Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

So does that cover Israel or should we read it as a word from God which covers more than just Israel? I'm thinking this is a word in Ezekiel is more inclusive than just the nation of Israel. It is one of those basic dilemmas of the Bible. Is God a God of wrath looking to judge and condemn and punish or is God merciful and full of compassion? This word here in Ezekiel, if you read it as applying to more than just Israel I think that would trouble a whole lot of people. There are those who are very eager to pronounce judgement. There are those who seem to want to play God and say who is and who is not going to be condemned. I know some consider it evangelism, to preach fire and brimstone so that people are scared into a relationship with Jesus and if not, oh well too bad for them. I have heard people talk, preach, as though they were really looking forward to God taking great pleasure in the death of the wicked. 

A brief quiz, why did God call Israel, make Israel God's chosen people? Your answer can be in the form on an essay please no more than 10 pages double spaced. There are many ways to answer this question of course. First of all, God picked them because God picked them. Deserving would not be one of the reasons I would put in my essay. Small, weak, insignificant, underdogs, our God loves to work through the underdog and so God chose the wandering Aramean to bless and to make a great nation to bless all the world. The answer I'm thinking of this morning is God chose Israel in order to have a light for the nations, a city set on a hill, a way to draw all people into the relationship with God. “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?” 

I don't think God is going to delight in the death of the wicked even if they are outside the house of Israel. Jesus comes for all the world. For God so loved the world, no exceptions. It is a good theme which the youth will be exploring this year, love your neighbor, no exceptions. We do make exceptions though, don't we. We decide who is in and who is out. We love to decide which are really worthy of my love and which are not. Loving everybody, that is such a big expectation. Well, maybe, as long as you keep it nice and abstract. If that means I need to love someone I know who is not like me, who disagrees with me, someone who is just plain wrong, them too? Really? 

Why do you think it is that we as the people of God keep on trying to narrow down who the love of God is for? Why is it that we keep trying to draw those inside and outside lines? You know how it feels to belong. What is your best memory of suddenly realizing you belong? You get a phone call of appreciation from a colleague. You have that acquaintance who seeks you out for coffee. You are suddenly having a pretty deep Facebook conversation with someone you know but not all that well. A connection, a deep unexpected connection and you know, you realize how blessed you are. 

What about a group? Ever get that sense of belonging to a group? Suddenly you are included as one of the gang. It is an invite, an opportunity to do something together, a part of the party. It feels so good to know that you are included. That you are a part of things. A part of things it is such a gift for those days when the struggle is real. It is such a gift when that moment of crisis comes leaping upon us, day after day after day. A community to call on, a community to draw upon when your reserves are low, when you are running on empty, when you are facing . . . 

The gift of community is such a precious treasure. Paul let's us know how important it is when he gives us all that marvelous language about body and the body parts working together. This summer we have been reading through Romans, chapter 12 was the second lesson for the past couple of weeks. That is where Paul talks about “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” For the sake of blessing each other, for the sake of carrying out the mission of the body of Christ, for the sake of our accomplishing here in this world what it is that Jesus wants us to accomplish Jesus gives us the gift of community with all of its marvelous diversity and beautiful range of gifts. 

We are also good at breaking community. When part of the body is working against the body there needs to be correction which leads us to Matthew 18:15-17. What is Matthew 18 about? I think far too often it is seen as a tool to be used to get rid of troublesome members, undesirables. It is a way that to kick members out of the church. That is not what it is at all. It is not about kicking out members of the community. It is about maintaining the community, the health and the wholeness of the body, protecting vulnerable members of the community. Earlier in chapter 18 Jesus talks about protecting the little ones and harsh judgements for those who cause them to sin. 

In this gospel lesson for today Jesus is telling us how important community is. It is to be restored. Work is to be done on behalf of it in order to help it be as it should be. We are given the outline, the steps to follow when it becomes necessary to confront another about a sin which has been committed. What Jesus lays out is a way that would give opportunities for repentance, for restoring the community. 

Sin can destroy community, that is most certainly true. In fact I suspect that there is a story or two among us which would give an example of how sin has broken a community which God has established. It could be as small as a family. It could be as large as a congregation. Sin does great damage and Jesus tells us how to deal with it. A couple of reminders about the gospel of Matthew. First of all, you do remember the job of Levi, of Matthew before Jesus called him to be a disciple? Yeah, he was a tax collector. And later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

The verses before the gospel reading for today, “If a man has 100 sheep and one wanders away . . .” The importance of the one is very clear. If necessary let that person be as a Gentile and tax collector to you. Tax collectors, like the ones Jesus ate with, Gentiles, there was the Roman Centurion, the Canaanite woman, both of who expressed faith and healing happened as a result. 

This text shows clearly who Jesus is. He is the one who comes to establish community. He comes to reconcile us to God and to each other. Here he gives us some very clear instructions on how the reconciling work is to be done when necessary. He also tells us how to treat those to whom we are not able to be reconciled. Tax collectors, invited to be disciples, Gentiles, healing happened. Using this text to write off people is not who Jesus is and not how his body is to operate. If someone is removed from the community it is so that they can be brought back into the community as who they are called to be, the one who fulfills the law of loving one another.

Love one another that is what fulfills the law. I am thankful for all the times when we get it right. I am thankful for so many who know the truth of the promise of Jesus present even if there are only two gathered. David Lose, one of the commentators I read shared these thoughts. Moreover, Jesus promises that when we are about this work – that is, when we come together as a community to address our differences, resolve our disputes, seek to end conflict, and repair relationships – he is there. Always. Supporting, encouraging, blessing our efforts. We are not alone and that’s why we don’t give up.

All of this strikes me as remarkably timely as we deal with a pandemic, economic upheaval, racial injustice and cries for reform, and a polarized political landscape. The heart of this passage is about Christian community – what it is, how it suffers, how to address hurt, what a healed community can do. Can we look at those around us and believe and affirm that even those who disagree with us on important issues are nevertheless followers of Jesus? Can we imagine that the goal of our community is to nurture relationships inside and outside our congregation, to grow this amazing community of which we are a part? 

Jesus is among us, just as he promised and our community is blessed, so richly blessed. Let us be that beloved community, even when we disagree with each other. Let us live well that life of loving each other and inviting and welcoming into our blessed community those whom Jesus welcomes, those gifts Jesus would send us.