Wednesday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 16, 2023

Matthew 18, 15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” 

We see here the Lord Jesus promulgating laws regarding the functioning of his Church.  Previously we saw him refining or strengthening laws that involved virtue and sin.  In this reading he gives laws for the proper functioning of the organized body of his followers.  This tells us that after three years of public ministry, his followers have coalesced into a fairly consistent and fairly large group of men and women out of the enormous crowds which heard his preaching and witnessed his miracles earlier.  It is now necessary to establish rules for order, especially as the Lord directs his flock towards the future.

It is interesting to hear our Lord speak on procedural matters, and to compare what he says here with, say, God’s instructions to Moses on how a person may become ritually impure and then how he may purify himself again.  Jesus begins his instruction on the lowest level of contact between the sinner and the person against whom he sinned.  If the person who committed the sin expresses sorrow for the sin, having come to his senses, then the matter closes.  If not, it can gradually become a matter for Church leadership.  This would include sins committed directly against a person or persons as well as the sin of scandal.  For the latter, we have an example of how St. Paul acted.  In 1 Corinthians 5, 1, Paul speaks of a man professing Christianity while living with his mother as though she were his wife.  The sin is not directed against him, but it is a scandal, and Paul takes action, and has judged “to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5, 5).  This is completely in line with the final sentence that Jesus commands to take in the face of an unrepentant sinner: “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”  That is, have nothing to do with this person.  Do not even talk to him.  This is done to show the sinner the seriousness of what he has done in order to bring him back to he fold, but also as a matter of justice as well as to protect other believers from him.

“Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  This must have stunned the Apostles, and they probably did not understand this at the time.  Jesus will say this again to them after his Resurrection but only with the Descent of the Holy Spirit will they begin to appreciate what this means.  In short, it means that they will stand in for Christ among his followers after the Ascension and speak with the same authority with which he spoke.

“I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.”  In the context of the Lord’s words, we must understand that he is speaking of praying for spiritual necessities such as graces and that which will lead to the conversion of souls and the glory of God.  “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  The Lord reminds us here that following him is a social activity, not a solitary one.  We members of his Body walk towards him, making progress day by day, and we walk together, helping one another, consoling and correcting, as needed.