Binding and loosing
Jane Denniston
September 16, 2017
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Matthew 18: 15-20
15 ‘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. 16 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. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
The White House is the seat of unimaginable power on earth. The president of the United States in a very real sense holds in his hands the keys of the kingdom. To him is given the power of binding and loosing here on earth. On television, in The West Wing’s Jed Bartlett, there is a man who is aware of his limitations, who is not seduced by the trappings of power into thinking that he is better than those he is pledged to serve.
Jed Bartlett however, is fictional. He has the benefit of scriptwriters putting words in his mouth which are always words of wisdom. The leaders of our contemporary world are not fictional characters and are subject to the same flaws and frailties that we are. They need our prayers.
God, help us for we need help.
Help us to pray as we ought,
to support our leaders
and enable them to do your work.
Help us to pray as we ought,
that evil on earth will be bound
as it is in heaven;
and that righteousness, mercy, and love
will be loosed on earth
as it is in heaven.
Amen.
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