couldn’t avoid it.
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What I hadn’t yet seen was why Matthew had included this passage
on church discipline in his gospel. Nor had I yet looked at how he
had framed it. And when I looked at both of those details, a much
more appealing picture of church discipline finally emerged.
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You see, Matthew was writing his whole Gospel account, sometime around
the year 85 AD., for the benefit of Jewish Christians whose whole world
had suddenly collapsed. Roman forces had just destroyed
Jerusalem – completely — and had begun persecuting any
Christian sects they could find. And Jewish believers, who had
initially welcomed new Christians and Christian refugees from Rome into
their synagogues, were now much less friendly. In fact, all too
often they were betraying these newcomers to the Roman guard. So,
the Jewish Christian believers now desperately needed to know who they
were and how they were to conduct themselves. Were they to continue
as a special sect within Judaism, or were they now, simply
Christians? And if they were Christians, what did that
mean? How were they to conduct themselves? How were
they to handle the animosity they suddenly found all around them?
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Matthew addresses these questions by showing the special care Jesus
takes for people he calls “little ones,” these new believers
who were now feeling small and vulnerable. He’s like a
gardener caring for small seedlings. At the moment, they are
growing — green and lovely. But their roots haven’t had
time to extend far into the ground – so drought, weeds, or too
much sun could easily do them in. In other words, Jesus understands
that these new believers need special care if they’re even to survive.
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So, just a few verses before our reading today, in the eighteenth
chapter of the gospel of Matthew, he makes the older, more experienced
believers around these new–to–the–faith believers
their caretakers. Then he warns those caretakers – in no
uncertain terms — how they are to treat the new believers.
“Don’t even think,” he tells them, “of placing
an obstacle in the way of these little ones’ growing faith. In
fact, don’t do anything that would cause them to
stumble – or it will mean Big Trouble for you – with me.”
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Finally, to drive his point home, Jesus tells them the parable of the
lost sheep – the sheep the shepherd searches for until he finds
it and can bring it home to safety. When Luke tells this same
parable he makes it clear that Jesus is the caring shepherd in the
story. But in Matthew’s telling of the parable, it’s
clear that he’s holding the older and wiser church members, the
ones already mature in their faith, responsible. They are the ones
Jesus is counting on to go out searching for the lost lamb, the one
who’s too fearful or confused to find her way home.
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And somehow, looking at this passage through Jesus’ compassion for
these little ones, these new–to–the–faith ones,
changed the whole tone of it for me. Once I realized that the
offender in this account of church discipline might be someone young
and fragile in her faith — and that the rescuing shepherds could
be people from her own congregation – then the whole passage
suddenly became a story of merciful pastoral care – rather than a
cut–and–dried account of church discipline. Someone
has said something hurtful, endangering relationships in this
church. But older, wiser ones come to help her correct her
mistake and find her way back into fellowship. It is, after all,
a story of redemption for the little ones, the ones whose faith is yet
weak. And that changed the whole picture for me.
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Now, Matthew might have been writing his whole Gospel for the benefit of
young, persecuted Jewish Christians in the year 85 AD, but his point of
view certainly has relevance for us today. For in our day, too,
many who come to us are uncertain of their faith, uncertain about how to
live it out. Some weren’t raised in church at all. Others
had a less than positive experience in whatever church they were raised
in, so they haven’t been back for years. So, many of the
people who come to us are also “little ones,” new believers
in the faith.
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But with God’s help, here at All Angels, we welcome them all
in. And slowly – by gentle example, by preaching and
teaching the Word, and by table fellowship – we raise everyone up
to stronger faith. Along the way, no one is embarrassed by what
they don’t know. That’s why we have these complete
bulletins, with every word of our service written in – so every
person here is – literally – on the same page. Then
too, everyone is encouraged to take part – signing up to bring
food or flowers . . . or to man the
music booth . . . or to act as an
usher. Everyone’s gifts are valued. Everyone is
included. And finally, blessed by some wonderful cooks in this
parish, we do a lot of table fellowship around here. And — just
as it was in the first century — as we sit at tables laden with
shared food, we don’t just share our food; we share our
lives. We pray for one another. And everyone grows in
faith. Everyone is blessed.
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That, in fact, is the larger picture of church discipline. Just
like the small home churches of the first century, we know ourselves to
be “little ones” in this world, “little ones” who
depend on God’s grace for everything we do. But our weakness,
our smallness is our strength. For as we acknowledge our
vulnerability, our need, God works through our weakness, helping us
practice mutual care for one another. And in the process, we all grow.
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To God be the glory for the things he has done.
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Amen.
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