“Mutual Consolation of the Saints” Matthew 18:15-20

 “Be kind.” “Treat one another with respect.” “Say you’re sorry if you hurt someone.” Simple directions that we teach the youngest of children, and yet they still flummox us as adults. 

In some ways it seems odd that this idea of mutual consolation of the saints finds itself into a discussion about the sacraments. We have spent the last month together diving deep into the meaning of baptism and holy communion in our lives - which are strictly speaking the only two sacraments of our particular faith tradition. However, its the meaning in our lives part, that draws us into this discussion on the concluding week of this particular series. 

I grew up in a day and time when “community” was used as a buzzword. In fact, I went to a Wesleyan college that prided itself on being a Christian community - but if you asked any of us who attended what that actually meant, we probably wouldn’t be able to tell you in concrete terms. As a result, this idea of Christian community became elusive and we were pretty disappointed. 

The same thing can happen in churches. We fail to define what it means to be the Church, the body of Christ, and as a result, we all bring in our own expectations, which often leaves us feeling disappointed. 

Today’s scripture lesson is one that is unique to Matthew - you won’t find it in the other Gospels. Jesus is about to head towards Jerusalem, where he knows the death that is awaiting him. So he is desperately trying to explain this Kingdom thing to the disciples again - because when he is gone, its all going to be entrusted into their hands. To go and make the Gospel known. To go and really live it out. 

And maybe its the living it out part that Jesus knows is going to be tricky. Remember that at this point, Jesus’s followers are Jewish. They are living under the rule of the Roman government. And Jesus, he’s about to send them out to live this way that is contrary to anything and everything that they see around them. In fact, it was different from the way of life that they knew about. 

Jesus knows that these faith communities focusing on the Kingdom of God are going to need one another, so he wants to leave them with some concrete instructions - if you have disagreements, which you will, this is how you disagree differently. This is how you support one another on this side of eternity.

But because we are on this side of eternity, the community that we create is going to be imperfect. And in its imperfection, we are going to find some imperfect people, people like you and like me, who don’t get it right all of the time. So we need to know how to live when things aren’t as we expected. 

So what does that look like? Chiefly never giving up. Yes, we know that sin breaks apart are human relationships, but Jesus is essentially saying, you keep going back to that person until they truly listen to you. Why? Because they are your brother or sister and you need them. And they need you. 

In essence, Jesus is telling us how to love one another when its hard.

Friends, that is a message that we still need to hear today. Because we are imperfect community of human beings, there are times that we are going to hurt one another. We may not intend to, but it can still happen. There are times when we will let our own wants self-centeredly guide us over and above thinking about what is best of the body. There are going to be times when we think we know everything and rush in to make a sweeping decision, when there are really some other voices we need to hear from first. 

So what are we going to do on days like that? What are we going to do when it is hard to love the person who is sitting next to us in the pew?

The way of the world tells us to write them off. Someone wrongs you? You don’t need them in your life any more. Think of how many times this has been the broken approach to even some of our most important relationships. 

Other times we try to tell others who are hurt how they should act, saying things like “well that’s just how that person is” or “you need to get over it.”

Resting in-between those two extremes is this third way of Jesus. A way that is marked by continually showing up for one in a way that doesn’t make excuses or seeks to cut people off, but instead has the sole purpose of building up the body. 

Which is something we do not see modeled in the world around us. 

This way of Jesus is about reaching out to a person who has sinned or caused harm and saying, we want to walk alongside out in a way that builds you up and restores this community to right relationships. And we are going to keep showing up again and again and again.

In many ways it reminds me of Peter asking Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother or sister - is seven too many? To which Jesus replies, no seventy times seven. 

In other words, saying “well I tried” and only trying once is not going to cut it in this faith community. 

The problem, brothers and sisters, is that I still don’t see a lot of this happening today, do you? I see people who deeply wound others within the body of Christ, to the point where folks feel that it is unsafe to belong, and we never correct those individuals causing harm. And I equally see us pretending that there aren’t any problems at all, which leaves unaddressed things sitting like an elephant in the room. 

We need this third way of Jesus just as much today as the disciples did long ago. We need this way that invites us to ask how things could truly be different if we live our lives striving for reconciliation. 

Remember those sacraments we have been talking about for the last few weeks - holy communion that helps us to remember that we are the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood; baptism - that reminds us of our need for forgiveness - those aren’t just acts that we do. They should get into our hearts and spirits in a way that makes us want to be in right relationship with God and with others. Because our faith is not a solo journey. Yes, it is true that no one else can make the decision for you to follow Jesus, but it is equally true that we are not supposed to walk this life of faith alone. 

So lets sit in these questions in the coming days. How do we support one another in the body of Christ? And what would it look like if we lived into these verses in Matthew? What example could we give the world? And how may this world even change because of it? We’ve tried the other ways friends - the ignoring bad behavior and the cutting off for the slightest thing. It doesn’t work. So let us instead step into this new way - the way of our Savior. Amen.