Real Love in Real Community

The Reverend Tommy Thompson
“Real Love in Real Community”
Matthew 18: 15-20 & Romans 13:8-14
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18A)
4 September 2011

The Epistle Lesson and Gospel lesson for us this morning could not be any more closely related, could they? ... neither text is that warm and cozy text we’d curl up with by the fire on a winter’s evening. They’re the kind that we might want to overlook...to gloss over to get to the stuff that makes us feel better. These texts get right to the heart of the issues of the church whether it happens to be the first century or the 21st century.

Because the main problem in the church in the first century and the main problem in the church in the 21st century are one and the same...that problem is sin.

Sin can be defined in many ways. Sometimes it is understood as “missing the mark” on what God desires for our lives. That is a good understanding. It was referred to by Margerie Suhocky as the “ill-being of creation.” That is a good way to put it as well. John and Charles Wesley’s mother Susanna said sin is anything that deviates from the holiness of God...another solid definition of sin. Sin is all these things.

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is relational at the very core. God is relationship and God intends relationship...whole relationship...fruitful relationship...loving relationship. That’s who God is...and since we are created in God’s image and likeness, then ultimately, God will for us is to be diverse yet unified in love...in fruitful, loving relationship.

Thus, ultimately, sin is broken relationship...discord...the opposite of unity....fragmentation...individualism.

And in both the Epistle and Gospel lesson we see that the major issue has to do with broken relationship...sin at the grass roots level...

In the Epistle lesson, Paul is writing to a very specific parish community in Rome. He is addressing real issues in their real world. Romans, like much of the Bible, is not a collection of universal ideals, but real pastoral wisdom offered to a very particular people in a very particular setting in time.

Those people are the early Jewish and Gentle followers of Jesus Christ. The particular time is around 50-60 A.D., right after the Jewish people who were banned from Rome for a few years were allowed to return the Roman church. The real situation is broken down relationship...sin. The Gentiles have been leading the church in the absence of the Jewish people...now that the Jewish people are back, they have their own ideas of how the Roman church should be led.

Though this issue is very particular, it relates to the church of all times doesn’t it. We say we love God...we say we love people...yet we have a tough time loving our neighbor...the one or the ones who happen to be around us in a given situation in time.

If I had a dollar for all the times I’ve heard, “Now, don’t get me wrong...I love everybody...but let me tell you about so and so.” I think that’s kinda what the Jewish people in Rome would’ve said about the Gentile believers and vice-versa.

So Paul enters in and basically says, you don’t truly love unless you love the one whose face you see. Be careful generalizing love...so many of us use the “universal” or the “global” as a way of making the issue so big that we don’t have to worry about local commitment or accountability. We make ourselves feel better about professing love that is not real for a world that does not exist...it is only in our imaginations...people we never see who, in our imaginations, look a lot like us... I wonder, how can we know we love “everyone” when we have not even met a fraction of everyone? More especially...how can we claim to love everyone when we struggle to love the ones who are right next to us? This is not real love of real people in real Christian community in the real world. It is the stuff of fantasy.

When Paul invites the Roman Christians to “love your neighbors,” i think he was saying, “Don’t say, “I love everyone,” when you can’t love your Gentile brother or your Jewish sister whose face you can see.” John said something similar when he said (my paraphrase), “How can you love God who you can’t see when you hate your brother who you do see?”

For Paul these broken relationships matter. So he calls the Roman church to “Love your neighbor.” In doing that, Paul says, the entire law is fulfilled. Sin is broken relationships. Whole relationships...loving relationships...relationships that mirror God’s very life...that is holiness and that is what God has called us to in this world: real love of real people in real community in the real world.

And that is why Jesus is so strong in his language in Matthew’s Gospel. Sin (broken down relationships) cannot be taken lightly by the church. “If brother or sister sins against you, go and point out that fault when the two of you are alone. If that brother or sister listens to you, you have regained that one.”

This is tough for us, isn’t it..sure it is. This is real love in real Christina community. This is what God expects out of his church. Love is our goal...love is always rooted in community...in relationship. The church is called to be a sacrament of the life of God--the visible and tangible expression of the life of the kingdom that is coming. God is not broken...God is not fragmented. God does not place the priority on individual but the community...The Father does not live a life that is concealed and private from the Son nor does the Son towards the Father or the Spirit toward The Son. God’s life is loving mutuality. God’s life is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ who put his own individuality on the cross for the sake of the human and non-human community he came to redeem and restore.

So, when we put the individual above the community, we do not reveal the nature of God but the consequences of sin. We cannot overlook sin as if it were simply between God and the “individual.” Sin always affects the whole church...just as an infection in one part of the body affects the whole body...sometimes what is best for the body is amputation...otherwise the whole body might die. Jesus says the same goes for the church.

You ever thrown a stone into the water? what happens? It sinks...yes. But what else? It causes ripples...that’s what sin is like. There are always ripples and those ripples are like an infection that grow throughout the body.

So Jesus tells us...real love is tough. It’s not as simple as saying, “I love everybody”...especially when it involves real people in the real world.”

We have to understand that the church’s mission and it’s integrity that goes with it is of higher priority than things “appearing to go smoothly.” We prefer to sweep issues under the carpet...”oh, that’s just so and so’s personality...or “oh, just leave it alone and it will go away.” These are the easy yet trivial responses to serious and real issues...but you know what happens to a “small infection” that is not deal with right away...or what happens when we keep sweeping all our mess under the carpet for so long...the infection spreads...we trip over the carpet.

Real love with real people in real community in the real world is tough...but it is worth being tough...because love is what will last and love is what we are called to be for God’s world. It might cause things to be rough for a while..there may be tension in the air...some peoples’ feelings might even get hurt, but nevertheless, Jesus says, “If brother or sister sins against you, go and point out that fault when the two of you are alone. If that brother or sister listens to you, you have regained that one.”

Note what Jesus does and doesn’t say here. He does not say, “call up sister so and so and tell her all about it...he does not say go ahead and make sure to spread the rumors.” No, love says “go to the one who has wronged you...go to the source of the problem...otherwise you will compound the problem. Demonstrate love and care for the other and go to them when you are alone. Don’t even let others overhear. Go, and when two or three are gathered together to seek reconciliation, understand that the One who has overcome our sin and has reconciled us to God is in your midst.

And the goal here is this: to regain that one who has sinned against you. Jesus has spoke about this elsewhere. He wills that none perish...the goal is always for the other and not for the self, isn’t it. The goal is that the one who sinned against me is regained through reconciliation. That’s love.

But what if that person does not ask for forgiveness? what if they do not repent or cooperate with reconciliation? Just give up on them? Absolutely not, Jesus says. The mission and integrity of the church is too important to allow sin/broken relationship to run rampant in the church. Go back to that sister or brother, Jesus says, this time with one or two others with you so that ever word can be confirmed by the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses.

If the member then refuses to listen, tell it to the church and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

Notice the escalation of the inclusion of others. The goal is not to embarrass the offender...the goal is not to ostracize the offender. The goal is to regain the offender. And each time the offender does not cooperate toward reconciliation, steps are taken to offer that opportunity again and again.

But we cannot ignore the fact that Jesus said, that if the brother or sister refuses to cooperate toward reconciliation, even after the church’s involvement in those efforts, then that person should be to the church like a Gentile or a tax collector.

Understand that Matthew’s Gospel was proclaimed primarily for early Jewish believers. The first century world was well aware of the position of the gentile or more specially, the tax collector, in relationship to the Jewish community. These were outsiders...outcasts...ostracized. So, as hard as it is to fathom, Jesus is saying, “If after every effort has been taken to regain that person, and they choose to let that sin and it’s effects remain, then the church can no longer be in bondage to that sin.” In other words, the infection in this part of the body is so severe, it will kill the whole body unless it is amputated. Jesus calls the church to excommunication...There’s no two ways about it.

That’s tough stuff...but it is the price of real love with real people in real Christian community in the real world. I mean we have been called to carry the cross...there’s nothing easy about that call. The first priority of the church is faithfulness to the Gospel...faithfulness to the continuance of the mission of Christ for the salvation and renewal of the world. Broken relationship is not what God intends...therefore we must make every effort to face sin or distorted relationships head on and trust in God’s reconciling power to not only face it but deal with it. Real love with real people in real Christian community is a visible expression of God’s very life for the real world. We cannot excuse or overlook sin simply because it might shake the boat a little...or make someone mad or make a few people leave...Jesus says that our mission is too important...broken relationships are not the way of the future kingdom so they must not be the norm of the church’s life.

So let us live deeply in the life that Jesus opened for us: His very own life: the life of Father, Son, and HOly Spirit. The more we live and love there the more we know and reflect this God of love. When we love and live in God’s life, it is not so difficult to distinguish sin from mistake or sin that must be dealt with one on one and so forth from something that shouldn’t. If we are centered in the life of God, when our life as church community is not congruent with the life of God, we will know it...when that happens, we must allow the Holy Spirit to work towards reconciliation.

Do you love God? If you’re answer is yes, let that love bring forth fruit by loving not a fantasized “everybody” but a very particular somebody--your neighbor--the faces that you actually see...whoever that happens to be...and love me enough...love your neighbor enough that when I sin against you...when she sins against you...when he sins against you, go to her..go to him, come to me...regain us. When you sin against another brother or sister, let him come to you and understand the priority is upon this community and your reconciliation with it...choose now that when that time comes, you will cooperate with reconciliation for the sake of this community and the mission to which we are committed. And let our love be the sign of God’s love which is the way of the everlasting kingdom...the only way that will last.

Amen.