reconciliation must be better than this

Picking up from last Friday’s bloggage, this passage from the Bible was in my email inbox today (I subscribe to ‘Red Letter Days’ from my friends at Kore – they have an iphone or android app which daily sends you some words of Jesus):

If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell them – work it out between the two of you. If they listen you’ve made a friend. If they won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If they still won’t listen, tell the church. If they won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront them with the need for repentance and offer again God’s forgiving love.

Matthew 18 v 15-17 TM (altered to be gender inclusive)

The passage from Matthew 18 used to puzzle me because Jesus talks of ‘church’ but the church had not been established yet. However the word we translate as ‘church’ more accurately means ‘assembly’ and relates to the synagogue community of Jesus’ day as much as to churches today. But rather than get distracted by translation semantics, it is better to be attracted by the attitude of humble reconciliation and grace.

You can never have enough grace (you can quote me on that!).

Be blessed, be a blessing.