Matthew 18:15-22

15 “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, 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 that person 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.”

21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Thank you for your feedback on our worship experiments!  

A couple of things that several of you told me is that:

1.  You have trouble hearing.  You have trouble hearing people when you can’t see their faces.  The Choir can’t hear anything when they’re up there.  Online folks can’t hear you when you let the mic drift down.  So I’m having DJ turn the sound up, and moving the choir down for the sermon.
2. Most of you like having a discussion time, but hearing is an issue, so we’re going to shift to a talk back with the mics turned up.
3. Several of you asked to try out some different Lord’s Prayers with requests for Native American versions – so we’ll be using the First Nations Version for the month of September.
4. There were some requests for a call to worship, which personally, I don’t understand, because I have a general dislike of group speaking, but it’s not all about me. Several folks also told me to speak the liturgy slower – so I’ll do my best to talk slower!
5. You also said that you really like this exegetical style of preaching where I show you how and why we interpret the Bible.  Which is easier for me to do than trying to choose what to preach on and create a more cohesive narrative structure, so I’m happy to give you what you want!
6. Keep the feedback coming!

As we talked about last week, Context matters!  So what comes before this passage is Jesus talking about the value of children, the importance of not causing children to sin, and one of my favorite passages as a feminist, where Jesus tells us that if itching fingers or wandering eyes causes a person to sin – they had better gouge their eyes out or cut off their hands, rather than claim that their body made them do it.  

Because it’s NEVER about what she was wearing!

But then Jesus pivots to grace and tells the parable of the lost sheep, where we are reminded that from God’s perspective, every single individual matters, no matter how far they have gone astray.

So the context of Matthew 18 is already a complex balance of God demanding justice for the vulnerable and yet holding Grace for those who wander.

Pick any random Jewish Rabbi throughout history and they would say, of course!  That’s just Tsadikah – which is a Hebrew word that means: Righteousness, that holds the complicated intersection of Justice and Mercy.  Because true justice requires compassion for both the victim and the perpetrator.

Afterall, without compassion for the victim, justice could look like consequences for the perpetrator that do not protect the victim from further harm.  And without compassion for the perpetrator justice could look consequences that leave no path forward.

For me, framing the first section of Matthew 18 as a discussion of the concept of righteousness, that is, Tsadikah, is a theological shortcut for naming the context of those seemingly unrelated teachings.

The context being Tsadikah – that is, Righteousness we enter into verse 15 where we find Jesus presenting us with a process for dealing with conflict.  And particularly a conflict where you’re the one who has experienced harm.

Right off the bat I want to name that it’s not fair that Jesus is telling the person who has been harmed to initiate reconciliation.  If life was fair, those who do us harm would be the ones coming to us to apologize for the harm they have done, right?  

I mean, that’s what I try to do.  I usually know when I’ve done harm and that I need to apologize.  And if I’ve done harm publicly, then I need to apologize publicly.

But life is not fair, and often people who do harm are either not very aware of the harm they have done, or they are not actually sorry for the harm they have done.  

So Jesus’ advice for conflict resolution still holds.

If those who have harmed us don’t do the right thing and apologize, as so often happens, then those of us who have been harmed, are left with the option of letting them get away with it, or seeking justice.

So this is Jesus giving us a process for seeking justice with righteousness, that is, Tsadikah.

In verse 15, the language “brother or sister” refers to our siblings in the community of faith.  So we are not being asked to follow this process with unsafe people who do not share our values of justice, grace, forgiveness, compassion and just generally Tsadikah.  This is a process for dealing with people who are our siblings in the Community of the Beloved, not a process for dealing with a Roman soldier who’s about to beat you into submission.  The Roman soldier will not respect the witnesses or the church, so there’s no point in following this process for conflict resolution with someone outside the faith community.

That is important to clarify, because, if for example, a church member is bullying another church member then having a one on one conversation, and then when that doesn’t work, having a conversation with witnesses present, then if that doesn’t work having a conversation with the leadership of the church…

Is very different from, if for example, a child is being bullied at school and expecting them to ask their bully to stop, which doesn’t work, then expecting that child to bringing another friend who is also a child into the conversation who has no power to protect themselves, and then bringing the conversation before the whole classroom full of children who have zero ability to hold the bully accountable.  That’s not righteousness.  That’s just horrible.

So this is an excellent process for use in a community where we have an expectation of Tsadikah – an expectation of both justice and mercy.

But not a recommended process when the community we are appealing to does not share the values of Tsadikah.

Verse 17b – What does it mean to treat someone like a gentile or a tax-collector?

The short answer is: with polite distrust.

Ironically, the Disciple, Matthew, for whom many assume this Gospel was named, was a former tax-collector.

However, the author of Matthew, never claims to be the disciple, Matthew, and the gospel was written after all the original disciples were dead, in about the early 90’s.    

Also, ironically, the Gospel of Matthew is deeply hostile towards “Jews,” (Borg, Evolution of the Word, 213ff)  so naming Gentiles – which just means non-jewish people, as an outgroup alongside of tax-collectors is an interesting choice for the author of Matthew, who frequently refers to “the Jews” as “them,” in a “those people,” kind of way.

Scholars think that the author of Matthew was a Jewish Christian.  So he was big mad at his fellow Jews who didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah.

So the author of Matthew was basically saying, if people won’t stop doing harm, treat them like outsiders.  Treat them like untrustworthy tax-collectors and people who are ignorant of the Laws of Moses, like Gentiles.

So, treat them with polite distrust.

Verse 18 is super easy to misinterpret if you’re only reading it as literally translated.

The words for bind and loose are accurate, literal translations, but we are missing religious context.  Because those same words were used colloquially, much as we would use the phrase “tie the knot” in English, as a way of saying being bound together in marriage or unbinding the ties of marriage for a divorce. They would say, bind for married, and loose for divorced. (https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/18-18.htm#google_vignette) 

But here’s the important context for this passage from New Testament scholar Mark Allen Powell:  

In order to maintain the careful balance between justice and mercy that Tsadikah requires, 

 “Jewish rabbis ‘bound’ the law when they determined that a commandment was applicable to a particular situation, and they ‘loosed’ the law when they determined that a word of scripture…was not applicable under certain specific circumstances.” 

Powell, Mark Allan. “Binding and Loosing: A Paradigm for Ethical Discernment from the Gospel of Matthew.” Currents in Theology and Mission, vol. 30, no. 6, Dec. 2003, pp. 438–445. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0001413618&authtype=cookie,custuid&custid=s1183243&site=eh ost-live&scope=site. 

Let me say that in a less academic way.  Rabbis used a stricter interpretation of the law – that is, they bound the law, when there was a clear violation of justice, and they loosened the law, that is interpreted the law with more flexibility, when more balance between mercy and justice was required.

The idea being that Tsadikah requires us to apply the rules with discernment.

So in verses 18-20 Jesus is instructing the Beloved Community to use discretion in following the Law of Moses.

Jesus demonstrated this loosening of the law when Jesus healed on the Sabbath in Mark 3:1-6 and explained it to the people in the Synagogue in verse 4:

4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?”

So basically, the next time some ultra-conservative Christian accuses you of not following the Law by choosing to prioritize Love over legalism – we can tell them that Jesus told us to use our best judgement of when to loosen the law and when to tighten the law, right here in Matthew 18:18-20.  Of course, people stuck in that legalistic mindset don’t usually listen to good theology, but they didn’t listen to Jesus either, so at least we can know that Jesus gave us permission to use discernment with the Law!   

I just learned this on Monday, while researching this passage!  Which makes me wonder if this teaching has been buried because of anti-Semitism.  

The Lectionary Committee ends this reading at verse 20, but I decided to extend it 2 more verses, because I like Peter.  

I relate to Peter in the gospel of Matthew, because Peter is always asking good questions even when they’re stupid questions.  You know what I mean?  

I like to think that if I was alive back then that I would be one of the cool disciples, like John or Mary Magdalene, but reality is that I’m totally a Peter!   If there is an awkward thing to say, I’m going to say it.

And Peter’s question in verse 21 is totally awkward… and totally important.

In theory, every conflict can be resolved with good communication, right?  If we just have an honest conversation the person who has done harm will recognize their mistake and apologize and not do it again, Right?  Right???

It was an awkward thing to say while everybody was talking about the importance of Tsadikah – the importance of justice and mercy working together, but Peter was just speaking the uncomfortable truth.

People don’t always stop doing harm just because we have held them accountable.

Even people who share our faith.

Even people who claim to believe in justice and mercy.

Even people who are members of our local church.

Peter’s got a point.

So how many times do I have to forgive this person for doing harm?

Seven times?

Here’s where we run into another interpretive issue of cultural context.

In Jewish culture, the number 7 has a double meaning.

First of all, the 7th day of creation is the day on which God rested because creation was completed.

So the number 7 has a connotation of completeness.

So I’m not so sure that Peter was saying, should I forgive 7 times.  Perhaps, as  Jewish person, Peter was asking, do I keep forgiving until the conflict is completed or resolved?

So, perhaps Peter was asking: do we just keep doing this Matthew 18 process until the person stops doing harm?  However long that takes???

Jesus response gets us into the second cultural interpretation of the word 7 which is similar to the first.  That 7 was a sacred number of completion, so 7 doesn’t just mean 7 times 70 in the mathematical sense of 490 times.  70 times 7, or 77 times, depending on the translation means we keep forgiving for as long as it takes for forgiveness to be complete.

Which was totally confusing, so the next passage after this is a parable about a person who owes a lot of money, asks for mercy in paying it back and then shows no mercy to others.  So the person who shows no mercy doesn’t get mercy from his creditors either.

Once again bringing us back to the concept of Tsadikah – where justice and mercy must always go together.

So do we forgive people?

Yes, that is merciful.

Do we also hold boundaries with people who do harm?

Yes, that is justice.

Forgiveness does not require us to trust people who harm us repeatedly.

Forgiveness requires us to have compassion for our fellow humans who also make mistakes.