Daily Devotional • October 27
A Reading from Matthew 18:15-20
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.”
Meditation
I have a confession to make: I really do not like these verses from St. Matthew. I despise confrontation and I am even less keen on the vulnerability inherent in telling someone he or she hurt me in some way. I would much rather skip to Matthew’s earlier passage about turning the other cheek.
Taken in isolation, these passages seem to offer two opposing options in dealing with one who sins against you. Taken in context of Matthew’s Gospel as a whole, we see that they are two sides of the same coin. We can see this in another separate, and yet related, passage. In Matthew 5:21-25, we hear Jesus say that refraining from the outward act of murder is not wholly sufficient in escaping the judgment of the sixth commandment. Even being angry can leave one open to the hell of fire.
One might expect Jesus to conclude with: “and, therefore, do not be angry lest you risk judgment and damnation of your own soul,” but he doesn’t. He says: if your brother has something against you and is stewing in his own anger, for the sake of his soul, drop what you’re doing and go and reconcile with him.
In his commentary on today’s scripture reading, Saint Augustine writes: “Therefore, when any one sins against us, let us take great care, but not merely for ourselves. For it is a glorious thing to forget injuries. Just set aside your own injury, but do not neglect your brother’s wounds” (Ancient Christian Commentary, pg. 77).
Now, our Lord is not asking abuse victims to challenge their abusers alone. Rather, our Lord is challenging us to understand that if our biggest fear in approaching our brother is loss of face, then we need to understand that there is more at risk here than saving our pride. We may set aside our own injury by turning the other cheek, but we cannot neglect the wounds our brother’s sin has done to his own soul. We must do the uncomfortable thing and talk to him.
Sarah Cornwell is a laywoman and an associate of the Eastern Province of the Community of St. Mary. She and her husband have seven children and they live in Wheaton, Illinois.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
Brotherhood of St. Andrew, Louisville, Kentucky
The Scottish Episcopal Church
