by Parrish W. Jones, PhD.

©2005 All rights reserved.

Psalm 149

Exodus 12:1-14

Matthew 18:15-20

We continue to reflect on the narratives of Exodus and Matthew. Today we have a lesson from Exodus that is the ritual response of the people of Israel to the experience of Exodus. In our culture such a ritualized remembrance of horror seems odd indeed. It is not odd that they would have annual celebrations of the Exodus because we celebrate the 4th of July, Veterans' Day, and other notable days in the history of the U.S.

What is different is the Passover nor any other festival of scripture is a celebration of Exodus. Passover is the recalling to memory of the horror, the anxiety, the insecurity, and the likelihood of impending disaster. There is no self-indulgence in this liturgy of Passover. It is a liturgy of lament that propels them toward hope. Our closest parallel is Passion Week, a time only a minority of Christians in the U.S. faithfully commemorate.

Why does God invoke such a plan? We cannot begin to fully appreciate that until we have heard the rest of the story which includes the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. In these books the people are always called on to remember not what they have done but what God has done in their history. They are also reminded that they were once slaves, oppressed, and outcasts in a foreign land. They were once refugees in flight from economic, political and social oppression. They were once the new people in an inhospitable land, called Canaan, where God had called them to make their home.

Thus the laws by which they were to live, found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, were laws that remembered and took account of the people on the margins because they were once Hebrews, a word that means the people on the margins. So this liturgy reflects a crucial aspect of worship, namely, the maintenance of the historical community. Therefore, worship done rightly will consistently retain the identity of the present community with the community of the past. This worshipful act we hear called Passover is just such an act. It does not forget either the liberation nor the horror of the liberating process nor that apart from God there was no hope.

So our Exodus text raises a lot of questions, one of which is what a service of worship that truly recalled U.S. independence would look like? What would a service of worship be like that truly recalled any of the wars young U.S. men and women have been sent into? What would worship be like that truly recalled for us the horror of 9/11 or of Hurricane Katrina? I must admit that these questions have just occurred to me in preparation for this sermon. They are questions worth our pondering further.

The direction we must go today because of our lesson from Matthew is a bit different but connected to this narrative of Exodus. Chapter 18 of Matthew has a consistent theme. The theme is the least of these. We may consider this chapter a reality check for the disciples. Having experienced the commendations of Peter and the challenges to mission of chapter 16 and the transfiguration of chapter 17, arguably esteem builders, this chapter turns to the little ones.

We read: "Whoever becomes humble like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (v. 4) "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea." (v.6) "Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels see the face of my Father in heaven." (v.10)

These sayings of Jesus reflect a theme of the law of Moses and of the prophets.  They recall the themes persistently set forth in the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. God calls us consistently and enthusiastically to embrace those whom we consider more fragile than ourselves: physically, intellectually, economically, politically, socially, spiritually. So we come to the subject of church discipline.

Church discipline is to be pursued in this context of care for the little ones and in a way that does not cast a stumbling block. Thus Jesus gives us some very practical steps to try and deal with conflict.

The Revised Standard Version and others do a disservice to the reader by changing the Greek word for brother to a "member of the church." It would be better had the translators followed their convention in other places of replacing the gender specific "brother" to "If your brother or sister sins against you." The reason is that this chapter is about church family relationships. "Brother and sister" maintains that sense better.

We need to notice that the person who is charged with the active role is the one who has been injured. At least one reason can be given. That is that the brother or sister who sinned may not be aware that he or she has sinned. So it is the requirement of Jesus that the injured party inform the one by whom she or he was injured of such injury. That is, the injured party is required to go and offer forgiveness and to seek repentance.

Of course, our human attitude is, "Why should I go to them, they are the sinner? Let them repent first then I'll offer forgiveness if I feel like it." The reason you should do it is that being Christian calls us to be more than common humans. That does not mean that we are to be super human. The point Jesus is making is that our common response to injury, from a biblical point of view, is not human. It is below the dignity to which humanity is called. Because we are Christian, we are called to  pursue true humanity by seeking reconciliation with those with whom we know we are in conflict. That is what God did in Jesus and that is what we are to do. (Colossians 1:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 5:19-21). We are called to "live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us." (Ephesians 5:2)

This rule is not an easy one to follow. Yet, it is our call that often gets trumped by our recalcitrance.

What if the sinner is recalcitrant? We are to take others to try to lead the sinner to repentance. We do not take back forgiveness. Our act of going implies forgiveness. Our forgiveness is an act o grace. It is offered freely, without price. What we offer is encouragement for spiritual renewal and growth. If we fail we bring it before the church. If that does not work, then our task grows even greater.

It is clear from the context of Matthew that we are not to treat recalcitrant brothers and sisters as outcasts. The whole of Matthew is an argument that the purpose of Israel, and thence of Jesus and the church, is to evangelize the Gentile and tax collector. So to treat the sinner as a Gentile or tax collector is to seek to proclaim with consistency the word of God to them.

Then these words of loosing and binding we reflected on a few weeks ago come up again. This time, Jesus alters it a bit. The words are spoken to all the disciples. Then it becomes possible for a small group of two or three to gather together and decide. There is a caveat. They are gathered in Jesus's name, which is to say their gathering takes on the character of Jesus and reflects on his reputation. All that we do must be done to enhance the name of Jesus in the world.

The question then becomes: "How would Jesus deal with this situation?" That is a perplexing question, but we know that Jesus would seek to bring that person into the community of faith. That does not mean letting things go. It means reaching out and embracing those who stray, the little ones, those who are weak, those who are most vulnerable.