The Real Presence

Gospel Matthew 18.15-20

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Ever heard of doctrine of Real Presence? Means in some way Jesus is present in bread and wine.

RC / Orthodox - in the Eucharist the bread and wine are objectively transformed and become in a real sense body and blood of Jesus Christ. Transubstantiation. This is my body he said. And this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.

Methodists – Jesus Christ who "is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Hebrews 1:3), is truly present in HC. HC is means of Grace through which real presence of Jesus communicated to believer.

Anglican – broad range of beliefs. Sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. In the Eucharist, the outward and visible sign is that of bread and wine, while the inward and spiritual grace is that of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Some say there is nothing in Scripture about Real Presence. True, you don’t find it where you expect. In Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and in 1 Corinthians 11. Accounts of Last Supper where Jesus says Do this in remembrance of me.

Rather, Real Presence is here where you don’t expect – in Matthew 18.
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
Jesus is present with us now. The Lord is here – his spirit is with us. A confidant declaration at the start of our service of worship and thanksgiving.

Jesus is with us – imagine him sitting in the row behind you. As God incarnate, he knows you intimately. Every thought. Every deed. Every intention. All those judgements of others. All those things left undone. Nothing hidden. All revealed.

Not very comfortable, is it? Or is it actually a great comfort? A wonderful affirmation of his presence with us? Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered together in his name. At Church. Bible Study. Emmaus. Godly Play. Church Mice. PCC. All in his name.

Hold this thought – but not everything in the church is rosy. Not everything is perfect. Not everyone behaves always in a Christian fashion. Rewind just a few verses – Jesus starts with “if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault...” And if he won’t listen, take others along, and confront him openly. And if he still persists in his sin, tell it to the church.

It’s a kind of Conciliation service. Truth & Reconciliation. Dispute resolution. Notice – this is not one person against another. We can perhaps learn a lot from this teaching when we are upset about something in the Church. Not bottling up our resentment and shunning the offender, but confronting them in love, with others if need be, just as we are commanded to do here.

The sanction is stiff. ‘...whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Sounds like the conclusion is for all time. No appeal.

But God’s mercy and grace is abundant and infinite.
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Do you believe that? If you and others agree on something, it will be given to you? Of course you must be able to ask ‘in my name.’ In the name of the One who is with us now, sitting in the row behind you. That certainly tempers the range of petitions that are right and proper. But even so, it’s a powerful promise – if you have faith enough to invoke it.

Perhaps most startling in this reading is not about answered prayer, or how to deal with communal or individual sin but this.

The presence of God with us, wherever two or three are gathered together. Emmanuel – God with Us. When? In our sin. Confrontation. Repentance. Forgiveness. Worship. Whatever we are doing in his name. It takes some thinking about.

I remember No Hiding Place. ITV series on TV in the 60’s. Starred Raymond Francis as Inspector Lockhart. I looked it up. They made 236 episodes. Some were live. Only 25 episodes survive, even in part. The title tells the story. There was no hiding place for the criminal from the long arm of the law. Just the same, as God sits on the row behind you, everything is revealed. He is with us, even at our worst times as people and as Church.

It’s ironic – the unrepentant sinner is to be treated as a pagan or tax collector. Yet this passage immediately follows Parable of Lost Sheep. And after it comes Peter’s question – how many times shall I forgive my brother?

Maybe irony intentional. Perhaps what Jesus is saying is that you never give up. You keep trying to bring unrepentant sinner back into fold. Don’t just search for an hour and give up. Don’t limit number of times you forgive. The eventual sanction is there – but that’s for God and his judgement, and not for us.

Also, this is a joint endeavour. We don’t act alone. We get together to face up to wrongdoing. And we don’t pray alone – the passage says we have to agree about our petitions and pray for them together. Only then will God answer our prayer. That’s a promise. God is with us when we gather together in his name. And God will grant what we ask – in his name – and when we agree together.

This morning’s topic could not be more fitting, as we look at the state of our Church, locally, nationally, internationally. We disagree. We are plagued by our inability to handle confrontation, disagreement and our sins. We find it hard to live together as sisters and brothers in Christ, precisely because we are sinners.

Jesus offers us a simple guide where God is on Mars and we are on Venus. He says no – it’s not like that. We are not separated from God, even in our sin. No, he is with us, sitting on the row behind, whether in agreement and harmony or in sin and strife.

This is surely the importance of the Real presence of Jesus, God with Us. Not a theological argument about the Eucharist and the words we use. But God’s grace. For Jesus, it was so vital he repeated his promise in the very last words he used. In Matthew 28:20 he says:

“...surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And here Matthew’s gospel ends. Amen.