There is a particular kind of video that brings a of gleeful pleasure to watch. It flies across social media, picking up likes and building momentum, and giving that jolt of satisfaction to its viewers that makes you want to pump your fist and say Yes! Or lean back with a hearty Ha!
It’s the video where somebody gets what’s comin’ to them. When the arrogant, unkind, thoughtless, or insensitive person gets put in their place, wow, is that satisfying!
Justice. Is. served!
If there is something to be said for us in this day and age, it is that we’re down for some righteous retribution! We love us a good shunning! And it’s not that hard to do. We can collectively punish a despicable person or shut down a bad business with just the tipity-tap of our fingers on a little screen.This happens on the personal front – delete, block, erase – and on the international front—line em’ up, hit send, and the drone does the rest.
They came at you?? Don’t let that stand. End them.
Someone hurts you? Bye, bye! Move on. They’re not worth it. No longer your problem. Put the nail in their coffin - make them fodder for the frenzy, grist for the mill. Did you hear what he did? Did I tell you what she said? Can you believe it!
We even have word for it, a phrase that didn’t exist before our lifetime. We call it “canceling.” We can cancel a person. Figuratively wipe someone out, erase them. Make them as though they are not here, were never here, as though they do not matter. They get what they deserve, and we got to dish it out. Sweet Justice.
So today’s scripture feels like it comes from another time, a different place. And it does. It comes from a different realm altogether, actually. It comes from the Kingdom of God. In God’s kingdom, justice looks different than we’d like it to.
Jesus’ view of justice doesn’t satisfy our thirst for retaliation. It demands suffering and co-humanity. God’s justice reinforces our belonging to each other instead of ending it.
Jesus is talking here to the disciples. To the people whose lives are oriented toward God through Christ. They’re the ones brought into Christ’s life and purposes in the world. All these centuries later, we are a part of that same community. By coming together like we do, and being church like we are, we acknowledge that we belong not to ourselves but to God, and we declare that we exist not for ourselves but for the world.
And this is such a powerful calling, Jesus says, it’s as though we stand between heaven and earth, bridging eternity and time, living in time for love. We are incognito agents of the eternal Kingdom of God right here in our very own neighborhoods and families, on our streets, in our schools, at work; we are here with and for our fellow human beings.
To live between worlds like this, to be brought into this work of Christ, is to stand in people’s pain and suffering and watch right here for the presence and action of God. And it is to simultaneously stand with God, and watch the life of the world with compassion that longs for its wholeness and healing.
It’s to be a channel of communication; we speak to God about the brokenness and aching here and God listens to us, and we listen to God about God’s love and promise, sorrow and hope for the world, and we speak that into the world. We call this two-way communication ‘prayer.’
And when two or three of us are gathered, God is right here with us and we acknowledge and welcome God’s presence. We call that gathering together with God ‘worship’.
And when our hearts are in unison, what we say and do in the name of Jesus is as though Jesus himself were here doing and saying those things – and in fact, he is. We call that participation in Jesus’s work ‘ministry.’
We are people of prayer, worship and ministry, in whom, and through whom, the living God is moving and speaking and working.
So then, how could there be a place for building up resentment, letting division fester, cutting each other off? When righteous indignation says, You hurt me, I will never trust you again, have we forgotten who is our Lord? Have we made ourselves above reproach?
Christ alone is the righteous one.
Someone hurts you? Bye, bye! Move on. They’re not worth it. No longer your problem. Put the nail in their coffin - make them fodder for the frenzy, grist for the mill. Did you hear what he did? Did I tell you what she said? Can you believe it!
We even have word for it, a phrase that didn’t exist before our lifetime. We call it “canceling.” We can cancel a person. Figuratively wipe someone out, erase them. Make them as though they are not here, were never here, as though they do not matter. They get what they deserve, and we got to dish it out. Sweet Justice.
So today’s scripture feels like it comes from another time, a different place. And it does. It comes from a different realm altogether, actually. It comes from the Kingdom of God. In God’s kingdom, justice looks different than we’d like it to.
Jesus’ view of justice doesn’t satisfy our thirst for retaliation. It demands suffering and co-humanity. God’s justice reinforces our belonging to each other instead of ending it.
Jesus is talking here to the disciples. To the people whose lives are oriented toward God through Christ. They’re the ones brought into Christ’s life and purposes in the world. All these centuries later, we are a part of that same community. By coming together like we do, and being church like we are, we acknowledge that we belong not to ourselves but to God, and we declare that we exist not for ourselves but for the world.
And this is such a powerful calling, Jesus says, it’s as though we stand between heaven and earth, bridging eternity and time, living in time for love. We are incognito agents of the eternal Kingdom of God right here in our very own neighborhoods and families, on our streets, in our schools, at work; we are here with and for our fellow human beings.
To live between worlds like this, to be brought into this work of Christ, is to stand in people’s pain and suffering and watch right here for the presence and action of God. And it is to simultaneously stand with God, and watch the life of the world with compassion that longs for its wholeness and healing.
It’s to be a channel of communication; we speak to God about the brokenness and aching here and God listens to us, and we listen to God about God’s love and promise, sorrow and hope for the world, and we speak that into the world. We call this two-way communication ‘prayer.’
And when two or three of us are gathered, God is right here with us and we acknowledge and welcome God’s presence. We call that gathering together with God ‘worship’.
And when our hearts are in unison, what we say and do in the name of Jesus is as though Jesus himself were here doing and saying those things – and in fact, he is. We call that participation in Jesus’s work ‘ministry.’
We are people of prayer, worship and ministry, in whom, and through whom, the living God is moving and speaking and working.
So then, how could there be a place for building up resentment, letting division fester, cutting each other off? When righteous indignation says, You hurt me, I will never trust you again, have we forgotten who is our Lord? Have we made ourselves above reproach?
Christ alone is the righteous one.
And the righteous system meant to dispense justice killed him.
Who do you think you are? You think you’re a prophet? The promised Messiah? You think you’re the king of the Jews? You’re over.
The word of God made flesh who dwelt among us was erased by the world he came to save. His voice was silenced, his body broken, his existence ended by righteous retribution. Taking all human injustice and injury into himself, Jesus gets canceled.
We serve a crucified God. Our Lord is one on the cross who has been canceled.
We serve a crucified God. Our Lord is one on the cross who has been canceled.
And so, we are the community of the canceled. Anyone canceled is brought in. We are the community of the failed, the community of the humbled. Here we are all unrighteous. And we are all in need of love and care, of grace and hope. Now we are given Jesus’s life, made righteous through him.
Where the world delights in retribution and severs ties easily, Jesus frees us for love, and binds us together as those already canceled, already dead, who no longer need to enact our own justice, or prove our own worthiness, or earn our own life.
Where the world delights in retribution and severs ties easily, Jesus frees us for love, and binds us together as those already canceled, already dead, who no longer need to enact our own justice, or prove our own worthiness, or earn our own life.
So, we can be in this together, this strange life shaped by communion, humbleness, honesty, forgiveness. Here we live toward each other in humility, as those who confess our unrighteousness. Here we accept the gift that meets us in one another, and let the justice of Jesus, who bears our brokenness, uphold us always in our belonging.
Of course we will disagree. We have different experiences and perspectives; thanks be to God! And we will hurt each other by accident, or even sometimes on purpose, because we’re human beings. But we don’t get to cut off from one another. We didn’t make this bond in the first place; it’s not ours to break. This is not a self-chosen club of the like-minded, compatible and upright! This is Christ’s body, broken and given for the world, to reconcile the whole world to God.
So, when there is a conflict between us, we are bound to work it out, Jesus says. In fact, the places of sin toward each other become the very grounds for grace! Our impossibility is where the Holy Spirit does what we can’t do.
When someone hurts you, Jesus says, say something to them directly and in private, uphold their dignity and allow them to own their actions and apologize. And if they don’t share your desire to clear the barrier between you, bring a mutual support and try again, and if that fails, bring it to the whole community for help. Do not give up on each other.
Of course we will disagree. We have different experiences and perspectives; thanks be to God! And we will hurt each other by accident, or even sometimes on purpose, because we’re human beings. But we don’t get to cut off from one another. We didn’t make this bond in the first place; it’s not ours to break. This is not a self-chosen club of the like-minded, compatible and upright! This is Christ’s body, broken and given for the world, to reconcile the whole world to God.
So, when there is a conflict between us, we are bound to work it out, Jesus says. In fact, the places of sin toward each other become the very grounds for grace! Our impossibility is where the Holy Spirit does what we can’t do.
When someone hurts you, Jesus says, say something to them directly and in private, uphold their dignity and allow them to own their actions and apologize. And if they don’t share your desire to clear the barrier between you, bring a mutual support and try again, and if that fails, bring it to the whole community for help. Do not give up on each other.
Because this grace, this love, can only be known in community. It is not found in right-ness or strength, and it couldn’t be further from getting the upper hand or enacting revenge.
The justice of Jesus is all people upheld in their belonging to God and each other.
Here is how you share in me, Jesus calls us, go sacramentally, as broken for one another, a gift to each other in your humility and forgiveness. Where the world avoids discomfort and ends the relationship, be honest about pain, and humble about mistakes, and forgive generously. Here is where Christ meet us with new life, with justice that restores us into the belonging of God to one another. And here is how it works, reconciliation is the very shape of our life together, because it's the action of Jesus in the world. And if you confess, you will find new life here, but if that disgusts you, it will send you running. If you cannot receive this gift, it will feel like a curse.
Here is how you share in me, Jesus calls us, go sacramentally, as broken for one another, a gift to each other in your humility and forgiveness. Where the world avoids discomfort and ends the relationship, be honest about pain, and humble about mistakes, and forgive generously. Here is where Christ meet us with new life, with justice that restores us into the belonging of God to one another. And here is how it works, reconciliation is the very shape of our life together, because it's the action of Jesus in the world. And if you confess, you will find new life here, but if that disgusts you, it will send you running. If you cannot receive this gift, it will feel like a curse.
Which brings us to this line- if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector.
In a Way of Fear way of reading of this line, which lifts up righteous indignation, and glorifies payback, we assume this means excommunicate them. Some mid 20th century bible translations even actually say that. Cut them off. Cut them out and don’t give it another thought - they’re dead to you. They’re not worthy of your attention. Cancel them. Ghost them and move on.
But that is actually the opposite of what this means.
Because who was Jesus always in trouble for hanging out with? Who did he come for?
Jesus says so himself, “I did not come for the righteous, but for sinners”! Sinners, outcasts, Gentiles and tax collectors, misfits and ne’er-do-wells were his favorite—Matthew himself was a tax-collector.
It’s just that for Gentiles and tax collectors, belonging to God and others is not their lens. Their answer to “What is a good life and how do I live it?” is not spoken in the language of prayer, worship and ministry. They did not center their lives on obedience to God or loving their neighbor as they love themselves. They specifically do not see themselves as servants of God, people called to lay down their lives for others.
‘Tax collector’ and ‘Gentile’ here is shorthand for people who are not bound by up in a covenant life of promise with the God of Israel revealed in Christ. They are either living overtly, even corruptly, for their own gain, or they are casually oblivious to the deeper reality in which we are all held in God. They do not share the identity, calling and mission of a canceled Lord. Nevertheless, they are human beings; they belong to God and they belong to us. Just like us, they are in need of love and care, of grace and hope.
So, Jesus says: if someone among you refuses to be reconciled, refuses to be reconnected, acknowledge that you are no longer living inside the same reality together. They no longer desire to share in the sacrifice and vulnerability of being shaped by and for love by the grace of God. So you must no longer expect them to participate in the work of staying connected in humility or being joined in mutual community anymore. You do not expect them to see the world as you do, and you now longer attempt to live in the same kind of shared life that you once expected to share.
But you do not cancel them, you don’t write them off. They are not ‘dead to you.’ They remain, as they have always been, a beloved child of God. Only now, rather than a conscious bearer of grace with you for others, they’ve become one pursued by God, one specifically for whom Jesus came.
Jesus is not saying to abandon the one who refuses to be reconciled. Jesus is telling us respect them as our fellow human being and expect no reciprocation from them. Instead of a fellow minister, an agent in God’s Kingdom, someone who, with you, is working with Christ for the reconciliation of the world, they are now those to whom we are sent. They are the ones we are meant to eat with at table, to listen to, to stand up for, to stand alongside, to show compassion toward.
Their repentance is the Holy Spirit’s work to do. Awakening in them awareness of their belonging to God and all others is God’s responsibility, not ours.
This is not easy to hear for those of us shaped by empire and ego.
It’s no wonder the very next part of the conversation between Jesus and his disciples is Peter asking how many times we’re expected to forgive someone who’s done us wrong. (Spoiler, Peter suggests a nice big number and Jesus responds with, essentially, Nope, you forgive infinity times).
We are the community of the canceled, the people of prayer, worship and ministry, in whom, and through whom, the living God is moving, and speaking, and working. We live between eternity and time, here, in time, for love.
We are the community of the canceled, the people of prayer, worship and ministry, in whom, and through whom, the living God is moving, and speaking, and working. We live between eternity and time, here, in time, for love.
It works differently here. Having nothing to prove, and nothing to earn, and nothing to lose, having already died and been resurrected into Christ, we are free to live in the love from which we came, the love to which we will return, as recipients of reconciliation and agents of the eternal Kingdom of God.
So we receive each other as gift, stand by each other in suffering, and remember together that God’s grace is always at work in us, and through us God’s grace pours into the world.
The power of the Spirit of Christ does this.
Amen.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment