Confronting Sin: An Act of Love

In Nomine Iesu
St. Matthew 18:15-20
September 7, 2008
Pentecost 17A-Proper 18

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~

If I had a magic wand . . . If I had a genie in a bottle . . . If I spied a shooting star tonight . . . . do you know what my wish would be? My wish would be that one simple verse from today’s holy gospel would be heard and learned and taken to heart and practiced by Christians everywhere. I believe that if we Christians committed ourselves to live out these two sentences from the Savior, the world would be a different place. Your home and this church would be different places. Your marriage and your friendships would be transformed.

Jesus said: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.”

Few words of Jesus are more ignored than these. Few commands from Jesus are sinned against more readily and regularly than these. And rarely are God’s people hurt more deeply than when these words of Jesus are disregarded. Matthew chapter 18 is all about life in the church—about our life together as brothers and sisters in Christ. And Jesus makes two things perfectly clear about our life together in the church: 1. Sin happens, and 2. Confronting that sin is an act of love.

Jesus’ words for today are so important that we’ll take them one phrase at a time. Jesus said, “If your brother sins . . .” Brother here doesn’t mean male sibling. With the word “brother” Jesus is referring to a Christian brother—a brother or sister in the faith—a fellow Christian—fellow church members—perhaps even someone with whom we may kneel at the Communion rail. There are, of course, a lot of people who don’t fall into this category of “brother”—people without faith in Christ who may or may not sin against you. They are a different breed all together. They are not “brothers.” Jesus’ words here don’t necessarily apply to them when they sin against us.

When Jesus says, “If your brother sins,” it shows that even brothers and sisters in Christ can and do sin against one another. Jesus anticipated it. Jesus expected it. When you walk through the doors of the church, you are not entering a sin-free zone. You don’t have to be in this church or any other church for long to realize that God’s children are both saints . . . and sinners. Even here among people who share a common faith in the crucified and risen Christ—among people who will dwell together in heaven for all eternity—sin may abound. Jesus tells us how to deal with it.

Let’s break it down again. Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you . . .” With those two words (against you) Jesus indicates at what point you are to become involved in confronting a brother’s sin. Only if your brother sins against you do you get involved. Assuming, of course, that no one is in imminent danger, you are to say nothing to anyone. Even if you see it with your own two eyes, you are to say nothing to anyone. If you, for instance, witness a fellow member get pulled over for speeding as you drive home today, don’t slow down and give a shameful stare as you drive by. Don’t call me up or anyone else to pass along the news. For you see, the speedy sinner didn’t sin against you or me. It’s none of our business. The “governing authorities” (which we heard about in today’s epistle) will prescribe an appropriate punishment for the wrongdoer. Case closed.

Let’s take it from the top. Jesus said, “If your brother (a fellow Christian) sins against you (and only if he sins against you), go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” If your brother sins against you, then GO—GO to your brother! When you’ve been sinned against, that’s when YOU are to take the initiative. The onus is on you to begin the process of reconciliation. We’re not to sit around stewing, waiting for an apology. We’re not to tell everyone at the beauty shop or the coffee shop or the grocery store about the way that no-good so-and-so sinned against you. No, Jesus says, you go to your brother. At this point what happened between you is a private matter. Now, as you probably know, this is the point where the entire process always seems to run aground. Because it’s so much easier to stay put and stay hurt and mad and to nurse a grudge than it is to confront the sinner. But Jesus says, “Go.”

Why go to your brother? Because, Jesus says, “if he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” We are to go with the goal of winning back that brother—with the goal of restoring the broken relationship. We’re not to go with the goal of chewing him out or lecturing him or poking our finger in his face. Instead, we go to make him aware of his sin and the hurt he has caused in the hope that he will acknowledge his sin and repent. Confronting sin in this way is always an act of love.

Confronting sin in this way is a great and precious work in the eyes of God. What a mark of Christian faith and maturity to go to the one who has sinned against you plotting—not how to get revenge, but how to gain back your brother. “Blessed are the peace-makers,” Jesus said, “for they will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). How wonderfully different life would be if we all took these words of Jesus to heart.

There are no guarantees, however, as Jesus makes clear. This approach isn’t always successful. If you can’t make headway one-on-one, then, Jesus says, take along two or three others. If that doesn’t work, then and only then we are to tell it to the church. And then the whole church confronts the sinner, always aiming for repentance and reconciliation. And if that doesn’t work, the sinner is excommunicated—not as punishment, but as a last resort to bring about repentance and reconciliation. Confronting sin in this way—according to Jesus’ words—is always an act of love.

Jesus knows how difficult this is; after all, Jesus knows what it’s like to be sinned against. We sin against Him every day. Jesus knows what it takes to restore what is irreparably broken. For Jesus to win you back—for Jesus to make things right between you and the Father—it required that He come to us—as one of us human beings. It required His broken, bleeding body, dying on a cross. It took nails and thorns and spear—spitting, mocking and beating. That’s what Jesus endured to win you back from the damnation you have earned by your sins. That’s what Jesus did to make you His brother and His sister—to earn the forgiveness of all your sins.

Jesus says that we should go to those who sin against us. And you know that’s exactly what Jesus does with sinners like us every Sunday. Jesus doesn’t sit around waiting for sinners to apologize to Him. No, He puts the onus on Himself. He comes to us in the Divine Service. He confronts our sin in His holy Law. He listens to our repentance. He comes to you to win you back—to gain you again as His brother or sister. “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name,” He says, “there am I in the midst of them.”

Here is Jesus in the midst of us—speaking absolution, washing in baptism, feeding with His own body and blood for forgiveness of sins. Here Jesus deals with you in the very way that He would have you deal with others who sin against you—with patience and love and the deep desire to forgive and to restore what is broken. Because confronting sin is an act of love. And the ultimate act of love was when Jesus confronted your sin on Good Friday and took it all away.

As you leave here today I want you to think about a brother or sister who has sinned against you—someone with whom the bonds of love are so badly broken that it would seem to require a magic wand or a genie or a shooting star to make things right again. But let me remind you that you’ve got something far more powerful at your disposal for making things right again. You have the words of Jesus. With Him all things are possible—including difficult things like confronting sin—things like repentance and restoration and love even where love is lost. Has your brother or sister sinned against you? Then go to that person, because Jesus has promised that when you go, He Himself will go with you. Amen.