Proper 18, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Proper 18, Yr A (2023)                                                 The Rev. Karen C. Barfield

Romans 13:8-14                                                     St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Matthew 18:15-20

In the name of the one, holy, and living God:

            in whom we live, and move, and have our being.  Amen.

“Owe no one anything,

except to love one another;

       for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

The one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

I wonder how many folks equate the “law”

with a means of engendering love.

Having grown up as the daughter of a lawyer,

            my grounding was in “legal” thinking.

      And that can be hard to change.

Paul seems to say that if we truly love one another,

then perhaps there is no need for law

because if we love one another,

       the purpose of the law has already been accomplished.

Over my lifetime I have tried to move toward love as my primary guiding principle,

but I all too often seem to start with the “law.”

Let me give an example.

Ray and I owned a house in a town that had a very high water table.

It was not unusual, after a heavy rain,

for our backyard to have 3-4 inches of standing water in it.

And one neighbor’s yard usually retained a small pond for up to a week after ours receded, which meant that we and our neighbors battled swarms of mosquitos in warm weather.

When COVID hit,

and we were homebound,

       we decided it was time to do something about the water issue. 

Ray decided to dig a trench along where the water collected between our yards.

He dug a 200-foot trench between our yard and 4 of our neighbors’ yards…

and then a 50-foot trench “tributary”

       curving along the back side of the neighbor’s yard

in which the water would sit stagnant for a week or more.

We ended up with a beautiful French drain covered in Carolina river rock…

            we affectionately call it “the creek.”

Now here’s the catch:

Ray was out digging the trench,

and when I came out to see where he had spent so much time and energy,

       I noticed that the trench wove in and out of the properties of 5 homeowners!

In my legal mind, I immediately thought:

“Oh boy, this will be fun when someone goes to sell their house.”

Everyone has one or more sections of the French drain.

            Legally speaking, how is that going to work?

And, of course, Ray’s response was:

it’s all about the community…

     We’re making this little part of the neighborhood better for all of us.

            We’re helping out our neighbors…

                        it doesn’t really matter whose yard the “creek” is in.

This isn’t about who legally owns what…

it’s about the community.

I always admire his generosity and expansive thinking…

            it pulls me away from legalism

        and toward love.

Now, I’m talking about legal property boundaries…

            Paul and Jesus are talking about things much more significant! 

In Romans, Paul says:

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another;

            for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

“The commandments,

‘You shall not commit adultery;

            You shall not murder;

You shall not steal;

            You shall not covet’

        and any other commandment,

     are summed up in this word,

  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Love does no wrong to a neighbor;

            therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”  (Romans 13:8ff)

All the commandments…

            all the laws…

      are about creating space for right relationship…

the laws provide guidance in how to love.

Adultery, murder, stealing, wanting something that is not ours…

            these all do harm…

and not only to others but to ourselves as well.

But, Paul’s point is that if our stance toward ourselves and others is love,

then these actions won’t take place.

There is no need for the law to create boundaries when love is observed.

And yet…

we all know that living out of a stance of love and respect

       is not always the way we function.

We miss the mark.

            We act in ways that are harmful to others and ourselves.

                        Sometimes we ourselves are harmed by others.

So, for those times when we do not love our neighbors as ourselves –

or are not loved by our neighbors –

       what do we do?

Today’s scripture passages tell us that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rejoices when the wicked turn from their harmful ways and thus find and create life…the life of love that is intended by God.

In today’s gospel Jesus speaks about a method to address a situation when a member of the church sins against us.

“If another member of the church sins against you,

go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.

“If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.

“But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you,

so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

If this doesn’t work, Jesus says, take the whole community with you!

It takes an enormous amount of courage and vulnerability to tell another that they have caused you harm. 

Sometimes they may not even be aware of it.

But, Jesus says, it is necessary to restore the community and the bonds of love…

            to restore right relationship.

Jesus’ entire goal is to restore the community…

to reconcile the community…

            to teach and encourage the community to live in the way of love…

     a way that considers and respects the dignity and wellbeing of each person.

And he says that what we do here and now has cosmic effects:

            “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,

                        and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

What we do and how we live in relation to one another affects everyone:

            ourselves and everyone else in our communities,

      whether or not they are a participant in the actual conflict itself.

Think about that:

            If we harbor hurt, anger, and resentment, then everyone around us is affected by these things: ourselves, our family and friends, our colleagues, our neighbors.

The way of love…

            the way of reconciliation…

     the way of naming a harm as we tell our story and then live into forgiveness…

this is how we “loose” people on earth – and in heaven.

And, Jesus says, do this in person!

            Email or text or a letter or another messenger do not work.

     Harm is personal and needs a personal confrontation…in humility and love.

The Good News is that Love is always available from God.

God seeks out the one who has gone astray in order to bring them back.

God seeks us out when we wander off the path of love

            and rejoices when we return home.

And, according to our scriptures, this is to be our way, too.

As God loves us,

we are to love others.

We are to seek out the one who has wandered off the path of love,

            to speak our story and to listen to theirs…

      to offer grace and mercy and forgiveness to others as God does to us.

“Owe no one anything,

except to love one another…

      Love does no wrong to a neighbor…love is the fulfilling of the law.”

May we learn to so love…

            with God’s Grace.

Amen.