Scripture Daily

Context No. 1329 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 18:12-20: in context

12“What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? 13If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 15“If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. 16But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. 18Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”

Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep: a man with a hundred sheep, losing one, leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one that strayed, and rejoices over finding it more than over the ninety-nine that never wandered. It is not the will of your Father, Jesus says, that one of these little ones should perish. He then gives instructions for a brother who sins: go and tell him his fault privately; if he will not listen, take one or two others; if he still refuses, tell it to the church. He speaks of binding and loosing, and promises that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is among them.

The parable and the instructions belong together, though we often separate them. Jesus first shows the Father's heart toward the one who strays, the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine and searches until he finds the lost sheep, unwilling that even one should perish. Then, immediately, he tells his followers what to do when a brother sins, and the whole procedure, the private word, the two witnesses, the appeal to the church, is the lost-sheep heart put into practice within the community. The aim of confronting a sinning brother is stated plainly in the first step: if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. The goal is not to win an argument, or to expose him, or to be proven right, but to gain him back, to go after the one who has strayed and bring him home. That reframes the hard work of addressing another's sin entirely. It is meant to be an act of seeking, not of condemning, undertaken by people who share the Father's unwillingness to let even one be lost. Too often we confront in order to vent, or to establish who was right, and the brother is driven further off rather than gained. The shepherd's heart does it differently, patiently, privately at first, wanting only to bring the wanderer back. Where that spirit is at work, among two or three gathered in his name, Christ himself is present in the seeking.

When I address someone's sin, am I seeking to gain my brother back, like the shepherd after the one lost sheep, or only to win the argument and be proven right, and does the Father's unwillingness to lose even one shape how I go about it?

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