For any of you who happened to hear the Gospel reading two weeks ago, on August 24, you might have had a feeling of déjà vu when I got to the part about ‘whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’  It appears twice in Matthew – once after Jesus tells Simon that he will be the rocky foundation on which Jesus’ beloved community will be established.  And again just two chapters later when it’s very clear that being the beloved community is rocky indeed.  The beloved community is having some problems.  Things haven’t been going as well as hoped.  Faith is lacking, zeal is flagging, people are judging one another and finding fault, some are even causing others to trip up – to stumble.  Sheep are getting lost.  The verse before we pick up in today’s Gospel portion has Jesus lecturing, saying, “So it is not the will of God that one of these little ones should be lost.”

      I want to tell you that in my opinion there are translation issues with this passage that can distort what the earliest manuscripts said (and furthermore the earliest manuscripts are not in agreement).  The word that here gets translated “member of the church” is brother, or fellow, or countryman – adelphos – like the second part of Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love).   It could be translated companion or neighbor, but “member of the church” is an anachronistic leap.  I mean, maybe your brother is a “member of the church” and surely Matthew the Gospel writer was talking about the newly developing church, but I don’t think for a minute that Jesus was talking about church members in 30 A.D..  He was talking about a community – a gathering.

      Then some manuscripts say “sins against you” – some just say “sins.”  The instruction to “tell it to the church,” in verse 17 – uses the word  “ecclesia” which did become a word for church – but it’s a Greek word for a political assembly of those “called out,” those who represent their community in making decisions. Jesus was probably talking generally, Matthew was recounting Jesus words and pointing them at the young community of Jesus followers, and the Church (capital C) has sometimes taken these words and run away with them.

      So as I read it, Jesus is saying, “If someone in the community does wrong (or perhaps does you wrong), go to that person in private and tell them.  If that person understands you, you have won that person over.”  This is an amazingly good starting point for working through conflict.  Notice that Jesus is calling every person in a community to be accountable for resolving conflict.  Start, Jesus says, by going to the person who has offended, and state your case in private.  That gives the offender an opportunity to hear the grievance and to make amends – and very importantly, it gives the offender the ability to save face.  I can’t stress enough how valuable that part is in resolving conflict:  allowing an offender a sense of dignity and honor.  The point here is to restore relationship.  In Biblical terms, sin has to do with broken relationship.  In fact, sin can be defined as broken relationship – lists of sins are all different ways that relationships get broken.  And broken relationships make individuals and families,  whole assemblies, entire communities – even nations -- unwell.

      But if, in private, the offender will not make amends, then the instruction is to return with one or two others – not to outnumber the offender, but because two or three can witness to the offense and can be much more creative in conversation than one person alone can be in a conflict situation.  And then if that doesn’t work, tell the offense to the representative assembly and if the offender refuses to listen even to the assembly – and this is the best part of all – treat that person as a Gentile or a tax collector.  That would seem to say, ostracize or shun them – unless we think about how Jesus treats Gentiles and tax collectors in the Gospel of Matthew – with scandalous hospitality and deep compassion.

      And then Jesus reminds his followers – in what I imagine was their stunned silence – he reminded them of what he has said before – that they have the authority to “bind” and “loose” The Law – that is Torah, or Holy Scripture.  Together they can discern how to apply a commandment – under what circumstances it must be applied (that is, bound) and under what circumstances it did not apply (that is, loosed).  They can decide what obligations or terms are binding, or what rules or agreements can be loosely applied.   Here it’s clear that it’s not just Simon Peter alone who has that authority.  The authority to discern comes from agreement within the community of disciples.  Jesus might have said “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will be conflict!”  Indeed he’d already said earlier in Matthew that following him would cause all kinds of conflict.  What he offers here is blessed assurance.  “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

     I imagine that you’ve been reminded of some conflicts with people in your own experience as I’ve been talking.  In fact, maybe you’ve gotten so distracted that your mind has wandered away altogether.  If that’s the case, I’d like to call you back to ponder what this teaching might this have to do with conflict in this community.  Every community has conflicts – that has been well established.  And my question is, “is that all there is?”  Do we just shrug our shoulders at the inevitability?

      You know, it’s not by accident that this instruction follows Matthew’s descriptions of little faith and flagging zeal, Jesus’ followers judging and finding fault with one another, and people wandering away.  When people start wandering away, it is the lack of forgiveness that is the chief suspect – forgiveness of oneself, of another.  William Hawkins, writing for Christian Century, contends that “More than anything else, the unwillingness to perform the difficult task of forgiveness and reconciliation in the love and spirit of Christ is what robs the church of that quality of life that first attracted outsiders.”1  It is that quality of life that sets faith communities apart from other attempts at creating community.  Hawkins also points out that “the only petition of the Lord's Prayer with a condition placed at the conclusion is the one about forgiveness.  One cannot help believing that Jesus knew forgiveness would always need special emphasis.”  According to Jesus’ instructions, the work of forgiveness and reconciliation begins with accountability of each and every person, with respect for dignity, with hospitality and deep compassion – generosity of spirit and sound discernment in community

      So I wonder, what is it about this community – Emmanuel Church – that attracts outsiders?  Well – okay – it’s the music; it’s the architecture; it’s the progressive theology; it’s the enthusiasm for a church and a synagogue sharing resources.  What I mean is, what moves people who are “just here for the music” or “just here” for any other reason into a more meaningful and satisfying and fuller relationship with one another?  What moves people to claim Emmanuel Church as their own?  I believe it is, in large part, the experience of being in a community that is actively engaged in the work of forgiveness and reconciliation.  So what I really want to know is what forgiveness and reconciliation work needs to be done here so that we can grow in love and spirit?  And who will join me in that work?