The Great Difficulty

Gospel:  Matthew 18: 21 - 19: 1

Peter asks a disciple question: how many times do I have to forgive someone?  It is a question loaded with problems.  First, it seeks to find the minimum requirement in order to fulfill whatever standard we believe ought to exist in this category of mercy.  The second problem is even more serious: we claim to believe in a God of mercy and love who is also infinite, and yet we somehow believe that a limitless God has limits on love and mercy.  

That second problem becomes the subject of the parable that follows.  The Master forgives a debt that cannot possibly be repaid.  That mercy goes to the depth of God's mercy for each and every person.  Both the amount of times God forgives us human beings and the gravity of what God forgives each of us should give us great pause in our never ending attempts to limit and circumscribe mercy both in our own human lives and in our lame theological attempts to do so to God.  

Therein lies the point of this forgiven man who was not able to forgive a much lesser debt that another owed him.  How often do we see other people in this parable but not ourselves, even though each of us is guilty of this behavior.  We will find reasons to justify our refusal to forgive others.  We will create entire theologies and systems in order to defend our lack of mercy.  Yet, Jesus ate with sinners.  He ate with his betrayer, his denier, those who abandoned him.  He eats with us too.  We must do likewise.   

Misreading Jesus

Gospel:  Matthew 18: 15-20

Jesus gives us a set of steps to follow in dealing with people we deem are in need of correction in the church.  The first three steps are obvious enough to follow:  first, have a face to face with the person; second, bring another person along to help if the first step fails; and third, bring the person to the church community if these other steps fail.  If these fail, Jesus then says that we should treat this person as if they were a Gentile or a tax collector.  What does this mean?

In Jesus' day, the Gentile and tax collector were people utterly shunned and banished from good Jewish society.  These were the unclean with whom one could not associate.  Presumably, then, this is how we are to treat someone who will not hear correction in any of the previous three steps.  Except that Jesus did not treat Gentiles and tax collectors in this way.  He healed their sick, liberated them from the demons that afflicted them, and ate with them at table.

For those who love excommunication and shunning, we might well consider the example of Jesus in light of this passage.  Perhaps, instead of our love of shunning and expulsion, we are instead invited to encounter and deeper engagement as Jesus demonstrated in his life.  The common way of the world would make offenders pariahs and unclean.  The way of Jesus would bring us to deeper engagement and service to the offender.  Which way leads to healing, restoration, and peace? 

Who is Greatest?

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14

The disciples are obsessed with power, status, and hierarchy, continually asking who is most important, who is the greatest, who has the most power.  So it is to this very day.  In response to this never ending lust for power and status, Jesus sets before his disciples a child, someone with no power, no status, no influence at all in society.  A child, then as now, is the most vulnerable and weakest member of the population, someone with no rights or privileges.  A child is greatest in the kingdom of God.

To highlight the point even further, Jesus then gives us a confounding parable of the lost sheep.  Jesus asks us a question: what shepherd wouldn't leave ninety-nine sheep exposed and vulnerable in order to find the one lost sheep?  Well, no shepherd would do that - except Jesus.  Every other shepherd would apply utilitarian calculus and abandon the lost sheep for the sake of the greater number, a calculus that dominates church ministry to this day.  

But Jesus is not a utilitarian, nor is he one to care about power, status, and hierarchy.  To be great in the kingdom is to do what Jesus did - to become vulnerable, weak, and powerless in order to serve the needs of others, especially those most vulnerable and lost.  Again, we are faced with two paths: the path of the disciples with its utilitarian calculus and striving for status, or the path of Jesus where all are loved and important, especially the most powerless and vulnerable.