Matthew 18:15-20
The Gospel of Matthew is written at a time
when there was deep conflict in the Christian Church:
This
was all about culture:
Some
from a Jewish background were insisting that all new followers of Jesus must
follow Jesus the Jewish way.
Others,
who were not Jewish, wanted to contextualize the teachings of Jesus into their
own Greek, or Roman cultures.
And
this conflict was painful – two centres of faith were emerging: one in
Jerusalem and the other in Rome.
Matthew’s
Gospel is an attempt to find answers: we are taken to a moment when the
disciples of Jesus were faced with internal division:
Mat 18:1 At that time the disciples
came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?"
Why
did the disciples ask this question?
Clearly
they had been arguing about their status!
Look
at the way Matthew sets up this story...
Matt
16: Jesus
tells Peter that he is key to the mission of Jesus: you are Petros – and on this rock I will build
my church. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Think
how this would have made the rest of the disciples feel?
One
is singled out for special recognition.......
Matt
17: Jesus
takes three disciples up the mountain to pray:
Who
were they? Peter, James and John. As they go up the mountain I see the other
disciples looking at each other and feeling left out.
How
do think the others felt....
So
Jesus makes his selection and leaves the rest behind.
To
make matters worse – the disciples who had remained behind tried to cure a man
of epilepsy and they failed. And we read that Jesus rebukes them for their lack
of faith.
The
disciples now come to Jesus to settle their argument “Who is
the greatest amongst us?”
Jesus
recognises this and so instead of answering their question he addresses their
conflict.
When
you are in disagreement .... here is how you solve it.
Mat 18:15 "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.
Mat 18:16 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.
Mat 18:17 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.
1.
Meet
with the person....
Which means
that we do not meet with everyone else but the person concerned and discuss the
character of that person!
2.
Take
others to help solve the dispute
3.
Bring
in the church leadership
Both of
which involves the person concerned and does not meet behind that person’s back.
4.
Treat
the person as a Gentile and a tax collector:
Which begs
the question – “what does this mean?” Note that this is not rejection or banishment
..... remember that Jesus had special compassion for Gentiles and Tax
Collectors
He
visited them and prayed with them.
Ø Remember Zacchaeus?
Ø And the Roman official’s
daughter?
Ø And the Canaanite woman?
Here
is the point:
We
do not have permission to stop talking to someone
We
do not have permission to divide from another person.
We
do not ever have permission to give up on someone.
So
the challenge is for us to find our essential unity in the challenge of Jesus
to solve our conflicts instead of running away from them.
Ø Internationally – Israel and
Palestine need to keep talking, calling in outside mediation, speaking to each
other “like tax-collectors” if necessary – but never reaching a place where
they stop talking.
Ø At a national level –
Jacob Zuma needs to sit down with the Public Protector and resolve his dispute
with her instead of avoiding her questions.
Ø In our own community – we commit
to solving our conflict, talking, talking, talking, and talking some more.
