Psalm 119: 105-112
NPMC
Matthew 18: 15-20
September 7, 2008
Anita Retzlaff
An Education in Grace
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the
Christ. In our moment of silent prayer together let us pray for all those who
are beginning another year of study and practical learning. God has given us a
desire to learn new things and to venture out into unknown places. We
acknowledge that desire in ourselves and give thanks for the ways in which our
lives are always on the edge of new learning and new experiences. Let us pray...
God of all knowledge, hear our prayers and awaken in us the urgency of
discovering your way in our world through unique encounters and unexpected
mercies. AMEN
You may not be aware of how much time our church board and committees spend
these days on policies and procedures that keep us protected in case of a law
suit. We follow protocol on copyright regulations, policies on data that we
include on our website, safe church policies to protect our young people and
those who volunteer to work with them. We have increasingly detailed rules to
follow in terms of our financial transactions and we carry liability insurance
to protect us from each other should a person feel unjustly treated.
These are the realities of life together and this is the underbelly of community
worship and Christian education in the 21st century. Increasingly, stringent
rules govern conduct and the most commonplace of interactions in group life.
Proper legal coverage is essential in our society so that we might withstand
grievances that may lead to lawsuits when things go wrong. Money is used to
compensate for injustice and as a result we are all at risk of being sued at any
time and for almost any reason. This is an unsettling reality for many of us and
sometimes community life can feel like a mine field.
However, I believe we can counter the anxiety that this creates. We don’t have
to be held hostage to the fear of litigation and vengeance just because that is
the way it is done all around us. We have been given another way to live
together. That is not to say that we can ignore the realities of the present but
to suggest that we might meet some contemporary challenges from an alternative
and hope-filled perspective. The psalmist writes of the protection of God as
guide; lamp and light in dark places. Our gospel reading for this morning
reminds us that the desire of God for all people for all time is to take care of
each other first and that the effect of that care and attentiveness lasts
forever, is multiplied over time and space.
On this Christian Education Sunday we are wise to consider what it means to be a
part of the Body of Christ and be aware that our children and grandchildren
watch us. They see us respond to conflict, manage our emotions – or not - when
we don’t get what we want or things don’t go our way. Do we react, as has become
the norm these days, by screaming for compensation when faced with being
wronged? Or will our young people watch us behave differently as we deal with
the troubles that arise? Because troubles we will have! Will our children
receive, from us, an education in grace?
The gospel writer puts forth a radical way of dealing with relationship
problems; nip them in the bud and deal with a difficult situation face to face,
at an opportune time, as best you can. Now, that is radical precisely because it
is a call to return to the root of our Christian tradition, to the ways in which
God would have us treat each other. It isn’t easy to face up to these
uncomfortable situations. It is often frightening to become vulnerable,
especially if we feel wrongly accused and so we shy away from tough
interpersonal stuff. Straighten things out with the person who has injured you,
our scriptures advise. Do it face to face. That is the way of the church, says
Jesus. So, we have an option to consider. Meet the issue head on; deal with it
openly and personally. Communicate your distress and your need. Don’t
triangulate the issue trying to convince others to join your side against the
other but deal with this intimately, one on one. That way you can make things
right without dragging other people through the bad feelings. When you take a
risk in working things out privately and without fanfare you may be extending
grace, saving your family and sometimes an entire community a great deal of
anguish.
Then follow steps two and three should the one who offends you refuse to
participate in finding a good resolution. The task of persuasion continues as
two or three witnesses attempt to make a case for a solution and when this
provides still no relief, the church is brought into the conversation. So, what
is this all about? What stands at the baseline of this manner of dealing with
dissent among us? It is an education in grace.
“If the offender refuses to listen even to the church,” says Jesus, “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Why is my reflex interpretation of this instruction to treat an offender as a Gentile and tax collector: why is my reflex response that which dismisses that person as an outsider and unworthy? Gentiles and tax collectors were scum in the eyes of the righteous. So, we get to treat offenders as cast offs and unworthy? Wrong! The key, suggests Robert Capon, is to remind ourselves of how Jesus treats tax collectors and Gentiles: not as society treats them. He takes them into his inner circle, eats with them, forgives them and tells them again about the desire that God has for everyone to come close to the heart of love. That is how we are to deal with offenders: persuade them of goodness; their goodness and the goodness of others and the goodness of God. Indeed it would be a different world if this was our first response.
Do you get the radicality of this approach? Try to solve things on your own and in private, then call upon a couple of trusted people of compassion to bring about a solution, then call upon the wisdom of the church to try again and if it all fails start at square one and teach what you know of community love and accountability. The implications of this approach to sinners, gets wilder yet. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew’s account that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
We often imagine this passage to address the details of what we get from God when it comes time for us to head to heaven some time in the future. If we want a good future, in heaven, some day, we must be open to forgive today. Well, all of that is fine and good but I think the knife cuts a little deeper than that. What I think is being said here is something like this: If we limit grace in our daily relationships, we limit our future and our possibilities with God. God is about mercy, first. When we don’t understand mercy, we don’t understand God or God’s intentions for all of us. Heaven and earth, God’s space and our space, are bound together. They are not as separate as we think. Eternal life is not some game show prize package at the end of it all. Eternal life is not some time in the future divorced from the present but it is continuing life with God now and always. So, what we bind or loose today, what we forgive or for what we hold others responsible, these judgments and actions affect the heart of God and quality of human life in enduring fashion over time.
Our actions are our legacy. Will our legacy, the path we have lived, loved
and limited, carry forward God’s salvation or have we turned our backs on the
possibilities that await us? Have we turned others from the path? Through the
gospel of Jesus Christ we have been given an education in grace. We have a rich
legacy on which to build, an offer of salvation that includes everyone who comes
seeking the heart of God. Have we brought past and present together in a life of
love in the here and now? Do we treat our detractors with grace? Do we believe,
daily, that God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path?
Thankfully we aren’t alone on this path for we find our encouragement in the
awareness that we are the church together. As Jesus taught his students, his
disciples to live a life and legacy of love he was doing so within the emergence
of a new political reality, the church. A fledgling organization, this church
was fully convened if even 2 or 3 came together. It was an organization that was
educated in grace and sent to proclaim the hope of eternity; very specifically
that as agents of God’s love each disciple has the power to hold accountable and
to set free those for whom they care. We are those disciples today, schooled and
educated in love and grace.
I will close with Eugene Petersen’s interpretive translation of this passage
from Matthew.
“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of
you. IF he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two
others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try
again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the
church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for
repentance and offer again God’s forgiving love.
Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is a yes in heaven; a no on earth is a no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
May the grace of God be present to you all, in the praying of this community and in the hearing of this gospel word.
AMEN