Reconciliation: A limitless overture

An ethical response toward those who wrong us develops across our readings this Sunday. In the first reading, we hear that the prophet Ezekiel has been appointed the watchman over the house of Israel. He is commissioned to confront those planning wickedness and to dissuade them from their misdeeds. The prophet is assured that even if they don’t listen, he will not be responsible when they are punished. If, however, he fails to reprimand and chasten them and they continue in their wrongdoings, they will be punished with death and the prophet will be held responsible. Thus, this first reading hints at the developing understanding in our tradition of the responsibility we have for one another’s recovery from missteps in our community lives. 

In this Sunday’s second reading, Paul provides sound grounding for our attention to each other’s well-being, especially when we have failed to heed God’s commandments. He reminds us in his letter to the Romans of the Great Commandment, focusing especially upon the second half, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Moreover, he elaborates that “love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom 13:10). Failing to address an offense done against you by your neighbor, harboring ill feelings due to harmful words spoken to you by another, refusing to speak to a person who has insulted you, or simply ending a relationship because someone has wronged you, all ultimately add to the harm. In these instances, we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves and add to the discord that another has caused.  

In chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel, a chapter often referred to as Jesus’ “Sermon on the Community” or “Discourse on Church Life,” Christ further advances our ethical response to this frequently occurring challenge. Aware of the shortcomings, vulnerabilities, and frailties of communal existence, Jesus invites a more compassionate approach toward one who commits wrongdoing in the community. First, Jesus urges us to talk with the one who has offended us. If that fails, we are to take along one or two others who, by their witnessing, might persuade a change of heart in this individual. If, however, that still is unsuccessful, we invite the “church,” meaning the larger community, to serve as an instrument of persuasion to this evildoer to right the wrong that has been done. Finally, if none of these overtures succeed, Jesus says, treat this individual “as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (Mt 15:17). 

These various attempts to make peace with patient compassion toward those who wrong us reflect the high value Jesus places upon the importance of reconciliation and restoration of one to the community. His last instruction, however, is often heard as permission finally to marginalize or even reject the one who has done wrong. Yet, that interpretation seems at odds with other instances where Jesus teaches there are no limits to how many times we must forgive or work toward restoration of relationships severed by wrongdoing. In next Sunday’s Gospel reading, we will hear Peter ask Jesus how many times he needs to forgive one who has offended. Enlisting an exaggerated multiple of the number seven, which often signifies totality in scripture, Jesus answers Peter, “Seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:22), making it clear that we must always seek reconciliation. Or when he tells the parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus identifies compassionate forgiveness as the disposition of the king (representing God), who forgives the servant who owes an unpayable debt (Mt 18:21-35). Here Jesus reveals a compassionate, forgiving God even before those who cannot make appropriate recompense for their sinfulness.

So, what might Jesus mean when he says to treat the recalcitrant sinner as a Gentile or a tax collector? The idea that Jesus is suggesting limits to reconciliation contradicts many of his teachings but especially contrasts with his personal encounters. He called tax collectors to follow him and made them his disciples (Mt 9:9-13). In another Gospel passage, he seeks out Zacchaeus, a tax collector, to stay in his house (Lk 19:1-10), and in some instances even eats with tax collectors (Mt 9:10-13). 

Regarding his relationship with Gentiles, Jesus willingly heals the Roman centurion’s child (Mt 8:5-13). He also received instruction from the Canaanite woman about the scope of inclusion in God’s kingdom and praised her for it (Mt 15:21-28). Moreover, toward the end of this Sunday’s Gospel passage, Jesus attempts to expand the mindset of the Judeo-Christian community to include all Gentiles in his Great Commission. Here Jesus instructs his disciples to go out and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:16-20). 

Therefore, when Jesus invites us to treat resistant wrongdoers like a Gentile or tax collector, he means for us to continue recognizing them, never to close the door on them or anyone. He urges us never to justify excluding or ending our outreach to them. Finally, we must resist deciding that they are unreconcilable. Such verdicts are the sole prerogative of our God, the Great Judge, whom Jesus taught us in the parable of the unforgiving servant, forgives even those who can’t pay their debts. And, perhaps, each one of us, at some time in our life, can be grateful for that.