Saint Margaret’sAnglican ChurchBudapest, HungaryExodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew18:15-20

Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am

there among them.

A characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew, from which

our account this morning is taken, is that it gives us

five great discourses, or sermons if you prefer, of our

Lord. The first, the Sermon on the Mount, is arguably

the longest and certainly the most famous. In it, we find the Beatitudes of our Lord and

the Lord’s Prayer, for instance. Our passage this morning on the other hand comes from

our Lord’s last, and shortest, discourse, one sometimes called the Discourse, or Sermon,

on the Church. This is also one of only two passages in any of the Gospels in which the

word church even occurs. We heard the other one just weeks ago, as our Lord declared

that he would build his Church upon the faith of Apostles like Peter, the first to declare

that Jesus is the Messiah.

What might have been meant by church at this early point in the development of the faith

is a bit difficult to say. Certainly, the church, as Matthew the Evangelist would have

understood it, would not yet have had bishops and priests as we know of them today. No

Archdeaconry Synod either, I am afraid. No Chaplaincy Council and no Safeguarding

Officer. And no magnificent building. Whether the early Church on the other had potluck

or bring-and-share fellowship luncheons or not is also not clear. I suspect they probably

did.

But what they certainly had was a common faith and faithful members and disciples, like

Peter and the other Apostles. And they had everyday ordinary people, lots of them, like

you and me. And that budding Church community was clearly as filled with frail and

fragile human beings, sinners, as is the Church still today so many centuries later. For

alas, where two or three are gathered together, to paraphrase our Lord, where two or

three are gathered together, there is also, sooner or later, discord, sin, hurt, and blame.

What to do about it is what our Lord addresses this morning in our Gospel account. And

our Lord’s prescription for conflict resolution in the early Church is in many ways as

modern as any contemporary organisation’s Human Resources Manual or, for that matter,

any self-help book written in the past few years. There is actually nothing esoteric or

mystical about it. Just plain old common sense, as uncommon as common sense may be.

“Go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone,” instructs our Lord. Try in

other words to resolve matters privately among yourselves. If that is not successful, bring

in a couple of willing, or even perhaps unwilling, witnesses. Work the problem, as we say.

Seek reconciliation with the one who has sinned or hurt you. Resolve the issue. Needless

to say, so often easier said than done. But worth the effort, nevertheless, as Jesus goes on

to conclude. “If the member listens to you, you have regained that one,” he says. The

words are redolent of Jesus’ story or parable of the Lost Sheep, and the effort the

shepherd expends in rescuing it.

And that in essence is what Church in any age is all about. Rescue, redemption,

forgiveness, and community. If there is no peace and unity of purpose within the Church,

there can be no hope of bringing the peace of Christ to those outside the Church. It was

true in Matthew’s time; it is true still today. I mentioned that this is one of only two

passages in which our Lord speaks of church. And these two passages, the one in which

he speaks of the foundation of the Church, which we considered weeks ago, and this one,

in which he now speaks of a recalcitrant member of the Church, are also the only two

passages in the Gospels in which our Lord speaks of binding and loosing, strange terms to

us perhaps, but ones which would have been familiar to Jesus’ hearers so long ago.

For, they refer in a sense to the juridical authority of the rabbis and scribes of the time,

who could forbid or prohibit certain activities as well as allow others, quite a power in an

authoritarian culture. Quite a power anytime or anywhere. And here the text speaks of

the role of the apostles and disciples in that early Church community, emphasizing the

importance of humility and harmony among all believers. It is in this context that the

disciples of Jesus, not just Peter, not just the Twelve, but the disciples themselves, you

and me, bind and loose. But bind and loose what...? Bind up the wounds of the broken-

hearted and disconsolate; and loose the bonds of sin and evil. That too is what the Church

is about.

We live in a time of polarization at least as troubling as was the first century in Palestine

or Israel. Just look at Israel and Palestine today. People and nations are divided about all

sorts of issues. You name it. But then, we stop and remember that all times and all places

are times of conflict. Ask anyone who lived through World War Two here in Central

Europe. It is at some level in the nature of humankind to have differing opinions and so to

disagree. But the conflict which leads to sin and violence is of a different order. It is the

conflict which pits person against person; the one which demeans and humiliates the

other; the one which denigrates the other in order to glorify the self. The sin against you

becomes the sin against all of us; against the Church. Against Christ himself.

But if Christ and his Church are about anything, it remains reconciliation. And,

reconciliation, if it is to be successful, must mean respect for the other, in Church and out,

even sometimes when we are not feeling particularly respectful of the other. It means, as

this Gospel narrative suggests, conversation and dialogue. And encounter. Hard work, in

other words. It also means humility and love. As followers of Christ, it cannot be for us

otherwise. As Paul admonishes us in our second reading today from his Letter to the

Romans, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

The Church, no matter how big or small, no matter how new or how old, is one body, the

very Body of Christ. It is not just you or me. We are all gathered in Christ’s name. And as

our Lord himself tells us this morning, when we are gathered together in his name, he is

there among us. Isten hozott, Lord Jesus. God brought you to us.

Amen.

The Revd Canon Dr Frank Hegedűs