Most church services that people attended over the weekend did not include a public rebuke.

I’m sure there were many private rebukes, in which one person accused another (not in the conversation)  of dressing inappropriately, of taking the wrong seat in the sanctuary, of not watching children while they ran on the platform after the service,   of spending too much or too little on a car or vacation or refrigerator or cell phone. These conversations, in which we confess the “sins” of others, happen every Sunday in every church I know of. And those conversations are wrong. coming as they do under the heading of gossip or critical spirit or not forgiving.

No, I’m talking about the kind of public rebuke that Jesus describe in Matthew 18. A person is approached in a serious, but informal way, by a person that loves them and truly has their best interest at heart, They don’t see anything wrong with what they are doing, or don’t see any need to stop.

After a private conversation, two or three other people are invited along.

And now, Jesus says, if the person doesn’t pay attention, we are to tell it to the church. Publicly.

We shy away from this. But we do it all the time. We just tell the church about the misbehavior of people in whispers and emails. “Did you hear about?” “Can you believe that?”

Jesus is saying, ‘don’t smear their reputation, like you often do. Don’t shut them out. Don’t leave them dangling. Instead, ask the person to come to a meeting of the church and let’s let everyone hear at the same time.”

Jesus wasn’t creating a forum to crucify people. That was being covered elsewhere. He forcing conversation into the open, with a clear process, and a desire for reconciliation.