Jesus tell the disciples that if someone has sinned against you then go tell him his fault between him and you alone. If that doesn't work than bring a couple of witnesses. If he still refuses tell the church. If he still doesn't budge than treat him as you would a gentile or tax collector.
A couple of things:
First we should keep the sins a private matter between ourselves and those involved. So often today, people want everything to be a public matter immediately and they wish to broadcast their dirty laundry to every one and all. Think of the number of law suits in the world. The world is filled with adolescents who never learned to do for themselves so they want every one else involved as well.
Jesus reminds us that we should be discrete, especially in regards to protecting their reputation and ours. We must fight the urge to gossip and let every one in on the dirty little secret. True dignity demands a more discrete approach to seeking reconciliation.
Secondly, Jesus ask us to treat them as we would a gentile or tax collector. What does this mean?
Pope Benedict in his address on World Mission Sunday, reminds us that we all have a duty to be missionaries bringing forth the liberation power of the gospel. He reminds us that just as Paul was a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles, bound to offer the liberation of Christ to the gentiles, so too we must also embrace this mission. We must bind ourselves to offer liberation.
In other words, if our brother doesn't acknowledge his sin, are we not bound to offer the forgiveness won in Christ anyway. After all, it was Christ who reconciled the world in him self through the blood of the cross, and then he entrusted that message to each of us at Baptism.
To treat them as a gentile suggest we offer them time and time again the power of liberation in forgiveness gain by Christ for us.
Only then, Pope Benedict reminds us, do we truly dedicate ourselves completely and unconditionally to spreading the perfume of Christ's Charity around the world by offering it first to those around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment