DEAR PAGAN
My friend was heartbroken over her friend who fell for a scam that caused him whatever little money he had, his scholarship, his potential ministry, and his marriage.
He was a foreign student on scholarship in the country, getting ready to be equipped for his ministry back home. But one afternoon, he met a woman with whom he had a one-night stand and kept seeing until he decided she was reason enough to leave his wife. A few weeks later, the woman asked for money as she claimed to be carrying his child. He readily did so and never heard from her again.
My friend advised him to go back to his own country and to his family who had expressed willingness to forgive and start all over again. But to her surprise, he refused to do so in spite of being now penniless in a foreign country, as well as being kicked out of his school. This made my friend very angry. “I don’t want to have anything to do with him!”
“Treat him like a pagan,” her husband said.
“Yes!” my friend seconded the motion.
"And how do you treat a pagan?” I asked.
“Uh….”
“You share the gospel to him.”
Silence.
Believers often assume that Matthew 18:17 endorses ostracism. If this were so, Jesus would be contradicting His words through His own actions making it a matter of do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do as He was accused of spending time with THE pagans of His day---“sinners and tax collectors” (Mt. 9:10-13).
To treat an unrepentant fellow believer like a pagan is not to shun him/her but it is to be like the good shepherd who left his 99 sheep to look for the one that was lost. It is to be like the woman who searched high and low for her lost coin and asked her friends to rejoice with her upon finding it. It is to be like the father waiting for his lost son to return.
If you noticed in all three instances, treating someone like a pagan entails time and effort on our part. When we look for something that is lost, we set aside our original to-do items to find it. The shepherd left his duties caring for the 99 to look for the lost sheep. We might have to do the same to bring back our unrepentant brother/sister like shorten our time with our family, friends, and work.
The woman turned her house upside down in search of the coin, and later spent much time telling her friends about her success. Again, we would need to set aside some of our activities and energy to bring back our lost brother/sister. Unfortunately, some of us do the reverse. We spend much time telling our friends about our fallen brother/sister and turn the house of God into a gossip mill.
The father was always on the alert, looking out into the horizon for a trace of a shadow of his son. This teaches us to never say, “Ah, bahala siya sa buhay niya! Pakialam natin.” We should never erase our lost brother/sister from our memory and prayer time in the hope of one day, while s/he is still a long way off, we can run to them, throw our arms around them, and welcome them home.
My friend was heartbroken over her friend who fell for a scam that caused him whatever little money he had, his scholarship, his potential ministry, and his marriage.
He was a foreign student on scholarship in the country, getting ready to be equipped for his ministry back home. But one afternoon, he met a woman with whom he had a one-night stand and kept seeing until he decided she was reason enough to leave his wife. A few weeks later, the woman asked for money as she claimed to be carrying his child. He readily did so and never heard from her again.
My friend advised him to go back to his own country and to his family who had expressed willingness to forgive and start all over again. But to her surprise, he refused to do so in spite of being now penniless in a foreign country, as well as being kicked out of his school. This made my friend very angry. “I don’t want to have anything to do with him!”
“Treat him like a pagan,” her husband said.
“Yes!” my friend seconded the motion.
"And how do you treat a pagan?” I asked.
“Uh….”
“You share the gospel to him.”
Silence.
Believers often assume that Matthew 18:17 endorses ostracism. If this were so, Jesus would be contradicting His words through His own actions making it a matter of do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do as He was accused of spending time with THE pagans of His day---“sinners and tax collectors” (Mt. 9:10-13).
To treat an unrepentant fellow believer like a pagan is not to shun him/her but it is to be like the good shepherd who left his 99 sheep to look for the one that was lost. It is to be like the woman who searched high and low for her lost coin and asked her friends to rejoice with her upon finding it. It is to be like the father waiting for his lost son to return.
If you noticed in all three instances, treating someone like a pagan entails time and effort on our part. When we look for something that is lost, we set aside our original to-do items to find it. The shepherd left his duties caring for the 99 to look for the lost sheep. We might have to do the same to bring back our unrepentant brother/sister like shorten our time with our family, friends, and work.
The woman turned her house upside down in search of the coin, and later spent much time telling her friends about her success. Again, we would need to set aside some of our activities and energy to bring back our lost brother/sister. Unfortunately, some of us do the reverse. We spend much time telling our friends about our fallen brother/sister and turn the house of God into a gossip mill.
The father was always on the alert, looking out into the horizon for a trace of a shadow of his son. This teaches us to never say, “Ah, bahala siya sa buhay niya! Pakialam natin.” We should never erase our lost brother/sister from our memory and prayer time in the hope of one day, while s/he is still a long way off, we can run to them, throw our arms around them, and welcome them home.