After Pentecost Devotional - Day 30

“Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.” Matthew 18:20

The traditional use of this verse is perhaps my biggest pet peeves when it comes to Biblical interpretation. Repeatedly, we use it to justify a small gathering for an event at church, as though to say that when only two or three of us come God is blessing those few. While that may be true enough, this verse has nothing whatsoever to do with such an interpretation.

In the context, Jesus had been talking with the disciples about reconciliation and forgiveness. He spoke of God going after the lost sheep to bring them back into the center of the fold. Sin was an issue of importance, he said, but the greater good was to work beyond sin to enact the restoration of all into a community of wholeness.

Peter would ask about how generous he needed to be in forgiving someone who continued to harm him in the same manner. Peter took the religious standards of the day further than most, asking if he needed to forgive as many as seven times for the same offense the same day. Jesus extended that tenfold.

Jesus went on to explain the extent of forgiveness and its purpose. Forgiveness is not to make ourselves look good. The point is not to place our superiority on display before others. Instead, forgiveness is about reconciliation. It is about bringing people back together when one of us has become offended. That is the intent of Jesus' words about two or three being brought together.

While our text does not use the word, Jesus is speaking about reconciliation. He is speaking about him being the glue to bind people together. When two or three who have been at odds with one another are reconciled, it is God who joins them. It is God who is the connector for them. It is Jesus himself who becomes the bond of reconciliation between them.

It is not about small group sizes. It is not about feeling superior to all those other people who did not make it to the special meeting called for Bible study, prayer, or some other religious purpose. It is about fellowship, community, and becoming the body of Christ Jesus, joined together regardless of our differences. It is about the miracle of people who so easily fall out of sorts to be reconciled as one.

In order for that to happen, we have to get over our sense of self-importance. We have to let go of our pride and feelings of being put down, ignored, mistreated, or even abused. We have to accept that not everyone is trying to harm me, not everyone is seeking to offend me, that I am the only one responsible for taking offense at the actions of others. I am the only one responsible for harboring anger and resentment against those I deem to have failed me. When I look to Jesus as the example to follow, I see that he forgave what were much more than slights to one who was completely undeserving. When I learn to forgive in like manner, it is Christ living in me. He is the one acting to reconcile.

Whom do I need to forgive? It may well be I am the one taking offense where none truly exists.


"Lord, live in me to reconcile others to you, that we might live at peace as one body."


—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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