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Sermon - The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (A) - 7th September 2008
St Alban’s Epping 7:00am, 8.00 am & Saint Gerard’s Catholic Church Carlingford, 10 am
Readings: Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149, Ezekiel 33:7-9 Psalm 119(various), Romans 13:1-10 Matthew 18:10-20, Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20
The Gospel reading we read today is a section of Matthew’s gospel in which Jesus is talking about community building. So, today’s passage must be seen in the light of its larger context. Ever since chapter 14, Jesus has been instructing his disciples. In chapter 18, his teaching emphasizes and focuses on the community of believers, the body of Christ, the church.
At the time Matthew wrote, the church was on its own, no longer a part of the Jewish community and so no longer observing the daily norms and customs of that religious tradition. The community needed guidelines for its life together and in chapter 18 Matthew emphasizes what the important ones are. Faith in Jesus and his teachings are the basis for this new community. Christian believers will have to live in a way that reflects their founder. Since Jesus revealed a forgiving and compassionate God, the life of the community must do the same, if they are to witness to Jesus resurrected and living in their midst, forgiveness must be the hallmark of the church.
The early church was a very small community surrounded by non-believers. Members of the assemblies were easily recognizable and so was how they behaved towards one another. It’s something like a family in a close community, the neighbours quickly learn when there is conflict among family members. So too in the tiny early church; people within and outside the community would know of divisions among the believers. Arguing members could not go their own way, the whole community would know and suffer the consequences of their behaviour. The injuries had to be dealt with through forgiveness and all would benefit. Outsiders would also notice the community’s behaviour and be drawn to it. Remember that it was said of the early Christians, “See how they love each other”. Today our larger communities might make it possible for conflict to continue, or be ignored, without too much fuss. None-the-less, an unseen wound is a wound nevertheless and the unity and life of the believers are affected by offences done by members against one another. An unattended wound can quite easily fester into a life threatening cancer. That is so in our physical bodies. It is also a real possibility as the body of Christ.
The gospel sets out a rather elaborate and specific process for how forgiveness and reconciliation are to happen. Remember the closing verse of today’s passage. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” When a believing community works to settle disputes, Christ is in our midst working to achieve the same goal. That is what makes this concept more than an ideal and keeps it from being dismissed as not practical in the real world.
Forgiveness and justice should characterize this community. If it does, then others will recognize something unique about this church community and might even recognize Christ alive and active in the midst doing what isn’t “do-able” without him. We believe he is truly with us at this eucharistic celebration. We reflect on divisions in our local and universal church, as well as the between churches, resulting from offences and misunderstandings done over the centuries. We invite Christ to be with us as we consciously and deliberately set about righting both large and small wrongs. I think our ecumenical endeavours help immeasurably in this way.
The unity and faithful adherence to Jesus’ teachings are important values for Matthew. Christians are not to live as individuals, but as members of a witnessing and supportive community. When a member has been sinned against, others are there for support and to see that rights are wronged.
The Anglican priest and poet John Donne reminded us that, “no man is an island, entire unto himself”. Solitary experience is contrary to human nature because we are social animals. For all human history life has been lived in the context of communities of one sort or another.
As Christians we understand the negative side of community life and we confess it. Yet we do not give in to the dark side. We make no peace with the powers that divide community and isolate individuals. The primary prayer of Christian faith begins Our Father; not my, but our. It is a shared prayer for a shared faith. We understand ourselves as part of a family in which we are all brothers and sisters. We recognize that our lives in the context of community must be mutually supportive.
The reading reminds us of the good we can do together. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” When we gather, work, act with the Holy Spirit guiding us, with God’s spirit intentionally a part of what we do, we become much more than simply the collective number of people we are. Two becomes more than two, and three becomes more than three. The sum of our individual ideas and resources and abilities becomes much more because of the synergy that God’s presence provides.
We gather in Jesus’ name. We have his presence with us and that makes him a part of us and of what we do. That is what we experience at each Eucharist; we are in him and he in us. However, we don’t celebrate Eucharist alone. In Anglican tradition if only the priest shows up for a midweek service, for instance, there will be no celebration of the Eucharist. Anglicans believe with one person present in physically there is no community for whom to break bread. I believe that is generally the same in the Catholic Church as well. It is just a matter of interpretation, perhaps semantics. In both communities our faith is a faith of community, of twos and threes and fours, but never of individuals. We act together so we can help one another and so we can work in God’s name, thereby multiplying our resources and ability to do what God calls us to do. Our community is the lifeline to the experience of God and to the power of God moving among God’s people.
While a private spiritual and prayer life is essential for each of us, it is likely to become dry and turn inward if it is not infused with regular doses of shared worship and connection with others, gathered in Christ’s name, and for his sake. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them”. The gathering magnifies the Spirit for us and in us and with us.
Today Jesus makes it clear how important we are one to another. Through our link to one another through Christ, there is a power in our community, uniting the values of God to our values on earth. This is how Jesus enables us to use God’s power for making healing and life giving love more effective among God’s people. We come together, we stay together, we work together in our Lord's name, bringing to focus the presence of God and unleashing the power of the Spirit to transform our lives and the lives of all God’s children.
Sermon composed using the resources of www.Preacherexchange.org, and www.worship-that-works.org