Just as rural railroad crossing lights caution us, God calls us to “stop, look, and listen,” to pay attention to the truth that the Word of God has for us here and now. It is easy for us to glance at a scripture verse or passage and think we know what it means because we’ve heard it so often preached from one pulpit or another. But if we take time to stop, look, and listen with an open mind and heart, we may discover a very different message for us today. Take, for example, Mt.18:17 from our gospel lesson today: “If a member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the member refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.” Because Gentiles and tax collectors were known to be outcasts, even enemies, in Jesus’ day, that verse has been used by the church through the ages as a basis for excommunication, for shunning those who don’t do things our way. But if we stop, look, and listen, we may hear a different message today. Consider how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors: he healed them, ate with them, even called one of them to be part of his inner circle of disciples—in other words, he loved them. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to love our enemies (Mt.5:44), not cast them out, and when Jesus was giving an example of how to love one’s neighbor, he used an “outcast” Samaritan as one who demonstrated God’s love (Lk.16:29-37). In addition, if we look at where Matthew puts this passage in his gospel, we find it follows immediately after the parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd goes to any lengths to rescue the rebellious ram and bring it back to the fold. And it is immediately before Peter’s asking how often he needed to forgive another where Jesus implies that Peter can’t count that high. Finally we can listen to the epistle for today and hear Paul call us yet again to love our neighbor in all that we say and do. Putting the gospel verse, Mt. 18:17, in such a context seems to call us to forgive the one that we perceive sins against us, as we regularly pray in the Lord’s Prayer, and to love that person back into relationship, into communion. When I stop, look, and listen to the gospel for today, the message I receive is that reconciliation is the task of love, for us individually, and for the church at large.