Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Home and Religion
If your Brother Sins, If the Church Sins

If your Brother Sins, If the Church Sins

Last updated on: October 8, 2023 at 5:07 pm by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

If your Brother Sins, If the Church Sins 2023-10-08T17:07:36-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

church pews and a stained glass window

image via Pixabay

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.

If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

Jesus said to His disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.”

He didn’t say “If your brother has a fault, go and tell him his fault.” A lot of people miss that. This isn’t a set of instructions on how to point out other people’s faults. This is a set of instructions for what you ought to do if someone sins against YOU. If what someone is doing isn’t hurting anyone, it’s none of your business. But if someone is hurting you, what should you do? First, try the tactful way, just talking to them personally. If that doesn’t work, bring a witness to defend you. If that doesn’t work, go to the Church and the Church will defend you. That’s how Jesus would like it to work.

I wonder if it ever has. But that’s the idea. Try to resolve it quietly if that’s possible, but often it’s not. If it’s not, get help from a friend or two, and your friends will take your side and protect you– or at least, that’s what God wants them to do. If they don’t, or of that doesn’t work, go to the Church and the Church will shield you– or the Church would, if the Church were acting rightly. If not even the Church can help, then treat the one who was once your brother like a Gentile or a tax collector.

Of course, Christians are supposed to treat Gentiles and tax collectors with the greatest love and respect. Respect is not optional. Respect is owed to humans, no matter how they behave. But if someone is hurting you and won’t stop, you don’t have to treat them like family. Jesus does not expect that of you. You can let them go.

You are supposed to let them go.

I wonder what Jesus would make of the Church.

He must have known how His words would be misused. The God Who knows everything must have seen that if he said “if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault” would somehow get construed as “if your brother is sinning, or if you think he might be, go and tell him his fault.” He must have known that if he said “take one or two others with you” would somehow get turned into “go and gossip about the one who sins differently than you do to make yourself look righteous.” He surely foresaw that “tell the church” would someday be taken to mean “rat on your brother to the pastor so the pastor can ruin him.” But he said it anyway, hoping that someone would hear the truth.

He must have foreseen the people who would go to their friends and then to the Church for help when they were being sinned against, only to be told “offer it up like Saint Monica” or “don’t calumniate a priest” or “what did you do to lead him on?” or “stop sowing discord.”

He must have known that people would go to the Church for refuge, and the Church herself would destroy those people, and when the people cried out for help, the Church would treat them like a Gentile or a tax collector and worse. There would be no love or respect; only shunning. Only giving up in despair, and deciding Christ never wanted you, and walking away.

He must have known that many would walk away.

I wonder how many multitudes of people have gone to the Church for refuge, and been driven away.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven. Someday, the Church will find herself in Heaven face to face with all the people they bound and loosed: all the people they left chained in terrible straits because they wouldn’t help them, and all the people they shunned and let loose into the world. Because Christ was present in those people, and the Church failed them. And in Heaven those people will be bound together as one family, and loosed from every chain the Church forced onto them.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. For if you agree to go and protect your brother or sister against the one who is sinning against them, you are doing what Christ would do, and Christ will go with you. For if a whole group of people gathers to protect the helpless, they are following God’s command, and they have become the Church.

The gathering of people who do the will of Christ is the Church.

The people who will not do the will of Christ are not the Church, no matter what they might tell you. No matter how much they look like a church, they are not. Treat them like a Gentile or a tax collector. Walk away, and Christ will walk with you.

Whoever has ears, let him hear.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Home and Religion

Family, Parenting and Religion

Abuse

American Christianity

gospel

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Previous Post

September 8, 2023

A Sad Barbie

Next Post

September 10, 2023 Love is the Madness of Sycamore Trees

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"For what its worth, it seems like the whole thing originated from Pete Hegsith speaking ..."

Evil-Striker

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"You may be right. A war and its aftermath are different than day-to-day governance. Still, ..."

Mary

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Boaz's mother?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Naomi Rahab Ruth Sarah