Jesus gives escalating verbal strategies for speaking up to harmful believers. First, he advises speaking the truth, “If your brother sins… tell him his fault.” Next, expand your courage, “If he does not listen, take others along (to) establish” facts. If he’s still unchanging, Jesus advises speaking up publicly, “Tell the church.” His final advice for disciples standing up to self-righteous sinners is, “treat him as you would an unbeliever.”
Speaking up to harmful believers, like self-titled Christians, likely churns in our guts as an uncomfortable or perhaps foolish action. Of late, it has become worse; a quite dangerous action. Yet, it remains our responsibility to speak up. Self-titled Christians have become the stubborn sinner Jesus describes in the Gospel. They are adamant about committing sin, specifically the sin of white supremacy. They refuse to accept established facts. These white supremacists have unfortunately become the public church but need to be treated as the unbelievers they are. The racist white supremacists sinning from their places in the White House, the military, the police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), KKK, pulpits, pews, and elsewhere are all armed and ready to be dangerous when we speak up. We cannot be silent about the sin of white supremacy. It is important to talk to family, friends, neighbors, store clerks, librarians, strangers. Speak core truths of our humanity. Communicate lessons from conscience. Address the common good. Offer thoughtful reflections. Think so as to help others think. Ask questions to interrupt unbelievers’ insanity on behalf of reality. Verbally challenge sinful ideas. We to have moral conversations. Have the conversations this culture has been denied by the GOP who hijacked morality years ago. The GOP seized morality and forced it to change direction for their purposes. They reduced it to personal sexual issues, which, as the current president proves, never did apply to them. They thus gutted morality of its social power, enabling, among other sins, white supremacist racism. The GOP have practiced white supremacy through gerrymandering, birtherism, Muslim bans, a ‘so-called’ Mexican judge, Charlottesville, and, most recently, threatening DACA. The least we can do is speak up.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Prayer: Spirit of Truth, make us intentional about speaking from conscience
Question: How can I moralize my language when speaking to moral hijackers?
September 10, 2017 Gospel Matthew 18:5-20 Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time