“whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matt 18:18
These words may well sound familiar. We heard them just a few weeks ago. But that was in a different context, when Jesus was telling Peter about the authority he would have in the church to come. In that context they clearly reflect an understanding of life in that later church, since there was no such thing at the time of Jesus and when he was speaking to Peter.
In the context in which Matthew uses them today (Mt 18:15-20), and coupled with our first reading from Ezekiel (Ez 33:7-9), they have a very different import. As an aside, this also goes to show how the meaning of words depends on context, and thus why is is dangerous to pull out bits of scripture and use them as though they had some independent meaning – that makes as much sense as pulling some threads from a piece of cloth and being surprised when they don’t keep you dry!
Returning to the readings… The central message today is about our responsibilities for and to one another. This is not about hierarchical control in a church structure, but about living life in community. Paul elaborates many of these ideas throughout his letters, as he works to help his early church communities deal with all the practical problems that they faced when turning the inspiration of Jesus into day to day action in the world in which they lived. In the passage from his letter to the Romans which we hear today (Rom 13:8-10) he summarizes, as Jesus did, based on the Jewish Law going back to the origins of Israel: “love your neighbor as yourself.” But as Ezekiel, and the sayings of Jesus that we hear today, tell us – this love is not a matter of nice feelings and good will to all men – it implies taking responsibility for others, and working together to resolve problems. The significance of this effort and these responsibilities is such that there is no distinction between our relationships on earth and the view from heaven. What we do plays out both in terms of our life on earth and our spiritual life, there is no distinction.
So we should not think that these two worlds, our religious life and our secular life, are somehow different and operate by different rules. If we are in relationship with God then we are bound in relationship with the people around us. And conversely the relationships we have with those around us, and how we manage those (particularly when they are problematic) is directly linked to our relationship with God, our life in heaven.
As Jesus tells us, our gathering together, even if only with one or two others, is a meeting with him, with God’s presence in our world. Our connection to the divine doesn’t occur in some special place, or time. God is right next to us, and we must be sure to remember that, especially when disagreements and disputes might cause us to imagine he is somehow not involved.