Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
Where two or three are gathered in his name, Jesus Christ is there among them. If you and another Cristian have a falling out and you reconcile, then Christ is among you. If it takes a third party to effect a reconciliation, then Christ is there. Even it takes the whole Church to effect reconciliation, then Christ is present as well.
What should we do if the party in the wrong does not listen to the Church? Should we throw that one out the window? Jesus said we should treat the person as we would a tax collector or a Gentile.
How do we do that? Jesus ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners; he associated with Gentiles such as the Canaanite woman. The purpose of extraordinary treatment is to call the person back to proper conduct and behavior. We do not punish for the sake of punishing or out of its enjoyment.
Whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. It is not just Peter who can bind and loose, nor is it only priests who can bind or loose. It belongs to every Christian to show God’s mercy by binding and loosening.
We live in a world that seems to have invented new ways of sinning. Do we react in anger and hold sin against the sinner or do we react with graciousness and mercy as the Lord has done for our own sins? Only the one without sin is allowed to throw stones at others.
When we throw stones or when we judge others incorrectly, Jesus is not with us. When we treat others with compassion, then Jesus Christ is in our midst.