“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them (Mt.18:20).” There is no doubt that this is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible particularly when we start talking about what the church is. Jesus is in our midst when we gather together as his disciples. That’s our foundational given. Yet, it is a given that begs some questions, questions like, “How do we know he is here?” or more simply, “What does he look like?”
How do we know Jesus is here? What does he look like? Let me give you an image. I once knew a man back in my university days who was a musical genius. He was a one-man band/orchestra on the synthesizer/keyboard, which was a relatively new piece of technology in the world of music back in the late ‘80’s. We got into a discussion one day about recording because I was doing a little bit of that (on a little four-track recorder that used a cassette tape. How ‘80’s is that?) and so he had me over one afternoon to demonstrate how he put music together using just his synthesizer/keyboard.
I sat in the corner of his basement studio and he set to work. Keep in mind, he’s not using any sheet music. He was simply making up a song there on the spot. He started out making the keys of the keyboard be different kinds of drums and by tapping out a beat on those keys he programed in some drums. Then he switched it to piano and added a basic chord progression and recorded it over top of the drums. Then he changed the keyboard to the sound of an upright bass, then some guitars, and strings and horns. He had it all sequenced over each other, the basic sound track of a song. Then, he added in saxophone solos, trumpet solos, keyboard and guitar solos – all from this keyboard. Then, he tweaked it with different accents of percussion instruments. I was gobsmacked…and all just off the top of his head.
This man is what I would call a symphonizer. He heard the music in his head and he had the ability to make the music happen. He understood music in all its intricacies and how everything worked together, what needed to happen where for it to sound better. He made sounds, silence, and time come into the state of agreement we call the harmonies that make up what we call symphony – sounds working harmoniously together.
Well, to talk about what Jesus looks like in our midst is to talk about symphony or rather symphonizing among the troubled relationships of human community; doing with human relationship what this man was doing with his keyboard. Jesus is the Great Symphonizer. He is in our midst working out human relational symphony that looks, acts, feels like him.
Symphonizing is what Jesus points us to in verse 19 when he says: “Again, truly, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven (NIV).” Unfortunately, that is a Severely (capital S) botched translation that’s easily misunderstood to say such ridiculous things as if two of you agree in prayer that your minister should be wealthy and drive a Cadillac, God the Father will make it happen. What this verse really says is “Whenever two of you prayerfully symphonize in any matter of Christian community on earth, God the Father will do it for them from heaven.” Now let me give my case for why it should be translated this way.
The word we translate as “agree” in the New Testament Greek is the verb form of the word from which we get our word “symphony”. It is “symphoneo” or symphonize. It is a word rooted in musical imagery in Greek just as it is in English. The image Jesus is giving us is that we are to prayerfully go about the work of making our Christian fellowship look like musical harmony, particularly when we are broken and there are conflicts.
The word “anything” is not there in the Greek text. Jesus is not telling us to pray for anything and agree about it and God will do it. Jesus says “all pragma”. Pragma is the word we get “pragmatic” from. As most of you are farmers you know pragmatic means sticking to the simplest things that work in order to get it done. There’s the philosophy of Pragmatism – “If it works, it’s true.” In Greek, pragma are the things we do – our practical deeds, our actions.” Prayerfully working to come to agreement, symphonising, in the things we do as Jesus’ disciples is the direction Jesus is pointing us in. “Whenever two or more of you prayerfully work to come together in what you do, pragma, as Christian community, there I am in your midst Symphonizing”. I think that’s what Jesus is saying here.
So, what are the pragma we are to symphonize? Well, Jesus begins verse 19 by saying “Again.” ”Again, I say to you…” This means he is referring to things he has just said. What are those things? This passage comes near the end of a lesson session Jesus has been giving his disciples about the nature of community in his kingdom. What the relationship among them is to be like.
The first pragma is that of conducting oneself according to childlike humility. Chapter 18 begins with the disciples coming to Jesus and asking, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus answered by pulling a child to himself and saying, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. Humility! Humility is one of the basic musical sounds in the symphony of the way we relate to each as followers of Jesus.
Next, Jesus tells the disciples to be careful in their conduct. They must not by the things they do put temptations before others or cause others to fall away. I may not consider something I do to be a “sin”, but if it causes another to judge me or fall away from Christian fellowship, then I best not do it. It’s not worth it. The word for this is maybe circumspect or being considerate. Try not to give another person reason to judge us on our conduct. Rather, give them reason to appreciate us.
Next, if we do cause someone to fall away from our fellowship, like a shepherd seeking one single lost sheep we must seek that person out to bring them back. Our typical reaction when someone leaves the church is to consign their leaving to being either their problem or regard it as a matter of their private faith in which we shouldn’t meddle. And so, we don’t do anything. In Christian community we seek out those who walk away from our fellowship and very pragmatically try to fix what went wrong.
Similarly, Jesus teaches that when someone in the church wrongs another one of us, in the majority of cases the one wronged should discreetly approach the one who wronged them. This means that as a matter of first course we don’t react violently, or hold a grudge, or malign the character of the one who wronged us. We go to them and try to work it out as quickly and pragmatically as possible even though they wronged us. If at first they don’t listen, then we bring others into it remembering that reconciliation rather than retribution (making them pay) is the goal.
This teaching session ends with Peter asking Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother who repeatedly sinned against him. Jesus answered, “Seventy times seven”. That’s a phrase that means “always”. Because God has forgiven us and stays in a relationship with us even though we never seem to cease sinning against him, so are we to patiently and humbly bear with one another continually pointing each other to Jesus where there is healing.
The pragma, the practical matter, of healing relationships is the symphony that Jesus is orchestrating among us. Whenever we prayerfully come to agreement in any “pragmatic” matter of Christian community on earth, God the Father will do it for us from heaven. Jesus is the great symphonizer. We are like that keyboard synthesizer that my friend had. It had many different instruments that my friend used to conjure up “symphony”. We are the many different instruments and sounds through which Jesus makes the symphony of human community in his image arise. When we prayerfully enter into this work with him, the Father will make it here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
