This Sunday, we hear Jesus teaching his disciples
the art of settling conflict. It was with some apprehension that I read the
first lines of this gospel. Jesus tells his disciples that the first step to
take in settling a dispute is to confront one’s opponent directly and try to
settle matters. If an equitable resolution is not met, then you can call in one
or two others as “witnesses” to back up your position and see if the dispute
can be settled. If that doesn’t work, then you call in the whole community of
the Church and see if the conflict can be resolved. And, if that doesn’t work
the community can then ostracize the uncooperative individual, essentially
kicking the individual to the curb.
It is true that there are times and circumstances
in which group intervention is needed, but it must also be used only sparingly
and as a last resort. Have we not all, at some time, been ambushed by a group
of people accusing us of some wrong deed or another? As human beings, we are
quick to judge and in our judging quick to condemn. To be beset upon by a group
of people is unsettling and does great violence to a person. How often do we
skip the first couple of steps that Jesus encourages and go directly to
verbally and emotionally, if not physically, lynching someone who disagrees
with us? Judging by the tenor or discourse in both local, national and world politics
and the politics of the Catholic Church, this occurs more frequently than not.
Throughout human history and that of the Christian
church, have there not been many innocent people been burned at the stake, beheaded, or
hung for crimes they have not committed? Whether it be the witch trials in
Salem Massachusetts, the dungeons of the Roman Catholic Inquisition, the
imperial courts of any nation, or the desert regions of Iraq under ISIS, many
people have been caught up in a web of suspicion and executed more often than
not unjustly. The same behavior is seen in the interpersonal interactions in
any school, neighborhood or civic community in which vengeance not justice is
the sole reason for the public assassination of an opponent’s character.
Because we like to have things our way, it is easy for
us to take the words of Jesus out of context to justify violence against someone
who stands in opposition to us. The very thought of having the power to bind or
to loose God’s vengeance on an individual is very appealing and addictive to
the controller in each one of us and needs to be tempered. This is where the
words of St Paul in his letter to the Romans are very important. “Owe nothing
to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has
fulfilled the law.” In order to live this out as a disciple of Jesus, this
requires us to approach any conflict we have from the starting point of
humility, mercy and love.
We are quick to rattle off the words of the Lord’s
Prayer. How often do we say the phrase, “forgive us our sins (trespasses) as we
forgive those who sin (trespass) against us,” without fully comprehending what
we are truly saying? We are asking our God to love us, have mercy on us and
forgive us in the same manner that we love, have mercy on, and forgive those
who have caused us harm. Upon reflecting on how well we have done this in our
thoughts, and our words and our actions toward those who oppose us, does this not
raise within us a high degree of anxiety? The anxiety and discomfort that this raises
within me almost has me reaching for a brown paper bag.
The starting point for resolving any conflict,
individually or collectively, needs to begin with a conscious awareness of the
tremendous love, mercy, and forgiveness we receive daily from our Creator God. It
is only out of humility that true reconciliation is found. If there is a
message that can best sum up the pontificate of Pope Francis 1 it is simply the
abundant mercy and love of God for us and how we are to be instruments of that
abundant mercy and love in our friendships and in our conflicts.
No comments:
Post a Comment