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Breaking Open the Word

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In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches us a practical, methodical way to deal with confronting sinful behavior in others. First, we are to privately confront the situation. This step of course is often skipped in reality, because as sinners, we generally love to gossip about the sins of others without doing what love demands – private discussion. This of course turns us away from love – which is willing the good of the other. This is willing the harm of the other and is of course sinful – potentially as bad as whatever sin we might be “confronting”. Jesus then offers a second step – to bring witnesses, and should even that fail, to bring it before the church. This progressive approach means that the hope and intent is repentance and restoration, not self-righteous vindictiveness. Jesus also points out the role of the apostles (and by extension, the Church), to “bind” and “loosen”. Clearly, the Church has the power to teach, correct, reconcile and discipline. This gospel passage ends in the familiar “Where two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them”. It’s interesting to note that this is typically generalized to mean that Jesus is present in any gathering, but the context in which it appears is the difficult work in this gospel passage – the Church exercising her authority to seek God’s will and restore what is broken.

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October 4

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