Reconciliation as Communal Logic (Matthew 18:15–20)
Category : Blogpost
In Matthew 18:15–20, Jesus gives a process for dealing with sin in the church. First, go to the person privately. If they do not listen, take one or two others. If they still refuse, tell it to the church. If they will not listen even to the church, treat them like a pagan or a tax collector.
This is not a legal procedure. It is a process aimed at restoration. Moreover, it involves the community at every stage. The goal is not to excommunicate but to bring the person back. When Jesus then says, Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, he is giving the community authority to declare forgiveness or its absence. Forgiveness is not just between you and God. It is something the community discerns and enacts together.
Then Jesus says, Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. This is often quoted as a cozy promise for small prayer groups, but in context, it is about the community gathered to deal with sin and restore relationships. Jesus is present specifically when the community is doing the hard work of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Reconciliation beyond individual actions means recognizing that some breaches are not just personal but systemic. If you have benefited from a system that has harmed another group, whether through redlining, mass incarceration, unequal education funding, or any other structural injustice, your personal kindness toward individuals from that group is not the same as reconciliation. Real reconciliation requires acknowledging the systemic harm and working to change it.
It means that when a church community has been divided by race, the answer is not just to let us all get along. It means examining who holds power, who makes decisions, whose voices are heard, and whose needs are prioritized. It means restructuring leadership, sharing resources, and publicly repenting for past exclusion. That is uncomfortable and messy, but it is what reconciliation looks like when you take it seriously.
It means that when a family has been fractured by generational patterns of harm such as abuse, neglect, and addiction, reconciliation may require more than a single conversation. It may require therapy, accountability structures, changes in living arrangements, and a long-term commitment to new patterns of behavior.
Individual forgiveness can happen in a moment. Full reconciliation often takes years of sustained effort.
Stay tuned!