SERMON - Trinity 16 Pentecost 17

The Gospels are great books, not only because they tell us about Jesus, but also because they let us know what it was like to be a Christian all those years ago. The gospel of Matthew stresses this in a clear way. At every step of the text, we find the experience of a community with its successes, its difficulties, its norms, its conflicts, and its hopes. Thus the central theme of this gospel deals with discipleship. The passage we are reading today is a clear example of the ecclesial experience which forms the background to the gospel.
Here we are dealing with the proper behaviour toward members of the community who have fallen short in some way, those who have failed, or are failing in their role as disciples of Jesus. Matthew suggests the member at fault should be corrected by another member and that he or she should be reminded of the demands, the evangelical demands.
The purpose of this is clear: to invite that person to return to the way of the followers of the Lord. If this does not happen then other members of the community must be called. This will add to the objectivity – it wasn’t meant to be a courtroom hearing, at least I don’t think so – it was about getting back on track.
If this didn’t do the trick, the church, the assembly of disciples had to take care of the matter. This was because, by the outside world, the church would have been judged by the behaviour of all the members individually and collaboratively - In that sense, each member of the early church was an ambassador for the rest – and indeed an ambassador for the faith!
So, at the beginning of our faith, at the beginning of the church, there was some attempt to establish order – and not order for the sake of it – order that the church might survive. I never thought that I, myself, would be singing the praises of order in the Church of God.
LOVE however, requires us to pay attention to another member’s errors. We have to warn others so that they may “turn from their ways” as it says in the reading from Ezekiel.
When I read this gospel reading, I get the sense that I am a ‘fly on the wall’ of a rather sensitive matter, which is difficult to handle. However, it is a strong reminder to me of the necessary requirements to BELONG in an authentic and responsible way.
The last verses of Matthew’s text, as well as the text from Romans make us see the profound meaning of this apparent harshness. The correction in question has to be done lovingly. The context is clearly all about communication and community.
Being Christian however means that WE THINK it is to let things go – LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR does in fact require that we maintain the right direction and movement. We NEED to be able to challenge our own apathy in dealing with problems.
The community – the church – is responsible for the behaviour and commitment of ALL its members, and we are all called to live and announce the kingdom. If we are not doing that, then there is a problem.
When Paul wrote to the church in Rome, it was a letter of introduction to a church he had never met. The Gospels hadn’t been written. Among the stories about Jesus, Paul is echoing one – his statement that ‘love is fulfilling the law’. He would have been instructed on this, not by Christ of course, but probably by Gamaliel his teacher. Paul’s concept of ‘the flesh’ needs some understanding. For Paul, the flesh, our bodies, are the place of rebellion against God. It is the ‘Spirit’ where we encounter God. Christ – according to Paul – has freed us to live in the Spirit – not being concerned about the ‘flesh’ – by wearing the armour of Christ.
That is a bit more complicated to place rather that the more understandable gospel reading.
So, what does it mean to us as a church?
It means that we need to;
• Deal with division as a church
• Be seen by the outside world as ONE body – with MANY members
• Having the same message and zeal for the gospel and the community around us
• Never being afraid to raise issues that affect the future of the church
• And also, we need to appoint people to positions of authority who are able to deal with conflict – all this and more!
I pray regularly that the church is seen as a group of people more in agreement than division – however I know that the difficulties of the church will always be far more appealing to the outsider than the successes. This is true, mainly because we have failed to grasp the nettle of the gospel reading – finding it to be rather intrusive, and not quite Anglican.
In our own churches we too allow some to continue with rather strange practices for the sake of keeping the peace, being better not to rock the boat. However for Ezekiel this was not an option – God tells him he is accountable for the blood of all those he doesn’t warn – he, I am sure was quite diligent in sharing wisdom and instruction about the ways of the Lord.
There is an English proverb that says “Use soft words and hard arguments.” I think it means stick to your cause, but never at the cost of being civil.
However, William Penn a 17th Century religious leader said “Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.” So we need to be careful.
Finally, thinking about the wise words of Paul, the terrifying charge to Ezekiel, and the more practical advice of Matthew’s Gospel, I started to wonder if all this is part of life ‘in community’ if the ecclesia (which we tend to translate as church) enjoys a bias toward dispute and disagreement? Perhaps, I am the latest in a long line of clerics wanting to change something that has always been. I won’t lose too much sleep over it hopefully.
There is one more saying that I quite like about arguments and dispute;
A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool who knows what he is talking about.
May God give us to be the courage to be the fool who is willing to stand up and know what they are talking about, in the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN