What do you do when the Word of God you encounter at church on Sunday morning is not comforting but confusing and even down right confrontational?

The lectionary text from the Gospel of Matthew certainly fits in that category, doesn't it? Well, at first glance it may not be all that confusing. Forgiveness is good, but there are limits. If someone sins against you, confront that person face to face, one on one, and try to clear the air. If reconciliation doesn't result from the one on one encounter, confront the person again in the presence of witnesses. If the situation still remains unresolved, tell it to the church - sic the elders on them! That'll teach them a lesson! But if THAT doesn't work then let the one who sinned against you "be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector." That seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? Sounds a lot like "three strikes and you're out," as a matter of fact. Most of us would agree with that approach. If somebody does you wrong, they either ought to make it right or pay the price. Or, as one philosopher put it, "We should always forgive our enemies, but only after they have been publicly executed."

But, you see, there IS one problem with this "three strikes and you're out" approach. And it's a major problem. The problem is that this method of dealing with someone who has wronged you is totally, completely, 100% AGAINST everything else Jesus teaches about forgiveness. In fact, if you read the entire 18th chapter of Matthew's gospel instead of reading just these few selected verses, it would appear that "three strikes and you're out" flies in the face of the teachings of Jesus recorded elsewhere in that chapter.