Proper 18, Year A, Track 1
Exodus 12:1-4
Psalm 149
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20
"How many of us, when we hear the command to “love our neighbor as ourselves,” ever ask why? This teaching is a fundamental part of our faith, a commandment put above all others in scripture. But why can’t it be enough to simply love God, when our relationship with God ultimately determines our salvation?
As I was preparing this sermon my thoughts brought me back to the devastating wildfires in Maui, and especially the town of Lahaina. I remember in the days that followed how much my heart swelled with grief reading articles about the mounting death toll, and the near total loss of property that included so much irreplaceable cultural heritage of the Hawaiian people. I recalled my own visits to Lahaina, shielding myself from the hot midday sun under the branches of its great banyan tree, watching the ocean waves lap at the walls of the marina, having lunch at Fleetwood’s, and spending hours at museums at shops along Front Street. I mourned for Lahaina, but amid that mourning found cause to believe that it had not all been lost. The strong tradition of ho’okipa, selfless hospitality to others, remained intact. There is a powerful holiness in selfless love that can overcome any trial or tragedy and destroy divisions between us.
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, Jesus refers to loving your neighbor as yourself as the “new commandment.” But the concept derives from quite an old one. In Leviticus 19:18 God says, “’Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” God did not interact directly with the Israelites much before the Exodus, but God desired to dwell among them. Following the Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the Israelites’ false worship of a golden calf, the book of Leviticus provided detailed instructions on how to make oneself acceptable to be in the presence of God. Paul highlights this commandment for the Jewish Christians in Rome and places it above all the other old commandments in the Jewish law, just as Christ did before him, presenting it as a universal commandment. While it was not a “new commandment” in its language, it was new in its application, extending beyond the people of Israel to those of every nation. While the Jewish law in Leviticus required extensive rituals of purification to be in the presence of God, Paul indicates to the Roman church and us that the only way to fulfill the law and make ourselves acceptable to the presence of God is by abiding by this commandment.
In today’s gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus elaborates a bit on the fulfillment of this commandment by instructing us in the right way of reconciling with one another. “If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two witnesses.’” Notice here that Jesus is quoting, this time directly from Deuteronomy 19:15: “One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Jesus continues in Matthew 18:17 saying, “If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” In the NRSV, “pagan” is translated as “Gentile,” and here Jesus rather amusingly turns our expectations upside down. After all, this scripture is recorded in the Gospel attributed to Matthew, who was a tax collector before Jesus called him to follow him. Just a chapter earlier, in Matthew 12, Jesus’ actions are identified as a fulfillment of the words of Isaiah: “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles…And in his name the gentiles will hope.” So while our expectation of this verse may seem to be that the unrepentant brother or sister should be cast out of the church for refusing to listen, Jesus is actually telling us the opposite. We are to continue to offer ourselves unconditionally in love. We do not heal or grow in Christ by closing our doors on those who we feel have wronged us or by gatekeeping who can join us on our walk with Christ.
I spoke earlier about the Hawaiian cultural value of ho’okipa, and how it restored my hope that Lahaina would recover. During the fires, as people desperately fled to the harbor, seeking shelter in the water as the blaze tore through the town, local boaters braved the smoke, the fire, and the waves to pull as many people as they could to safety. In the aftermath of the fire, before the Red Cross or FEMA arrived, when displaced residents streamed into surrounding towns, the first relief supplies came from aboard many of those same boats and from all over the island. The love shown to neighbors who had lost everything is what unifies a devastated community. Paul knew that it has the power to heal a divided church, and Christ knew it has the power to mend a broken world.
At the conclusion of the Gospel reading today Jesus tells us, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” This again recalls Jesus’ quote of Jewish law about the presence of two or three witnesses, but whereas in Deuteronomy these witnesses gather for a judgment, here the “two or three” are both the observers of and participants in a reconciliation, forgiving and loving one another as Christ unconditionally loves us. When the love between neighbors is strained, we are called to reconcile with one another, and by that reconciliation, we make our hearts acceptable for God to dwell among and within us. When we are united in love with God and one another, extraordinary things happen that show forth a bit more of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The works of selfless love are our evidence to the world of the sincerity of our Christian mission and show that while sometimes battered, we are never broken. Amen."