Admonishment: An Inconvenient Truth

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I have the dubious honor of serving on the Disciplinary Board in the Diocese of Alabama. The board exists to address charges brought against clergy who have allegedly violated canon law. In the two years since my election, where I ran unopposed, the board has met exactly zero times! Thanks be to God.

While I present my service on this board in a light-hearted way, I also recognize that groups like this are necessary even in the church. Of course, the board hopes that they never have to meet but the reality of human sin tells us that we will have to at some point. It would be naïve to think that just because one is a Christian or a clergy person they are exempt from causing sin that harms the body of Christ on earth.

In fact, it would be irresponsible for the church not to have committees who address misconduct in the church especially among the clergy. I know I don’t have to tell you about all the times the Church’s witness has been damaged because leaders in the Church have covered up scandal after scandal. Our visible witness to the living Christ depends on our commitment to seek reconciliation, unity, healing, and amendment of life at all times – no matter the cost. The alternative is a death to our living witness to Jesus Christ.

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus gives the disciples a process to follow when they notice someone who is harming the body of Christ. Jesus says if someone is actively harming the body of Christ, you should first talk to that person face to face (not through a text or a tweet!), if that doesn’t work, bring a friend with you to talk to that person, and if that doesn’t work, bring the charge before the whole church, and if that doesn’t work, then that person must be considered a Gentile or tax-collector (aka - not a member of the church).

The introduction to Title IV, the part of the canon which the Disciplinary Board is bound to, helps highlight what Jesus’ teaching on discipline is all about. It states, “The Church and each Diocese shall support their members in their life in Christ and seek to resolve conflicts by promoting healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life and reconciliation among all involved or affected.”

Like with the teaching of Jesus, the canon isn’t simply about finding someone guilty or not-guilty. Rather, this teaching on discipline is all about keeping the faithful together as one body. The process calls the church to do everything she can to call the wayward to repentance and amendment of life so that the body can be whole.

We know this to be the point of the passage because just before this teaching on holding others accountable Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep. Today's passage is the instruction manual on how to call the lost sheep back to the herd. We call the sinner to repentance not only for their sake but also for the sake of the other ninety-nine….for the sake of the whole

It is no secret that we live in a society that avoids confronting one another at all costs. We tell our friends and family about it. We harbor resentment. We resort to passive aggression as a form of retribution. We are prone to do everything but admonish the other with humility and wisdom.  

And according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, not confronting another with their sin is an act of cruelty.  Bonhoeffer writes, “Nothing could be more cruel than the tenderness that consigns another to sin.” (aka: let someone continue to be destructive) He goes on to say, “nothing could be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a sister/brother from the path of sin.” (aka: tough love)

I know that admonishment doesn’t always seem like an act of compassion. When I try to explain to Mary Katherine why her actions were destructive, she often replies, “But Daddy you are being mean to me right now too.” And just because I am twenty-nine years older, doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes have a hard time hearing admonishment as a form of compassion.  

Why is it so hard to hear a word of judgment? Why is it so hard to admit that we have messed up? What are we so afraid of? Why do we get so defensive when someone calls us to recognize the error of our ways?

I feel that the short answer to these questions says, “because if we admit that we messed up, we are admitting that we are imperfect and if we are imperfect, then we might not be loved as much as we were loved before.”

We live in this fear because we live in a society where our image is shaped by what we have done and by what we have left undone. And if we admit to our shortcomings, then our image suffers. If we admit our sin, then we might not be seen as a good, upstanding member of the community. We might be reduced to the thief or con man or adulterer and the list goes on.  

But there is something that is more destructive than the sin itself. Our faith in Jesus believes that even the worst sin is redeemable for our image is hid with Christ in God. However, we cannot claim that sin as redeemable if we do not name it and seek forgiveness and amendment of life. Our pursuit to cover up or run from our sin is more destructive than the sin itself.

In case you haven’t noticed, humanity has this complex where we think we can outrun sin. We are reminded of this part of our human nature in the Creation Story when Adam and Eve try to hide from God. Like Adam and Eve, we try to veil our sin.  Sooner or later our sin will catch up with us all.  Sooner or later our vain attempts to cover up sin will be exposed before God and everyone else.

But the good news is that we have a God who is always willing to cover us with his grace and mercy (God gave Adam and Eve new clothes in the garden). We have a God who is always reminding us that we are beloved children no matter how serious the sin. We have a God who will go to any measure to restore the dignity of human nature and make us a people who live together in unity with God and neighbor.

Ultimately, God accomplishes this unity and reconciliation in Jesus. On the cross of Jesus Christ, humanity is stopped in her tracks and confronted with the truth that human sin – no matter how innocent – destroys the body of Christ. On the cross, humanity is also confronted with the truth that ours is a God whose property is always to have mercy.  Jesus says, Lord forgive them. And on the third day, when Jesus rises from the dead, we are given reason to hope that we can live beyond our wounds.

The faith of Jesus Christ gives us permission to confess our sins. We can stop running. We can turn around and fall into the arms of a God who makes all things new. We can put our full faith in trust in a God who sent his only Son into this world to save sinners.  

At the foot of the cross, we can look a brother or sister in the eye and say, “Thank you for telling me how I have hurt you and the Church. I am sorry. I want to make this better. Tell me how I can do better.” Of course, this confession will hurt because actions have consequences. But the way of the cross reminds us that growth and newness of life happens through the pain – not around it. The promise of Jesus is the promise of life beyond your wounds, beyond your sin, and beyond your death.

            In Christ, we become a new creation. In Christ, the world around us becomes a new creation. In Christ, we are free to see ourselves and each other not as miserable sinners who are desperately climbing on top of each other to get out of the hole humanity has made for itself but rather as people who rejoice in a God who pulls us out of that hole with a love that breaks the power of sin and death.

            May we have the grace and courage to admonish one another with the compassion of Christ. May we have the grace and courage to hear a word of judgment not as a word of condemnation, but as an invitation to experience mercy and newness of life. May we know that our image is completely and totally wrapped up in the image of God in Christ. Amen.