Expose the Sin and Forgive (Matthew 18)

Lectionary [5/3/2020]: Ps 23; Jn 10:1-10.

1. Why are the disciples asking about who the greatest is (Mt 18:1; 16:21; 17:22)? What does this show about them?
2. Is being great a requirement for entering the kingdom of God (Mt 18:2-3)? What are kingdom people like (Mt 18:3-5)? What is required (Mt 18:3)? [child - paidion]
3. Who are the "little ones" [ton micron] (Mt 18:6a)? Why does Jesus use hyperbole--such drastic language toward those who cause others to stumble (Mt 18:6b-9; 1 Cor 12:12-20)?
4. What do disciples [we] incline to do with "little ones" (Mt 18:10a)? Why should we not (Mt 18:10b, 14)? How does Jesus illustrate this (Mt 18:12-13; Lk 15:4-7; Eze 34)? Is this pragmatic or prudent (Jn 11:50)?
5. 3 Steps for Conflict resolution. 
• What should you do when a fellow Christian sins [against you] (Mt 18:15a; Lev 19:17-18)? 
• Why? What is the ultimate objective (Mt 18:15b)? 
• What would this avoid? Why do we often NOT do so?
• What if the one who sins is a leader in the church (1 Tim 5:19-20)?
6. What is the role of the church (Mt 18:16-17; Dt 19:15)? 
• What does it mean to "treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (Mt 18:17)? 
• Why is church discipline important and necessary (Mt 18:18-20, 6, 1-5)? 
• On what basis does the church have such authority (Mt 18:18-20; 28:20)? 
• Is excommunication inconsistent with loving enemies and the golden rule (Mt 5:43-48; 7:12)?  
7. Why did Peter ask about the frequency of forgiving others (Mt 18:21)? Why did he chose "7 times" (Job 33:29-30; Amos 1:3; 2:6)? 
• How do we forgive others unlimitedly (Mt 18:22)? How much is 10,000 talents (Mt 18:24) and 100 denarii (Mt 18:28)? 
• Why do we not comprehend or grasp the greatness of God's forgiveness (Mt 18:23-31)? 
•  How serious is it to not forgive others (Mt 18:32-35)?
• What does an unforgiving heart show about the person?
• Does forgiveness involve restoring the relationship?

Reference:

1. Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: community, cross, new creation: a contemporary introduction to New Testament ethics. Part One, 3. The Gospel of Matthew: Training for the Kingdom of Heaven. 1996. HarperCollins Publishers, NY.
2. Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006. MATTHEW 18: The Church.

Resurrection in the Face of Death (John 11)

Life Amidst Death (John 11:1-44). 

• Do you truly believe in the resurrection in the face of death, such as from Covid-19?
• Is your faith in the resurrection theoretical or practical? Rooted in theology or reality?
• What do you do when there is the (probable, possible, potential, problematic) palpable panic from the pandemic?

"...whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:26)

• Do Christians who are familiar with John 11 think of this famous story positively as victory over death?
• When we consider those around dead Lazarus at Bethany, were they positive and victorious [or negative and wailing] after they heard Jesus' words of being the Resurrection and the Life (Jn 11:25)?

1. What is the implication of Mary and Martha's urgent message to Jesus (Jn 11:3)?
2. What does Jesus' response show us about his priority (Jn 11:4, 40)? What is your priority in the time of grave illness?
3. How is Jesus' love for Mary and Martha (Jn 11:5) expressed (Jn 11:6)? Is this how you would have responded to someone you love?
4. Why did the disciples caution Jesus about returning to Judea (Jn 11:7-8)? What does this show about their main concern? How about you? What does Jesus' answer teach us about our life and death (Jn 11:9-10)?
5. How did the disciples misunderstand Jesus (Jn 11:11-14)? Why was Jesus glad that Lazarus had died (Jn 11:15)? What was his primary concern? Your primary concern? What does Thomas' response show about him (Jn 11:16)?
6. What was Martha [and later Mary] implying by her statement upon seeing Jesus (Jn 11:21, 32)? What did Martha "know" (Jn 11:22-24)?
7. Do you experience life and that you will never die...when you are dying or your loved one is dying (Jn 11:26)? What did Jesus want Martha to believe (Jn 11:25-26)? Did she (Jn 11:27)?
8. Why was Jesus deeply moved/angry (Jn 11:33)? Why did he weep (Jn 11:35)? How did the Jews interpret it (Jn 11:36-37)? How were they both right and wrong?
9. What did Jesus want Martha [and us] to believe and see (Jn 11:40)? What is the disconnect between what she knew and believed (Jn 11:22, 24, 27, 39)? Will you have such a disconnect when death hits home?
10. Is there a "downside" to Lazarus being raised from the dead (Jn 11:13, 17, 44)?

Love God

"The command to love God is a command that presumes God's love of Israel. Such a love is no vague generality, but rather is manifest in the concrete and daily care of God for his people. We know what it means to love God only because of God's love for us through the law and the prophets. This love can be harsh and dreadful, because to be loved by God is to be forced to know ourselves truthfully." Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew.

I desire to do nothing else other than what I'm delightfully doing

Only God could have thought up the church. I could not have thought the church up. I could not have imagined "church." That we exist, that West Loop Church exists, that our modest collection of people exist, is a miracle. I am honored beyond words to express that you allow me to preach to you each Sunday as we worship God together. Even though I've never been paid for this "job," it is the best job I've ever had, which I would not exchange for anything else in the world. I desire to do nothing else other than what I'm presently doing every week and every day of the year: sharing the Word and living in community with the church. For sure, I did not think this up. For sure, God "thought us up." Only by God's immeasurable grace we are God's imagination for the world.

Legalism is the original sin

"Legalism is the attempt to be more God than God." Stanley Hauerwas, commenting on the lectionary reading of Gen 3:1-7 when Eve added to God's command, "...and you must not touch it..." (Gen 3:3). [Legalism is the original sin]

Each of the temptations is an attempt for Jesus to be the kind of God that overcomes death in a manner that seems assured. Top of the temple: End war, have peace, you can't do it with the devil's means. The NT has to be read Christologically, just as the OT has to be. How to overcome our temptations loses the Christological focus.

"Our first sin is our assumption that we know what sin is." Hauerwas quoting Barth. "Barth's language is an ontological impossibility."

If you think that sin is because on the whole we are pretty shitty people, you got it wrong. Sin is not "I've done something I'm ashamed of." Sin really is the refusal of God. Sin is the naming of alienation from God. It's very hard to remember that. We prefer sin to be just another name for being a bad person. 

Cross-Shattered Christ, Stanley Hauerwas, 2004

"Mystery" suggests that what we believe defies reason and common sense. What we believe does defy reason and common sense; but yet I believe what Christians believe is the most reasonable and commonsense account we can have of the way things are.

A Community of Character, 1981, Stanley Hauerwas

"Christians most important social task is nothing less than to be a community capable of hearing the story of God we find in the scripture and living in a manner that is faithful to that story. The only reason to be Christian is because Christian convictions are true; and the only reason for participation in the church is that it is the community that pledges to form its life by that truth." (1)

"That the church has often failed to be such a polity (concerned with the development of virtue) is without question, but the fact that we have often been less than we were meant to be should never be used as an excuse for shirking the task of being the people of God." "...(trust) in truth and love to banish the fears that create enmity and discord. To be sure, we have often been unfaithful to his story, but that is no reason for us to think it is an unrealistic demand. Rather it means we must challenge ourselves to be the kind of community where such a story can be told and manifested by a people formed in accordance with it..."

Sin, Peace, Truth, Joy, Life, Love

"It is a sin to think that you are capable of naming your own sin. You are only able to know your sin by being told by another." Stanley Hauerwas.

"When we think our brother or sister has sinned against us, such an affront is not against us but against the whole community." 

"It is an unpleasant fact that most of our lives are governed more by our hates and dislikes than by our love. I seldom know what I really want but I know what or whom I deeply dislike or even hate."

"Jesus brings not a peace of rest but a peace of truth. Just as love without truth cannot help but be a curse, so peace without truthfulness cannot help but be deadly." Learning to Love the Enemy, Stanley Hauerwas on Matthew 18.

Are you a Christian? "If you are a Christian you should be joyful in a way that people find attractive. It's not like I go around saying, 'Oh, you got to be like me,' but that people should think, 'Gee I wonder what makes them tick.'"

The "how" of being a Christian

"I do not put much stock in 'believing in God.' (It) is a far too rationalistic account of what it means to be a Christian. I am far more interested in what a declaration of belief entails for how I live my life. ...the 'what' of Christianity is not the problem. It is the 'how.' ...we cannot understand the 'what' of Christianity without knowing the 'how' to be Christian. Yet then I worry about the how of my own life." Stanley Hauerwas, Hannah's Child. A Theologian's Memoir, On Being Stanley Hauerwas.

Love, Joy, Sin

"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real." ― Iris Murdoch.

"Love is the nonviolent apprehension of the other as other." Iris Murdoch as quoted by Stanley Hauerwas.

"Christians are obligated to love one another...even if they're married. Love does not create marriage, but marriage creates loves." Stanley Hauerwas.

"If you are a Christian you should be joyful in a way that other people find attractive. It should make people wonder, 'Gee, what makes them tick?'"  Stanley Hauerwas.

"The idea that you need to be convinced you're a sinner in order to come to salvation is getting it backwards. By being saved in Christ you then are able to have some information as to what it means to be a sinner. That's the school of discipleship. The tents (modern evangelism) made sins too interesting. And it's exactly that Christians are saved from the narcissistic fascination with our sins." Stanley Hauerwas.