Matthew 18: 15-20

By Jerome Sabatowich

 We have never found the original manuscripts of the four Gospels, but some very old copies do exist. In our oldest copies of the Gospel according to Matthew, today’s reading is a little different from what we heard proclaimed in the church. In the sentence that talks about what to do if your brother commits some wrong against you, the words “against you” are not there. This indicates that someone other than the original author added these words. How and why did this happen?

Since printing presses and copiers were not available in the first century, a scribe copied an important document by hand. He would sit down with a quill pen and a scroll of papyrus and copy the document letter by letter. Occasionally, the scribe would make a mistake and leave out a letter or phrase, but sometimes he tried to make a passage clearer by adding his own words. That’s what may have happened with today’s reading: a Christian scribe added the words “against you” to clarify what Jesus said.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus outlines a three-point plan we should follow to lovingly correct a fellow Christian we observe doing something wrong. If, however, the guilty party still refuses to repent, Jesus tells us to treat that person like a Gentile or a tax collector.

A Gentile is anyone who is not Jewish. Many of the Jews did not associate with Gentiles, and some of the rabbis even taught that a Jew traveling through Gentile territory should shake the dirt from his sandals before stepping on Jewish soil so as not to contaminate Jewish land.

Tax collectors were even worse than Gentiles. Because the Jews considered God their king, they thought their tax money should be used for the upkeep of God’s house (the Temple). Because the tax collector gave the tax money to the emperor, the Jews believed he was stealing from God. Therefore, the Jews had nothing to do with tax collectors. A Jew who touched a tax collector was ritually unclean and could not offer sacrifices in the Temple.

Treating an errant person like a Gentile or a tax collector as a last resort. The reading clearly stresses that we should give the sinner every opportunity to repent.

For Reflection: Reread today’s Gospel and write down the three steps in how to lovingly correct another person. Strive to follow these steps whenever you are upset with someone. Notice that Gossip is not one of those steps.