The gospel for Wednesday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Matthew 18:21. Jesus said to his disciples, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his faults 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. Whatever you loosed 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.
The part of this gospel that stands out so clearly to me is the one that talks about the nature of what it means to be a believer in Jesus. It has everything to do with a communal life, working with other people. And in this last few words of this gospel, it’s clear that there’s this uniformity, this oneness of what we need, what we want. And when two or three are gathered together and have the same mind, the same heart, there’s effectiveness in that. And that’s all an image of church. Wherever two or three gathered together is church.
And when I think about the way liturgy unfolds in a community that is filled with an understanding of why they’re there, that moment when they receive the Eucharist, they’re aware, all of them praying, that this gift will be fruitful within them. Please reflect on the meaning of these readings, and I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer Father, free us from any kind of sense of a private relationship with you. Yes, there’s intimacy, but there’s always a call on your part that we be close to one another, open to one another, connected to one another. It’s essential for the kingdom to come, and we ask this in Jesus name, amen.
