19th Week in Ord. Time, Wednesday – 12th August 2020 — Gospel: Mt 18,15-20
Protecting the vulnerable
This section directs our attention to the complicated yet ever-present relationship issue of reconciliation. For many of us, reconciliation is more easily said than received or offered. When conflicts explode, people talk more about one another than they talk with one another. In this three-step process of conflict resolution Jesus attempts to protect the vulnerable. The passage in its context may appear to be less universal, yet it serves as a model for the whole church. Jesus encourages the church to be a community that nurtures honest dialogue and refuses to keep silent in the face of behaviour that harms others. The process of truth-telling and accountability enables the disempowered and/or the vulnerable to speak so that others might hear. The church protects them by walking alongside in solidarity with them as they speak up the harm they had experienced, though one who harmed them may not realize it. While it is unsafe and perhaps even life-threatening for a person to call out the sin of another when the two are alone, Jesus emphasizes confidence and secrecy as the foundation for this process. Notice the burden of initiating this process, which falls on the non-offender, a person whose life or livelihood is more tuned to one’s faith. Given the context, Jesus points out that insofar as possible, his followers are responsible for assuring accountability while also safeguarding those who are most vulnerable or at risk.
