Pagans and Tax Collectors

Greetings Dear Readers,

First I would like to note that I have received another thought provoking post from Just Curious. I am crafting a response to post later this week.

Mat 18:15 – 17 “If a believer does something wrong, go, confront him when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won back that believer. But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you so that every accusation may be verified by two or three witnesses. If he ignores these witnesses, tell it to the community of believers. If he also ignores the community, deal with him as you would a heathen or a tax collector.

Who are you angry with? Who do you have something against or harbor ill feelings toward? People will wrong us and we will sometimes, though rarely be completely justified about our anger. Even when we are right we must deal with others with the same grace we wish to receive.

We need to be disciplined in how we deal with the faults we see in others. First we must examine whether our anger is justified. Is the offense worth arguing over? It the wrong done to us something we can forgive graciously to the measure that we need forgiveness from the Father? So often we are offended by the very things that we do to others. Have we examined if we are guilty of the very things we find to be wrong?

The wise thing is to live as peaceably as possible. If we are truly wronged Christ gives us a very specific path to follow. We must walk this path in humility and gentleness. We must walk this path with grace and understanding. What we seek must be the restoration of another to proper relationship with Christ. We cannot focus on our offended feelings, the wrong done to us, or the hurt we feel.

Christ is very clear that we are to go to the individual first. We must do this, one on one, in love and humility. I have done this and it has worked. Others have done this with me and I have both listened and failed to listen. We have no right to harbor resentment against another if we have not followed this first step. The second step, so often left out, is to address the offending party with one or two neutral parties. If you are still striving for peace in a spirit of grace and humility this is often as far as one need go. This step is very powerful. It shows the offending party that you are serious about the situation and about the restoration of that individual to faith and fellowship. Only if this does not work do we then bring the situation to a more public forum. Only after the two former attempts do we involve the larger community. It is the failure of this third step that allows a final action.

If the offending party will not hear your plea and you have exhausted all three measure, you are free to treat them, in Christ’s words, “as a heathen or tax collector.” Before you get too excited I would ask you a question. How did Jesus treat heathens and tax collectors? Think about it a moment. One of my greater failings, when I think I am right and others are wrong is that I forget that what they need is to be treated with love and grace. Christ cried out for them to see that he loved them, cared for their needs, and was willing to die without counting the sin to their charge.

The more I realize the depth of my own need for grace and forgiveness the further I see that Christ did not condemn nearly as often as his followers do. Avalon used to always joke about one of her favorite bumper stickers being “Dear God, please protect me from your followers.” There is so much truth in this jest.

I too often see the truth of a situation clearly and fail to see the grace and love required of me in that situation. I have been in the place where I needed loving restoration and instead received a firing squad. Just because we are right, does not give us leave to forgo grace and love in restoring another to the place where they are moving toward Christ and away from themselves. We do not have the right to make them earn it back, guarantee us that they will not fail again, or demand some form of evidence that they may not be able to provide. What we do need to do is love them so purely that they see Christ and not us, our hurt, or our need for them to do anything.

It was the heathens and tax collectors that Jesus spent his time with. He even made one of them an apostle. Before you levy judgment on another for their offense, perhaps you should measure it against how much forgiveness you need. I know that I intend to do so.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn