St Martin's & St Paul's
Parish Canterbury
Parish Canterbury
| Archive |
| Contacts |
| How to find us |
| Links |
| What's New |
| Site Map |
| Home Page |
The other day I was looking for some little books to give as presents for newly-baptised children. We have a lovely Christian shop just round the corner from St. Paul's and they had a very good selection indeed. One of the books was about Zacchaeus the Tax Collector who met Jesus and who became a much better person for it. The book was colourful with a rather sweet picture of Zacchaeus on the cover, perched in his tree.
Zacchaeus is a popular New Testament story, so how do we cope with Jesus in today's Gospel (Matthew 18: 15-20) telling people in the church to treat "as a Gentile or a tax-collector" those who refuse to acknowledge their faults? Is this really the same Jesus, who cared about tax collectors and other outcasts, using them as an example of how to treat people who have offended the church, effectively ordering that they be cast out?
Critical studies of the Bible have shown us that it is possible to see where the words and actions of Jesus (usually remembered and passed on in small bits of story or "pericopes") have been woven into the narrative whole that each of the four Gospels is. Sometimes it may not have included where and when Jesus said some particular thing, so the Gospel writer must find a context for it; sometimes what is written may be very much affected by what is going on in the church that the evangelist belongs to. I am not sure whether, before his death and resurrection, Jesus foresaw and talked about 'Church' as we know it (although in its simplest form that word simply means a gathering). However it is very likely that Matthew (whose gospel contains a great deal of instruction about conduct) was very concerned about his church family when he composed his Gospel, some time after the events he describes. Some of what Jesus is supposed to have said may have actually come from Matthew or general local feeling.
Jesus is speaking about the great authority invested in the Church and the importance of maintaining fairness and discipline. Churches bring together people of many different ages, backgrounds and experiences and we have to find ways of getting along. Sometimes love isn't enough and there has to be a firmness. We also need to remember that while we don't actually cast people out, we can sometimes make people feel very unwelcome. Whatever else I do as a priest I always feel that this calling is to help people stay together.
Amen.
