The Whole Community

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.

- from Matthew 18:17

Let us give you a little context for what Jesus is saying here. In the two verses that immediately precede this passage, Jesus outlines a process for private and personal confrontation. What you see here is NOT the first step!

And, at the time when Jesus was teaching, the church and the community of the people of God held a great deal more cachet in society. When a brother or sister is stuck in sin, Jesus refuses to abandon them without trying every possible means of rescue. This last stage involves the whole community leveraging their social capital to turn the brother or sister around.

Refusing to listen to the whole community comes with tremendous consequences. Treating someone like a pagan or a tax collector would be akin to treating them like they were not a part of the church at all. They couldn’t just go to another church just down the street. They couldn’t escape accountability through relocation. This would have tremendous social, relational and economic ramifications.

In the end, Jesus tells us to give them what they want, to stop pretending. If they want out of God’s community they can leave God’s community. And this changes things.

At this point, we make a shift of approach and expectation. We change our interdependence and accountability and responsibility to each other to match the new reality of our relationship with each other. We transition from correction to invitation. It’s no longer “you know the Father and know this is not His way” but rather, “come and meet or re-meet the God who loves you and calls you to follow him!”

In the end, we respect the new boundary and both parties live with the consequences.

As we wrap up our reflection on this passage for the week, is there anyone you need to engage or re-engage? Is there anyone for whom you need to embrace the decision they’ve made and make peace with the different category of relationship you now have with them?

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