RECONCILIATION IS A JOURNEY OF HOPE IN THE FACE OF OBSTACLES If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault 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. -18:15-17
Friends, God is good, all the time.
True lovers will stop at nothing short of proving their love for the beloved to win their hearts. You see, it is the reason St. Paul reminds us that “God proved his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). If we are to take any cue from God, it is that reconciliation with others must be a journey of hope that must not stop until we have won over the person with whom we seek healing in a relationship.
Offending people must not come naturally to any Christian, nor must the Christian luxuriate in it. Jesus shows us in the gospel that offenses imply sin, and the Christian must be willing to reconcile and be pardoned of the sins by God. However, the question arises, what do we do with offenses that affect us personally? Again, what if a person is not willing to accept reconciliation?
Jesus lays out a three-step process towards reconciliation:(1) privately confront the offender, (2) involve a circle of witnesses, (3) include the church by bringing the situation before it. We see in the three-step process that reconciliation is a journey of hope even in the face of obstacles, and the ultimate end is WINNING over the brother or sister. Notice that the context of the teaching was a quarrel that occurred among the disciples over who is the greatest among them. If the struggling disciples offended one another, Jesus points out to them that they must not carry the offenses with them or permit them to mar their relationship.
In the book of Ezekiel, we learn that we are agents of reconciliation. The Lord says to us, “If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death”( 33: 8-9).
So, when it is hard for us to seek reconciliation with others, let us consider the thousands of years God invested in planting and building his love for humanity after the fall, from the call of Abraham to Jesus. God stopped at nothing until He won us all over through the victorious death of Jesus Christ. Softening our hearts towards others is a helpful way to show goodwill towards them until we can reconcile and heal the heart.
Prayer blessings: Lord, great and awesome are your deeds of love. Help us to learn from the example of your son who unties us in himself. Amen.