Reconciliation
I’ve been thinking about Matthew 5:21-26 a lot this week. The passage reads, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[c]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”Harsh words from our Lord. But before working with CHAT I didn’t realize how hard it could be to reconcile with my fellow human beings. This week was full of highs and lows. But one of the greatest lows was when we had to send a large group of kids home over discipline issues. It was a very difficult situation and it strained the bonds of trust between us and the kids. It keeps me awake at night wondering if I could have done things better. If I could have watched the kids better, taught them better, been a better role model. To see kids who you have invested so much in, kids you love, walk away in anger, is hard. Perhaps it is the hardest thing we deal with as counselors and the hardest thing parents deal with. Certainly the kids needed to be disciplined. Certainly they needed to know what type of behavior is appropriate for CHAT and for the future when they enter the job market. But still it is heart breaking. And I wonder, how can we be reconciled? How can I be reconciled to those kids? How can blacks be reconciled to whites? How can husband be reconciled to wife? How can we who are so different find common ground?Part of reconciliation begins with shared experience. For example, this week I had my group of kids build their own Ark out of nothing but cardboard and tape. To my surprise their usual arguing soon ceased and they began working together as a team. Forty five minutes later they had constructed a cardboard boat. It was not seaworthy but it was certainly worthy of much admiration because the kids did it themselves without much instruction from me. They put their hearts into a common task and they found themselves closer to each other as a result. Another example would be when we went to Shalom farms last Friday. There we spent two hours pulling up potatoes from the ground. Honestly, I thought the kids would complain about manual labor in the hot sun. But no such complaints came. Instead they banded together and set their wills to completing a common task. And when they were done they had a sense of pride because the potatoes they had dug up were going to meet the needs of the Church Hill community. So a common task is essential to reconciliation. Even if it is as simple as building a cardboard boat. We also need a common belief. We need a faith that bonds us together to our Lord Jesus Christ who desires to draw all people to himself. The one who was both man and God is the only one who can truly reconcile man to God and people to each other.
