10/01/2022
What do you do when someone "sins" against you? No one goes through life without being hurt by someone. Most of the time, the person causing the pain doesn't even realize it. Sometimes the person truly intends the pain. But, what do we do about it? In this gospel passage, Jesus tells his disciples to first go to the person and keep it between the two of them. In this way, the person who has offended the other can explain his/her intent, apologize for any pain caused, and the relationship can be maintained. But what happens when the first thing someone does is go and tell all his/her friends and family members about it? There can be resentment against the guilty party that could be unfounded. I have known of women who have complained and complained about the treatment they have received from spouses or children, bosses or coworkers, and never confronted the person directly. I'm not talking about abuse or abusive situations, but normal slights and offenses that can occur with anyone with whom you spend a lot of time. You then meet the "offending" person at a gathering and everything is "fine." You may still feel a bit of anger at the one who caused your friend or family member such anguish. But the person explains that she finally sat down with the offending person and had a heart to heart talk and everything got ironed out. If those people had first spoken to the offender, it would have been settled a lot sooner and no one else would have been dragged into the argument. Obviously, Jesus also laid out some ground rules if the situation could not be so easily solved. Bring along a couple of witnesses to the confrontation and then if nothing can be resolved bring it to a higher authority. This gospel gives us a good opportunity to think about our own actions and how we can better resolve conflicts in the future.
