TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A

[cappie]

In our Gospel reading, we have a fruitful pairing. In one moment, Jesus is giving advice to his disciples, and by extension, the larger church about reconciling with one another. But then, after this mini-policy, Jesus offer us words of spiritual importance, concluding with this famous consolation: “ For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” This promise reminds us that our unity in prayer not only brings us closer to God but also strengthens our bonds as a Christian community. The mundane and the mystical exist side-by-side in scripture and both are essential to our discipleship and flourishing.

The first part of this passage highlights Jesus' concern for the unity of His followers. He outlines a clear and compassionate process for resolving conflicts within the community.  When someone has wronged us or we see a brother or sister in Christ stumbling, Jesus advises us to initiate a private conversation. This is the starting point of reconciliation, emphasizing the importance of humility and seeking understanding.  If the issue remains unresolved, Jesus advises taking one or two witnesses along. These witnesses serve as impartial observers and can help mediate the situation. Their presence can prevent misunderstandings and provide a fair perspective. If the issue still persists, bring it before the church. This step involves the entire Christian community, demonstrating the collective responsibility for maintaining unity.

This Gospel points to our mundane actions as disciples. Not mundane in that this word from Jesus is “lacking interest or excitement.” Rather, Jesus’ church policy on reconciliation is mundane in that it speaks to our earthly duties, our worldly existence, our ordinary discipleship.

Most of us spend our lives in the mundane, going about our earthly duties as best we can. We go to our workplaces. We write emails, we answer phone calls, we do our laundry, we vacuum and put dishes away, we grocery shop, file our returns,  plant gardens, get into arguments with our neighbours, we take care of aging parents

Jesus cares about the mundane sphere, the earthly duties we enact and bear. It’s the stuff our lives are made of. It’s why he gives us these instructions about reconciling with one another, that we might live with one another more peaceably than before. He knows we need help living out our daily existence, our communal existence. He knows that his instructions have to make sense to embodied people who often misunderstand each other and have no idea that we hurt each other to begin with.

Jesus wants us to notice how the mundane is inherently tied to the mystical. He longs for us to see how the human and the divine collide, the earthly and the heavenly kiss. Meaning: He hopes that we might notice how he, Jesus himself, is among us, even as we chop veggies and fill out diocesan forms and follow up on emails. He wants us to notice how he is especially with us in the smallest gathering of the church, where two or three members of Christ come together.

Jesus gives the people this mundane church policy so that they continue to gather together in his name. Our reconciliation serves a greater purpose; it will help us to learn to stand one another long enough that we might recognize Christ in one another’s faces. We are given this earthly instruction so that we might continue to worship the Godman in spirit and in truth.  We are given this work so that we don’t give up on each other, and thus, give up on the body of Christ.

In the person of Jesus, heaven and earth dwell. Humanity and divinity meet. And our mundane, earthly lives are graced with the fullness of God’s presence, a presence and power and perfect Trinity who is reconciling all things to one another and to God’s very self.

Let us be a people who seek reconciliation, who lift one another up in prayer, and who stand firm in the promise of Christ's presence among us. May we continue to grow in love and unity as we walk in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

[BarbTherese]

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