GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 15 - 20 (all)
Matt 18:15 (NRSV) "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, 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 and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I know that I have read this passage before and used it in my own mind to justify telling someone else something that they have done that has made me feel wronged. And if they weren't willing to listen to me then I had the next verse to further justify my "rightness" and their "wrongness".
But the next two verses after this passage say:
Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."
What this says to me is that I need to point out the fault with a forgiving and reconciling heart and attitude rather than a "right" one.
Post a Comment