Matthew 18:15-20; September 6, 2026; Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The title of today’s sermon is: “Working with people is easy…”
Which, of course, is hyperbolic. Sarcastic. Because no, it’s not easy to work with people, unless you’re me and have the greatest staff ever assembled!
But for the lot of you, who likely aren’t as lucky, it isn’t easy at all.
And it hasn’t been since like forever; since the days of Adam and Eve where they couldn’t even coordinate simple instructions about apples and trees.
Evidently, collegiality wasn’t wired into our DNA, my friends. Because just as it was for the first of our species, so it was for kings and prophets, Jesus and his disciples, Paul and his congregations. And this discord between us is still experienced in our workplaces, our communities, and, also, our homes.
Our good friend and co-chair of the Deacons, Tim Biskup, found (from somewhere) the art for the bulletin cover this week. It’s a note from a small child addressed to God. It goes like this:
“Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family, and I can never do it.” Signed, “Nan.”
And little Nan’s got it right, unfortunately so.
For sometimes the hardest people to love demonstrably are those we are in closest proximity to. The people we see and live and work with every day.
And isn’t it wild that the things that unravel us are often the smallest things that don’t matter at all? Who left the dishes out; who left the clothes in the laundry; why are you five minutes late; why didn’t you send the email immediately? And isn’t it crazier how we often take our minor frustrations majorly out on the people we claim to support and love?
Yeah, living and working with people is hard, my friends. It really is.
But good news is on the horizon! For today we get wise instructions about how to fix all this! About how to work and live with each other through conflict.
Words of wisdom that on the surface can seem rather harsh if we’re being honest, especially this little dig at gentiles and tax collectors here at the end of verse 17 (“if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.”)
Some things really have been true since forever, huh? The IRS was doomed from the start. Destined to always be unliked. Sorry, Dad (he worked for the IRS for 25+ years).
And yet, despite this verse, we get a good and straight-forward step-by-step tutorial about how to reconcile with each other; the first verse setting it up well: “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” – verse 15.
Work out your differences, your faults, when alone. This is good. This is wise. Doing so not in line of sight, or ear shot, of others, especially nosy little children.
But, to be honest, I sometimes wonder if maybe our children would do better in this crazy world seeing adults actually work through conflicts, their disagreements, in front of them, rather than always being shielded from this invaluable process.
Provided, of course, that the process doesn’t explode into yelling and screaming matches, disrespect and expletives, I believe our future might improve if we all modeled honest dialog in tricky situations, where differences of opinion are ironed on the table for others to see.
The next verses though are where this gets considerably harder: presenting evidence.
“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. If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.” – verse 16 and the beginning of verse 17
Eesh, ever have to do that before? Present evidence in front of your spouse, or in front of a friend or colleague? That they are wrong? That they were wrong? That they have wronged you?
That’s usually where things get dicey and super-defensive, right? And where this whole passage and aim of reconciliation can quickly break down.
But just because it can, my friends, and that what follows is rarely easy, doesn’t mean the process isn’t necessary.
Moreover, according to our text, sometimes reconciliation necessitates us that we take it a step further, bringing in outside council to achieve a resolution, to labor together with the church as our witness.
Trusting that even if it’s painful and difficult, embarrassing and uncomfortable, Jesus’ presence will yet be with us the whole time.
It’s funny, isn’t it (or, ironic as Alanis Morrisette might sing), that of all passages, this famous saying of wherever two or three are gathered in his name comes from this one.
Not from a joyful text where people are singing hymns around the fire. Not from a moment where Jesus is feeding the hungry, or where the disciples are gathered in harmony. No, we get this famous saying in a teaching about conflict! When things get messy between us.
Wherever two or three are gathered, arguing, disagreeing, and laboring, there here is… provided it’s all done in his name
And that’s the really important part.
For while the message today is indeed centered on how to work together, how to live together, it’s also about how to disengage from each other when Jesus’ principles have been all but forgotten.
As in, when all other options towards reconciliation have been exhausted, and when one side acts like “gentiles” who aren’t interested in compromise because they aren’t playing by the same rules of engagement, like being collegial, respectful, fair, and truthful, we are given allowance to walk away.
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” But, where we forget HIS name, HIS rules and HIS ways, he might not be.
For “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.” – Matthew 18:18.
Here, near the end, let’s talk about what those words mean, as that verse can be somewhat confusing otherwise.
“Binding” and “loosing’ are judicial terms, typically referring to forbidding and permitting; convicting and acquitting.
In other words, as one commentary put it, if the process of reconciliation is reneged upon, or rejected by another, “then we are authorized to regretfully convict or ‘bind’ that situation and disassociate with the offending person until they change their sinful behavior.”
Or, as N.T. Wright writes, “As Christians, we might not like the sound of this, but we need to ask what the alternatives are. If there is real evil involved, refusal to face it means a necessary break of fellowship. And reconciliation can only come after the problem has been faced.”
My friends, the goal of this lesson, and these verses, is to encourage us as Jesus’ disciples to face our problems. To face each other in search of a solution. But where we have tried and cannot, we are also given agency to put our hands up and say, “peace be with you.”
And this is important. For while all are welcome in this church and invited to this table, we are still required to be decent in and around it. To not disenfranchise others from it. To not abuse the name of Jesus by abusing and sacrificing each other.
Amen?
Amen.
