Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19A)

September 17, 2023

Text: Matt. 18:21-35

            Who can say what caused the controversy in the first place?  But whatever it was, poor Euodia and Syntyche were called out by name in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, their row on record for the rest of human history, drudged up in our minds every time we read it, and with no indication of closure.  Do they make up?  Or is their relationship forever broken?  Is the Communion of these Christian women forever shattered?  We don’t know.  Paul doesn’t say.  But one thing we do know.  It is their Christian duty to confess their sins to God and to one another, forgive each other, and be reconciled.  For forgiveness of sins and reconciliation is the very business of God our heavenly Father, who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, for this very purpose.  And so, forgiveness of sins and reconciliation are the very business of the Holy Christian Church, those called and gathered into Communion (union with each other, as well as with God) by the Holy Spirit in the Name of Jesus Christ.  “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord,” Paul writes (Phil. 4:2; ESV).  “Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel” (v. 3).

            No one wants to be told they have to forgive.  Forgiveness is hard.  Especially when you’ve been grievously hurt or deeply wounded.  The fact is, the forgiveness of our sins required the death of God on the cross to make atonement and effect reconciliation.  And so our forgiveness for one another, in some sense, requires our death.  It means death to self.  It means denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. 

            Peter thought he was being generous when he suggested he forgive his neighbor up to seven times.  The rabbis of the day taught that one was only obligated to forgive his neighbor up to three times.  Three strikes and you’re out!  Well, in that case, Peter was right, humanly speaking.  But as one who had found his life in Christ crucified and risen, he now had a well of generosity to draw upon that was infinitely deeper.  Our forgiveness for the neighbor who sins against us flows from the wounds of Jesus.  Your forgiveness for an offending brother or sister flows from God’s forgiveness for you.

            But it has been a struggle for Christians from time immemorial.  Think of all the biblical figures who struggled with interpersonal conflict and forgiveness.  Beginning with Adam and Eve in the wake of the fall (It’s her fault, Lord!  And Yours for giving her to me).  Cain and Abel (jealousy resulting in murder).  Sarah and Hagar (the casting out of the slave woman and her son).  Jacob and Esau (years of murderous hatred and division, finally set aside in a beautiful example of reconciliation).  Leah and Rachel (competing for their husband’s love).  And, of course, Joesph and his brothers.  Cast into a pit.  Sold into slavery.  Imprisoned.  Presumed dead. 

            There are examples in the New Testament, as well.  Paul and Barnabas separate after arguing over whether to take John Mark on their second missionary journey (Acts 15:36 ff.).  And then, Paul has quite the confrontation with none other than the Apostle Peter over a doctrinal issue: “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party… But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Gal. 2:11-12, 14).  Now, Peter especially, in this case, had occasion to repent, confess, and be forgiven and reconciled.  Paul was right.  And yet, perhaps even Paul needed to apologize and confess his own bitterness, sharp words, and cold behavior toward his brother.  Even when we’re right, because we’re sinners, we can always, upon honest self-examination, identify our own sin in any conflict.  Joesph was right as far as it goes, but when he was a kid, he was a little snot toward his brothers and parents.  I can be right, and know I’m right, because the Bible tells me so, yet allow my righteous zeal to be motivated by irritation and impatience rather than love for my neighbor.  And then I must repent, and be forgiven, and reconciled. 

            It should be no surprise that whenever sinners come together, they sin against one another.  Even forgiven sinners, covered and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  We have many opportunities to practice mutual confession and forgiveness, to be reconciled to one another in Christ.  It is our Christian duty.  Forgiveness, remember… not a feeling, but a declaration of cancelled debt and reconciled relationship, and then acting toward our forgiven neighbor accordingly.  When we refuse to forgive our neighbor and be reconciled, we are like the first servant in our Lord’s parable.  We fail to understand the unfathomable debt we owe to God for our sin, and the unimaginable profundity of the full and free forgiveness He grants us in His Son, Jesus Christ.  If we understood it, we couldn’t possibly hold the petty debts of our neighbor against him.  We couldn’t possibly fail to forgive, for our forgiveness for our neighbor flows from God’s forgiveness for us in Christ. 

            Look what our God has done with the sin that separates us from Him.  He has put it to death in the body of His Son, Jesus, on the cross.  He gave His own Son into death to be reconciled to us.  Now, look also what He does with our neighbor’s sins against us.  He not only enables you, now, to forgive your neighbor by the power of His forgiveness.  He also turns the evil so that it may be used for great good, to accomplish God’s holy will.  Joseph and his brothers are a prime example.  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20).  Not just the children of Israel.  You.  Because God kept Israel alive by the hand of Joesph in Egypt, the Lord Jesus Christ was born to be your Savior.  You are a direct beneficiary of God’s turning the sin committed against Joseph into an act of salvation.  And, therefore, you are a direct beneficiary of the fact that Joseph did not deal with his brothers as their sin against him deserved, but forgave them, reconciled with them, provided for them, loved them. 

            Paul’s quarrel with Peter brought about greater doctrinal clarity with regard to the Gentiles’ place in the Church, and that is why we Gentiles are gathered together here this afternoon.  Paul’s separation from Barnabas resulted in two mission teams going forth in place of one: Barnabas and Mark on the one hand, and Paul and Silas on the other.  God is forever turning what we mean for evil into great good.  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).  The greatest evil perpetrated by man, the murder of the incarnate Son of God, resulted in the greatest good, the Sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the whole world, and eternal life for all believers in Christ… forgiveness and life for you.

            But see, that now necessarily results in forgiveness and reconciliation with one another whenever there is sin and conflict in our midst.  Paul and Barnabas reconciled, and the proof is Paul’s attitude toward John Mark, who is evidently with Paul as he writes Colossians, 1 Corinthians, and Philemon, and whom Paul wants present with him as his life draws to a close.  “Get Mark and bring him with you,” Paul writes to Timothy, “for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11).  And Paul and Peter are reconciled.  Peter even testifies that Paul’s letters are Holy Scripture when he writes: “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16).  According to tradition, these two pillars were martyred in Rome on the same day under the Emperor Nero, Paul by beheading, Peter by crucifixion upside down.  Brothers in ministry.  Brothers in martyrdom.  We know Jacob and Esau were reconciled, allowing Israel to come back into the Promised Land.  And we know Joseph was reconciled to his brothers, thus keeping many people alive.  And we know that in each case, God turned the evil into good. 

            So you.  You can take it to the bank.  So, do some honest reflecting.  What conflicts have divided you from your neighbors, from your brothers and sisters in Christ?  Who do you need to forgive?  From whom do you need forgiveness?  We don’t know about Euodia and Syntyche.  I’d like to think, and I have great hope, that they were reconciled, and we will see them both together, in perfect Communion, at the Resurrection of the dead.  But they serve as an example for us.  Our Father’s business is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation in Christ Jesus.  Our business, therefore, is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation in Christ Jesus.  Beloved, love your enemies and pray for them.  Confess your sins to God and to one another.  Forgive as you have been forgiven.  And bask in the reality that you are forgiven and loved by God for Jesus’ sake.  God works all things together for our good.  If you know that, and trust it, go absolve your neighbor.  That is, after all, what you do when you pray: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  God does.  And so, you do.  And then you can come to the Lord’s Supper together in real and true Communion.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.