15th Sunday after Pentecost – The Rev. Mark S. Winward MDiv, ThM
Proper 18A
A Nation – and a Church – Divided
This Friday marks 25 years since the 911 attacks on New York and Washington – a day we vowed to never forget, but have predictably begun to. Our initial response as a nation to those horrific attacks was extraordinary. At that moment, across this land, people weren’t Democrats or Republicans, black or white, gay or straight, one religion or another. We were first and foremost Americans. What a different time we live in now. Instead of defining ourselves by what we hold in common, the prevailing mood is to define ourselves by what separates us. Social media has only intensified this. Increasingly, we see those who disagree with us not merely as mistaken or misguided, but as threats – as evil.
The Scandal of Christian Division
Christians are hardly above this. More often than not, we define themselves by what divides us rather than by what unites us. Of course we have different styles of worship, different traditions, and different ways of interpreting Scripture. And, indeed, the way we shape our faith does matter – and I am not suggesting that every disagreement is trivial. But churches and denominations sometimes divide over things that are really not going to matter a whole lot when “the role is called up yonder.”
I firmly believe that the division of Christ’s Church is one of Christianity’s greatest scandals. On the night before he died, Jesus prayed for his disciples, and for all who would follow them, “that they may all be one.” Paul expresses the same vision in his Letter to the Ephesians when he writes, “There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”
Despite this, Christians remain divided into thousands of separate denominations and communions. The fact is, our divisions hamper our mission to the world and tarnish our witness to the risen Lord. Now, you may be thinking that most church divisions really boil down to politics. And, of course, if you are anything like me, you are completely above politics – right? Get three people together, and you will have politics. Get three Christians together, and you may have four opinions. Conflict is inevitable wherever people live, work, or worship together – and churches are no exception. As a result, people often leave a church because they were offended or wounded. Some go to another congregation, some form a congregation of their own, and some give up on church altogether.
It hurts my heart when someone’s experience with a particular congregation leads to them giving up on God altogether. At the same time, we should not underestimate the damage we can do to each other. Churches are supposed to help people see Christ, but sometimes the conduct of the Church makes it harder for people to trust him. That is one reason the New Testament takes conflict within the Christian community so seriously.
Jesus’ Way Through Conflict
Jesus deals directly with this problem in today’s Gospel: “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” The guiding principle here is that God has freely forgiven us; so, consequently, we demonstrate that grace by granting it to others.
Notice that Jesus places the responsibility for taking the first step on the person who has been injured. That may not seem fair. At first glance, we might think anyone who has injured us should have to come hat in hand to us. But in the same way that God sought us out when we were alienated from him, Jesus tells us to seek out one another when a relationship has been broken. Jesus does not give us any options to nurse our grudges, complain about our wounds to everyone else, or quietly resist healing. He tells us to go to the person involved, speak honestly, and listen carefully. The purpose is not to prove that we are right or to embarrass the other person. Jesus says the purpose is to “regain” a brother or sister. Reconciliation, rather than winning the argument, is the goal.
There is, however, an important qualification. Jesus’ words should never be used to force someone to confront an abuser alone. Where there is abuse, coercion, a serious imbalance of power, or a threat to someone’s safety, church leaders or civil authorities may need to be involved immediately. Christian reconciliation does not mean pretending that nothing happened, protecting an institution at the expense of a wounded person, or placing someone back into a dangerous situation. In the ordinary conflicts that crop up between Christians, though, the first step should usually be a private conversation. I suspect a great deal of church conflict could be avoided if we spoke to people rather than aboutthem.
If that personal approach does not work, Jesus tells us to take one or two others along. They are not there as our personal reinforcements. They are there to listen, to clarify what happened, and perhaps to help both parties see something they cannot see on their own. Grudges are poison to a church body – or, for that matter, to a family, a workplace, or any other organization. We should not expect them to disappear simply because we ignore them. Forgiveness rarely happens by default, and glossing over a wound is not the same thing as healing it.
If mediation fails, Jesus directs us to bring the issue before the Church. At that point, the community has a responsibility to take the matter seriously, protect anyone who has been harmed, and call those involved to repentance. If the person refuses even to listen to the Church, Jesus says that person should be treated “as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
That sounds harsh because Jesus is acknowledging that fellowship can be genuinely broken. The Church cannot pretend that everything is fine when someone persists in destructive behavior and refuses to accept responsibility. But we should also remember how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors. He did not approve of everything they did, but neither did he treat them with cruelty or contempt. He continued to call them to repentance and invite them into a new relationship with God. So the Church may have to acknowledge that fellowship has been broken while continuing to hope for reconciliation.
The Law of Love
Given all that, I do not think Jesus meant to give us merely a new list of rules for settling church disputes. Rather, he is identifying the foundation of all genuinely Christian relationships: the law of love. Paul writes in today’s selection from Romans, “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” He then explains, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The trap here is that loving everyone can sound like one more impossible burden placed upon us. It is also easy to reduce Christian love to a syrupy-sweet profession that has very little substance in the real world: “Oh, I just have the love of Jesus for everyone!”
Jesus never told us we have to like everybody. He told us to love our neighbor, which is a whole lot more demanding. We can like someone, feel very sorry for that person, and still not do a darn thing to help them. Likewise, we may not particularly like someone and yet give generously of ourselves for their good. That’s because Christian love is not just a feeling. Depending on the circumstances, the most loving gesture may require an apology, a difficult conversation, a willingness to forgive, a firm boundary, or the patience to allow trust to be rebuilt. Love does not ignore the truth, because a relationship based upon avoidance and pretense is not really a loving relationship at all.
What Love Requires of Us Now
Perhaps someone has come to mind while you have been listening. There may be a conversation you have been avoiding, a grudge you have been nursing, or an apology you need to make. There may also be a wound that cannot be addressed safely without the help of others. The question is not simply whether you were right. The more important question is what Christian love requires of you now.
Not every relationship will be easily restored, and some may never return to what they once were. We simply cannot control how another person responds. We can, however, refuse to allow resentment, gossip, and pride to determine our own response. We can seek reconciliation because God first sought us, and we forgive because, in Christ, we have first been forgiven. That is the law of love, and it is only by living under that law that a divided Christendom can begin to resemble the one body Christ prayed we might become. Amen.