{"id":12907,"date":"2014-09-26T13:55:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T17:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=12907"},"modified":"2014-09-26T13:55:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T17:55:13","slug":"lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Talk Publicly About Matthew 18"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"shh\"<\/p>\n

(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that there are many things I will always remember from that class, but one that especially stuck out to me was the time Prof. Volf shared his least favorite verse in the Bible.<\/p>\n

To be honest, the cynic in me was excepting to witness the cynic in Prof. Volf. I figured he would rattle off a string of clich\u00e9\/misunderstood passages like Jeremiah 29:11 or that maybe he\u2019d go old school and rant about the prayer of Jabez.<\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Being the great theologian he is, he took the issue seriously.<\/p>\n

So what was Miroslav Volf\u2019s least favorite verse in the Bible?<\/p>\n

Romans 9:22.<\/p>\n

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By least favorite, he didn\u2019t mean he just doesn\u2019t\u00a0like that verse, so he dismisses it out of hand. He doesn\u2019t like Romans 9:22 because as a confessing Christian he has to deal with it no matter how loathsome he may be to do so\u00a0or how clearly it\u00a0seems to stand in stark contradiction to the gospel because, well, it\u2019s in the Bible. So, he must\u00a0wrestle with it.<\/p>\n

His honesty\u00a0got me to thinking about what my least favorite verse in the Bible might be.<\/p>\n

Romans 9:22 would certainly be\u00a0near the top of my\u00a0list too, but Matthew 18:15-17 wouldn\u2019t be too far behind.<\/p>\n

If another member of the church\u00a0sins against you,\u00a0go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.\u00a0<\/span>But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously,\u00a0Matthew 18 isn\u2019t nearly as jarring as Romans 9.<\/p>\n

Unlike Romans 9, what frustrates me so much about Matthew 18 isn\u2019t what\u2019s written on the page.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s how often this passage is used to shame and silence people in the church.<\/em><\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s the case on the internet.<\/p>\n

As soon as someone writes an article, posts a blog, or shares something on social media that is critical of, well, just about anything or anyone in the church, someone shows up and starts quoting Matthew 18, asking if\u00a0that blogger or journalist or whoever has first privately confronted the person they are publicly criticizing.<\/p>\n

Because obviously, folks like Joel Osteen, Mark Driscoll, and Pat Robertson are just a phone call away. So, how dare you not at least send them a text?!<\/p>\n

Now, in my experience, the Matthew 18 pharisees come in three\u00a0different breeds, though the species do intermingle.<\/p>\n

The first breed tends to be comprised of fundamentalists. They see what they believe is a clear rule to be followed and expect others to follow it the same way\u00a0they do. This mindset lays the foundation for the other two breeds of Matthew 18 pharisees, but the main\u00a0concern here is that a perceived biblical law has been broken.<\/p>\n

The second breed seems to be primarily\u00a0concerned with public appearance, which\u00a0is usually\u00a0veiled in calls for unity. You often hear these folks attempt to shame their brothers and sisters with one-liners like, \u201cWhat will the world think?\u201d. The thought being that if non-Christians see Christians arguing with each other, then the curtain will be pulled back, non-Christians will suddenly realize Christians are not perfect people in perfect unity with one another, and then they\u2019ll reject Jesus forever. These folks tend to be incredibly uncomfortable with confrontation and\u00a0view criticism essentially as a sin.<\/p>\n

The third and final breed of Matthew 18 pharisees is\u00a0by far\u00a0the most problematic. These folks recognize the true power of the passage and use it to silence anyone and everyone who poses a perceived threat to themselves,\u00a0a religious leader they follow, or the organization they lead. Though they will sometimes wander out into the wilds of Internetland, these folks like to\u00a0do\u00a0their Matthew 18 dirty work in the form of non-disclosure agreements and other legal documents they force their members to sign in hopes of keeping their embarrassing secrets secret. Ultimately, these folks love Matthew 18 because it allows them to maintain their carefully cultivated public image by at least giving them the illusion \u2013 and sometimes the reality \u2013 that they control what is said about them and by whom.<\/p>\n

Curiously, all of these groups have at least one thing in common \u2013 they\u2019re all far less dogmatic about most of Jesus\u2019 other instructions like his call to sell everything we have, put away the sword, or\u00a0gouge out our eyes if they cause us to sin.<\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s a simple reason for that. Those sorts of calls force us to relinquish control. While,\u00a0at least on the surface, Matthew 18 appears to offer us the opportunity to control and manipulate others to do as we see fit.<\/p>\n

You see, no matter the breed of Matthew 18 pharisee, the underlying problem with each is the same.\u00a0Regardless of motives or intent, the end result is that Matthew 18 becomes a weapon to silence criticism, shame those that speak up, avoid difficult conversations, and ultimately suppress\u00a0the truth.<\/p>\n

In the case of the first two groups, Matthew 18 is perhaps\u00a0used more innocently or at least with less nefarious intent. But no matter our reason for\u00a0clobbering other Christians \u2013 whether it be in the name of unity, public relations, or legalism \u2013 shaming\u00a0others into\u00a0silence rarely does anything other than breathe new life into sin\u00a0by keeping it hidden away in the dark.<\/p>\n

Now, like Miroslav Volf and Romans 9, no matter how\u00a0frustrated I with Matthew 18, as a Christian I can\u2019t simply chop it out of the Bible and be done with it. However, I think it is in need of serious reexamination, especially in such an interconnected world where privacy is increasingly becoming a relic of a bygone era.<\/p>\n

The first thing I think we need to remember is that Jesus was a critic.<\/p>\n

He criticized Pharisees.<\/p>\n

And Sadducees.<\/p>\n

And Teachers of the Law.<\/p>\n

And the rich.<\/p>\n

And the pious.<\/p>\n

And even his own disciples.<\/p>\n

I know it\u00a0may sound strange to hear, but Jesus was a critic. That\u2019s what prophets do. They speak out against injustice and sin. I think our problem today, along with a profound uncomfortableness with confrontation, is that we conflate cynicism with criticism. They are not the same. Cynicism stems from a place of bitterness and contempt for others. It has little if any interest in things becoming\u00a0better. Criticism, at least the sort of prophetic criticisms Jesus made, is born from a desire to see things change and a hope that the world and the people in it can be better.<\/p>\n

The church needs prophetic critics.<\/em><\/p>\n

Secondly, if the dirty laundry of God\u2019s people was meant to be kept hidden away in the dark, we wouldn\u2019t have the Bible. It is, if nothing else, the story of screwed up people who constantly fail and fall flat on their face. If God inspired the writing of such stories to bring those failings into the light for all to see and learn from, then we cannot possibly read Matthew 18 as a call to keep every problem in the church hidden away behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

Our claim to be a biblical people will only maintain its integrity so long as we maintain transparency in the church.<\/em><\/p>\n

Third, we need to recognize that in Matthew 18 Jesus is talking about personal<\/em> conflict, not public<\/em> debates or public<\/em> actions intended for public consumption. If he meant the latter, then his confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducee would make him a massive hypocrite.<\/p>\n

Public claims and public actions should always be confronted\u00a0publicly. Otherwise, the only voice speaking will be\u00a0that of the oppressor, the abuser, and the false teacher.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fourth, in the celebrity age that we live in it is simply\u00a0absurd to expect a personal conversation to occur between any random individual\u00a0and a public figure. It\u2019s not going to happen for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

The only purpose, then, in challenging critics to have a private conversation with a public figure that they can\u2019t possibly get into meaningful contact with is to silence the critic.<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, as Jesus said, private disputes should<\/em> typically be addressed privately. I\u2019m not debating that at all. I think we definitely\u00a0have a tendency to bring things that should be kept between injured parties out into the open, not for transparency sake, but rather to humiliate our opponent, win others\u00a0to our side, or to further some personal cause.<\/p>\n

Therefore,\u00a0at the end of the day, when it comes to passages like Matthew 18 what\u00a0we\u00a0need is a dose of common sense.<\/p>\n

Because sometimes those private transgressions do need to become public.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some private conflicts\u00a0must be brought into the light or else perpetrators will quickly realize they can continue to exploit a system more interested in public appearances than justice. It is this sort of abuse of Matthew 18, or at least the mentality it often engenders, that has led\u00a0to\u00a0a wide range of tragedies in the church. From the Catholic priest abuse\u00a0scandal to the downfall of Mark Driscoll to the never-ending stories of pastors arrested for seemingly every crime imaginable we have only to read the news to witness\u00a0the terrible consequences that come about when Matthew 18 is used as blueprint for covering up sin.<\/p>\n

Yes, we need to be careful not to become cynics casting stones with no hope for a better world.<\/p>\n

And, yes, we should\u00a0handle\u00a0private matters privately when nothing\u00a0criminal or abusive has occurred.<\/p>\n

However, we also need to remember that public criticism and public accountability are important practices.<\/p>\n

And neither<\/em> is a sin.<\/p>\n

For if they were, then Jesus would be the chief of sinners.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many things I will always remember from that class, but one that especially stuck out to me was the time Prof. Volf shared his least favorite verse in the Bible. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":12912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLet's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2014\/09\/shh.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/\",\"name\":\"Let's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let’s Talk Publicly About Matthew 18\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18","description":"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18","og_description":"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2014\/09\/shh.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/","name":"Let's Talk Publicly About Matthew 18","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-26T17:55:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":"(H\/T (cup)cake_eater, Flickr) My last year at Yale I was able to take Systematic Theology with Miroslav Volf. It goes without saying that there are many","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/09\/lets-talk-publicly-matthew-18\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let’s Talk Publicly About Matthew 18"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}