Back in the dim distant path, I used to drive out from Dubbo into the West of New South Wales to take Sunday services in small communities. Sometimes I would drive three hours to celebrate the Eucharist for a handful of people, and sometimes this was a bit demoralising. Inevitably, someone would say ‘ah, but where two or three are gathered in my name…’ and they would nod knowingly, because there is a language system in Christianity. Whenever we are concerned that not many people have shown up to something, we refer to Matthew 18:20 ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’. It’s a gentle way of saying that it doesn’t matter how many of us there are, what matters is that God in Christ is present, even if there’s only two people at morning prayer or the Deanery Christmas party or whatever.
Lovely.
Now, I’m sorry to do this to you, but in the context of the gospel, this saying is not about that at all. It’s not about how Jesus is present even when there’s only a few people. Of course, Jesus is present when there’s only a few people, or just one person, or a thousand people. But that’s not what ‘two or three’ is about. It’s about church discipline, and the power of church leaders to expel people from the church community. That is a much less cheery thing to talk about, which is probably why we appropriate the nice saying about ‘two or three’ and use it to make ourselves feel better.
But if we are committed to reading the text in its literary and historical context, we need to get our head around this saying and its implications. So let’s start by saying that it does NOT mean that if the Rector and a couple of Churchwardens agree on something, then Jesus has signed off on it. It does NOT mean that if two or three church bullies conspire together, then they have divine approval for whatever they cook up. To really get where this text is coming from, we need to read the whole chapter, and understand the situation in the church in Antioch which gave rise to the gospel that we called ‘Matthew’.
The manuscripts of biblical texts don’t have chapters marked on them. That came later. But there are clear sections, and what we call Matthew Chapter 18 is a section about how the church community should behave. This text (that we call the gospel of Matthew, even though it doesn’t make that claim for itself) was written down in around the year 90 in Antioch, which is in modern day Syria. There are synagogues there for the Jewish diaspora, and The Jesus movement probably started out amongst Jews in the synagogue, but has since separated into its own separate group. Someone is collecting the various stories about Jesus, both written and verbal, and putting them in to a single story. This person has a copy of Mark, they probably have a copy of a document that we’ve lost, and they’re relying on some other sources as well. For this section, Chapter 18, the author is drawing on a mix of sources.
At the beginning of this section, in the story, Jesus puts a child in the midst of them and says that unless they become like children, they will not enter into the kingdom of God. The author borrows that (mostly) from Mark.
Matthew’s Jesus then says that if anyone causes a ‘little one’ to stumble, it would be better if they had a big stone tied around their neck and they were dropped in to the ocean. Also from Mark.
Then he tells them that if their hand or foot or eye causes them to sin, then they should pluck it out or chop it off. Also from Mark.
Then he tells them they are the salt of the earth. This is also from, you guessed it, Mark.
But then he tells the parable of the lost sheep. This is not from Mark! The lost sheep is one of those stories that Matthew and Luke tell, but Mark doesn’t. We call them Q, from the german ‘quelle’ for source. It’s not a very original name, but that’s what we call them.
So we’ve got some well known, popular stuff here. ‘Become like a child’, ‘you are the salt of the earth’, ‘pluck out your eye’, ‘leave the ninety-nine and search for the lost sheep’. This is high quality content, and it’s all about how we are to treat people who are weaker, people who wander, people who struggle. It is all about mercy, compassion and generosity. It is also about our own self-discipline. We are to be watchful for failings in ourselves, and ruthless in changing our ways. This is the basis for our interactions both within the church and with the outside world. Gentle with the weak, firm with ourselves, compassionate with those who are lost. We are, like salt in the stew, to be sprinkled about in a way that draws out the good flavours in the world.
The final part of the chapter is what is to happen once all of that has failed. It is not from Mark, and it is not in Luke. It is ‘Special Matthew’, material that is only found in Matthew’s gospel. It is the ‘last resort’ clause. If you’ve not caused the weak to stumble, if you’ve extinguished your own hypocrisy and cruelty, if you’ve gone out looking for the lost to try to bring them home to safety, and it has all failed, and someone is still seriously offending against the community then there’s a process for what happens next.
First, go and talk to the person and try to bring them around. Then, get someone to come with you and remonstrate with them. Then, and ONLY THEN, do you escalate to the church leaders. And if the matter remains unresolved, then that person can be expelled from the church community. If there is consensus amongst the leaders, then their decision is to be honoured.
Now, many of us will recognise this process as one which is deployed in workplace grievance procedures and even in court cases. In a healthy system, people are encouraged to work things out amongst themselves before running it up the line. I’m sure we’re all aware of situations where this doesn’t happen – where dobbing and sniping via HR or vexatious litigation is rife.
For Christians, the reality is that, for the most part, we don’t want to kick people out of our churches. Quite the opposite! We do want to be communities of compassion and generosity and kindness, like the shepherd who seeks out the lost. But I think we can say with some confidence that the church in Antioch must have had some humdingers. Despite the loftiest aspirations, there was clearly some toxic behaviour there. Whoever was writing Matthew’s gospel was aware of the conflict, and may have even been involved in it. So he or she sets the scene, outlining the ideals and vision for the Christian community, but then includes rules for a ‘worst case scenario’. If all else fails, then the Christ-like thing to do might be to kick someone out.
It makes me uncomfortable, because I’m aware of too many people who have been shunned and excluded from churches because they had the temerity to get divorced or question dogma or be openly gay. There are horror stories of people who are put through ‘kangaroo courts’ in churches, then cast into the outer darkness. There is the shadow side of due process, empowering people in authority to exercise domination, usually supported by a cabal of sycophants.
But I’m also aware of situations where toxic people are allowed to run rampant in churches, often for years on end, without accountability or challenge. If we are to be true to our ideals, we also need to be able to draw a line and enforce those ideals when someone regularly breaches them. Once all other avenues are exhausted, it is usually left to ‘two or three’ to discern what to do next. It is an unenviable task.
So here’s my takeaway from the text. All conflict in the church is about what the church is for. Matthew Chapter 18 makes it clear that the church is for the lost and weak, the vulnerable, the ‘little ones’. If someone, including me, wants to make the church about their ego or power, about their own unmet emotional needs or their need to feel big, then that behaviour needs to be challenged and, on rare occasions, expunged.
But the only reason we have a worst case scenario is to narrow our focus onto the best case scenario. We will spend a comparatively tiny amount of time kicking out toxic people, because we will spend nearly all our time drawing in and serving those whom the world has kicked to the curb. The purpose of authority is not to elevate those who have it, but to protectthose who don’t. It is incumbent on those of us who hold and wield authority in any situation, to do so in a way that prioritises and builds up the little ones.
And if any of us causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better if a gigantic rock were tied around our neck, and we were chucked into the ocean.
Lovely, right?
The Lord Be With You