Reading: Matthew 16:13-20
Commentary: What does it mean to say that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The gospel writer, Matthew, is putting these words down for a very young Christian tradition, still mostly Jewish followers of Christ with some Gentile participation. The young ekklesia, as Matthew calls the assembly of the faithful, struggles with oppression from outside and wrestles with how to get along together on the inside.
Commentary: What does it mean to say that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The gospel writer, Matthew, is putting these words down for a very young Christian tradition, still mostly Jewish followers of Christ with some Gentile participation. The young ekklesia, as Matthew calls the assembly of the faithful, struggles with oppression from outside and wrestles with how to get along together on the inside.
Learning
to live together faithfully in community was and is a large part of walking in
the way of Jesus. Those who chose (and who choose) to do so are not embarking
on an unmapped journey without assistance or guidance. They have scripture for
their map, church community for their support, and the Holy Spirit as their
GPS. Embracing all of these tools means seizing onto what heaven, what God, has
offered to the church universal.
By
using these tools as individuals and as the Christian community, we will be
living out what it means to say, “Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed, the son
of the only living God.” It is in the living out that religion moves into
faith. Correspondingly, faith means that some things are drawn close and others
are released.
Faithful
living includes the embrace of community, the love of one’s neighbor, active
forgiveness, unbridled generosity. Faithful living also requires the rejection
of racism, classism, the using of others as means to an end, the abuse of
power, and the worship of anything other than God as God.
What
we embody, what we say, our choices are bound to us through habit, action, and
association. This life shows God and those around us what we take seriously and
what is important to us. As it aligns with God’s mission and kin-dom, it is
bound in heaven and will flourish in mystery and sometimes within our own
witnessing.
What
we reject, what we renounce, what we denounce, and what we abandon becomes
separated from us. It rusts and fades. It cannot take root. These words,
actions, and choices indicate to God and our neighbors that these things have
no place in our community or our lives. They have been loosed from association
with us and they return to nothingness.
Thus,
we are called to be in daily reflection to what we are binding and loosing in
our lives and communities. What are we calling forth? What are we letting go?
What have we asked the Spirit to help flourish? What have we renounced to
rootlessness and non-existence?
All
of these things together reflect to show the truth of our answer to Jesus’
question, “Who do you say that I am?”
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