“If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone…If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you…But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.” Matthew 18: 15-20
Are we able to point to a human group or organisation that has not had to deal with conflict among its members? Every group we might name, from football teams, to quilting groups, to political factions, to parish communities and religious institutions, all have to deal with conflict at some time or other. In relatively recent times, management manuals and handbooks on business and political leadership have dedicated more and more space to the topic of conflict management. Even when Matthew wrote his Gospel, he saw the need to include advice on how a community of believers in Jesus and his Gospel might deal with resolving conflict that arose between its members. Today’s gospel-reading is testimony to that. The principle on which Matthew’s advice is based is that any conflict that arises in a community of believers is best dealt with at the lowest possible level. That now has the fancy name of subsidiarity, which is an expression that implies that there is no need to make an appeal to high authority as the first step in trying to resolve a conflict.
While Matthew’s advice on conflict resolution and communal reconciliation is clear and relatively uncomplicated, our experience is that following it is not so easy. It would have already been familiar to Matthew’s community because it echoes the law of Moses. The greatest challenge for us is that we all have a tendency to hold tightly to the slights and hurts directed at us, be they real or imagined. We are inclined to want full mileage out of them. What’s more is that we can find ourselves seeking support from those around us who, we believe, share our views, grievances and prejudices. That, of course, is a recipe for factional divisions that can infect groups and communities everywhere, even parish communities.
By claiming to be followers of Jesus, we state our preference for the law of love – love of God and love of neighbour. To insist on the attribution of blame to anyone who has hurt us is contrary to the law of love. As John reminded us in his First Letter, “Anyone who says ‘I love God’ and hates his/her brother or sister is a liar, since anyone who does not love the brother/sister whom he can see cannot love God, who he/she has never seen.” (1 John 4: 20)
While Jesus began his teaching about the need for us all to pursue the way of reconciliation with love and forgiveness of those who hurt us personally, he proceeded to address the issue of behaviour that undermines the common good and can end up causing a community to disintegrate. When one who is the cause of such harm and disintegration refuses to desist and heed the call of the community, Jesus suggested that he/she ought be treated as a pagan or tax-collector. Such a person has effectively excluded himself/herself from community membership and is in need of conversion or change of heart, but definitely not punishment or ostracism. In this context, it is essential that we remember that Jesus himself made a practice of finding time to share conversation and a meal with tax collectors and those labelled as public sinners. The apostle Matthew was a member of that group before his conversion and invitation to discipleship.
Today’s first reading from Ezekiel gives us an insight into the vocation to which God called the prophet of that name. By virtue of our baptism we are all called to realise that discipleship of Jesus implies that there is a prophetic dimension to our lives, too. Prophets had a serious responsibility to speak the truth in love to their fellow citizens. In our first reading today, we learn how God had appointed Ezekiel to the role of watchman over his people. In a real sense it was a role to alert people to the dangers that excessive self-interest can bring them. Ezekiel was courageous enough to tell the people of Israel that the selfishness of individuals meant that they lost sight of the common good. On this very issue, history has repeated itself. We now live in a world in which the self-interest of the rich and powerful has led to the common good being overlooked and ignored. God warned Ezekiel that to remain silent in the face of such injustice would amount to tacit assent. Being true to Jesus and his Gospel makes no allowance for silence when rampant injustice is raging around us.