Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
We can ask, not just for milk and honey, but anything. Unity in the Church is meant to be the true promised land. In the Old Testament sin presented an insurmountable barrier even to Moses, who could not cross into the promised land. But sin no longer need block our own access to God and the good things he has for us. Jesus himself has reconciled us to God by his blood (see Colossians 1:20), and he himself is our peace and has broken down the dividing wall of separation (see Ephesians 2:14).
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
We are called to take the initiative to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters because to do so means to enter the promised land, and to refrain when it is in our power means to remain in the wilderness. This is true whether it is our own sin or that of our brother or sister. The initiative must always be ours.
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.
There are provisions for people who simply won't listen. But we must first exhaust the options at our disposal. Even if the fault is not ours in a particular case we nevertheless can't enjoy this promised land as something between ourselves and God, ignoring the wellbeing of brothers and sisters for whom Christ died. We can't imagine ourselves to be living in the promised land and loving God whom we have not seen if we fail to love our brother whom we have seen (see First John 4:20). Peace and unity are the Spirit's gifts to the Church. If we neglect these gifts we may find our surroundings again more consistent with the wilderness than the promised land.
The Church is able to provide an objective standard to which we can appeal when there is a dispute about right and wrong, and therefore a firm basis for unity. Led into all truth by the Holy Spirit the Church is able to bind her members together on earth in order that they may taste the promised land even here and now, and eventually be bound together in heaven. Doctrines themselves are only binding in order that we who are bound by them may be bound together in Christ himself. They bind us against false promises and fictitious freedom. We become slaves of righteousness (see Romans 6:18), who, because we are thus bound, are truly free (see John 8:36).
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
The Promised Land is precisely the place where Jesus is present. He is eschews discord and indifference but is drawn toward even the most meager attempts at peace and unity. Arguably, the Church has been too distracted to fully embody this promise, preoccupied with a period of mourning, looking backward toward better times. It seems as though she is waiting for new prophetic voices to lead the way to the Kingdom. Let us listen to those voices when we hear them. Let us, as we may, be ourselves those voices.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue.
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