Why We Need To Remember Who The Enemy Is: On Fraternal Correction
“We should practise both fraternal correction — which demands deep humility and simplicity of heart — and prayer so that it may rise to God from a community truly united in Christ.”
-Pope Benedict XVI (Angelus Sunday, 4 September 2011)
We are so divided as a church.
What’s worrisome is not that we disagree with one another on different issues, that’s to be expected. What’s worrisome is how quickly both sides vilify the other. Whether it be Covid-19, BLM, Pope Francis, or literally any other issue - there seems to be two prevailing sides who adamantly swear that the other is the devil incarnate.
Both sides put down their opposition and treat each other as though they are the problem. Both sides are convinced that, “They are what’s wrong with the world. They are what’s causing so much evil to ensue. They are the enemy.” But they aren’t. As Christians we know who the enemy is and it’s not our neighbor with differing political views. Satan is the enemy, and sin is the problem. We can’t forget that.
The devil is the problem. He is the enemy. Not your most hated politician, not your friends with differing political opinions, not those who tell you to wear masks, or others who tell you masks are pointless - they are not the enemy. The devil and the sin are, and we would do well to spend more time fighting those enemies within our own hearts first, before we aim to go and evangelize the world through our social media platforms.
Fraternal Correction
Yet, we still have this desire to correct those who seem to be missing the point of various movement, posts, and beliefs.
However, no matter how positively we spin our desire to correct, we can never justify equating our opposition to Hitler. It’s amazing to me how arguments from both sides of the political spectrum seem to always end with one side comparing the other to Hitler. But it’s this type of rationalization that permits us to weaponize our platforms against anyone who may disagree in the name of fraternal correction.
If we are able to correct our perspective and remind ourselves that the person commenting on a forum, or replying to us on Twitter or Instagram is also loved eternally by God, we may start to treat them a bit kinder in our exchanges. Fraternal correction isn’t a free pass to be less than charitable.
Fraternal correction assumes there is first some fraternity there, it assumes brotherhood. Facebook “friendship” doesn’t count. And we must acknowledge the reality that no one will listen to anything we have to say to them unless they know we actually care about them. That means that the majority of us intellectually and politically wrestling in cyberspace are wasting our time.
We should aim to get to know those people with whom we disagree first, and then enter into dialogue about our differing views. That is the foundation of true fraternal correction.
Sharing The Good News
Yes - what’s happening in our country is frustrating, scary, and might be justifiably classified as evil, but I am sure the devil takes more delight in seeing the amount of division and discord being sown amongst believers. The believers who are supposed to be spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ are more concerned with winning arguments and tearing down all whom disagree with them.
The world is watching and we are not treating each other with love. Regardless of where we stand politically, loving our neighbor and our enemies are non-negotiables for the Christian. And if the world sees us fail at this, they will not listen to us. We are supposed to be loving in such a supernatural way, so that the world can see and ask “where this love comes from?”. And from there the Gospel can be shared with power.
Pope Benedict XVI tells us that: “Love of one's enemy constitutes the nucleus of the "Christian revolution", a revolution not based on strategies of economic, political or media power: the revolution of love, a love that does not rely ultimately on human resources but is a gift of God which is obtained by trusting solely and unreservedly in his merciful goodness.”
Gentile and Tax Collector
In Matthew 18, Jesus gives His followers a standard of fraternal correction:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.Matthew 18: 15-17
Typically, the last part of the teaching of treating your brother who disagrees with you as a gentile or a tax collector, is interpreted as Christ giving permission for a believer to discredit or be done with that particular person. Anyone who knows a little bit of the New Testament knows that Tax Collectors and Gentiles weren’t in high regard to the Jews of that time for different reasons.
However, I would like to offer a different interpretation for us to consider as we go forth and continue to fraternally correct those around us.
Since Christ is speaking about fraternal correction of a brother whom will not listen even to the Church, is it plausible that Christ does not mean to shun that brother of yours? What if Christ is giving us a formal to bring that brother back into the fold?
This passage comes at chapter 18 of Matthew. Matthew has use the term “tax collector” 5 times before this point, and ALL of those times Jesus was not talking about shunning tax collectors:
Jesus points out that His followers must love differently from them (Mt 5:46)
Jesus is dining with tax collectors (Mt 9:10, 9:11)
The author of the Gospel identifies himself as a previous tax collector (Mt 10:3)
Jesus acknowledges people see him as a friend to tax collectors (Mt 11:19)
and two times after the teaching on fraternal correction, Matthew writes about tax collectors
Acknowledging their faith in John the Baptist and Christ saying that tax collectors would enter the Kingdom of Heaven before those in front of Him (Mt 21:31-32)
Maybe Jesus did not mean that we should shun those whom ignore our fraternal direction. Maybe Christ was telling us that we should treat those fallen away believers as Gentiles and Tax Collectors after His example. Quite possibly Christ wanted us to win those fallen away back by leading first with the love that they may have forgotten, by dining with them, praying for them, building relationships with them, and reminding them (and ourselves) that they are friends of Jesus.
There are a lot of people in our world that disagree with us. They are not the devil. They are our people who God loves unconditionally and whom God desires that they return to the flock. Let your words and deeds (in person and on social media) be catalysts to a renewed devotion.
The world is watching, let them see how we treat Gentiles and Tax Collectors and let them wonder.
Verso L’alto - Renzo