Go And Tell Him
Ordinary Time
Today's reading · Matthew 18:15-20
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
Notice what Jesus does not authorize: turning another person's sin into gossip, public humiliation, or a quiet write-off. When someone in the church sins against you, he says go. And not to a crowd. Go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.
That word alone is doing a lot of work. It protects the person you are confronting. No audience, no public shaming, no performance for bystanders. Just two people and the truth between them. The goal is right there in the next line: if the member listens to you, you have regained that one. Regained. The point was never to win the argument or be proven right. The point was to get the person back. Jesus treats a fractured relationship like something lost and worth recovering.
Only if that first step fails does it widen. Bring one or two others, he says, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Even then it stays small. The witnesses are not a cheering section; they are there to keep the process honest and just. And if that still fails, the matter can be brought to the Church. It is a graduated process, ordered toward truth and reconciliation at every stage.
A direct, private conversation is often the most loving response. But it also has to be prudent. Serious danger, abuse, a significant power imbalance, or the need to protect someone vulnerable may mean that seeking pastoral, safeguarding, or civil help is the right first move. That is not gossip or disobedience. What Jesus quietly warns against is something different: recruiting a crowd, spreading the story around, or letting a real grievance fester into resentment instead of being addressed honestly and charitably.
Today's intention
Today, after prayerful discernment, I'll resist the pull toward gossip and address a genuine grievance directly and charitably with the person involved, or seek wise and appropriate help if a private conversation would be unsafe or imprudent.