ABSTRACT
The sermon addresses a Gospel text not preached often and a topic not talked about much in Church. Yet everywhere else people are discussing widespread scandals involving ministers and sexual abuse, especially of children. Matthew 18:6–7 is used as a guide to better understanding what's going on, so as to know what should be done—or at least to think about “What would Jesus do?” (WWJD) in regard to our current crisis of clergy sex scandals.
Notes
1. Donna Hales, Couple to be charged in alleged sexual abuse of minor, The Muskogee Phoenix (September 19, 2007). Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/local_story_262012714.html.
2. Bob Gibbins, Schaeffer to be sentenced for obscene photo, Tahlequah Daily Press (August 28, 2007). Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://www.enidnews.com/statenews/cnhinsall_story_240152331.html.
3. See, for example, BibleGateway.com: The cruelest legal punishment in Jesus’ day was crucifixion, but this image of drowning represents a Roman punishment more horrifying to Jewish hearers than crucifixion and one only rarely tolerated among them (Jeremias, 1972:180; for an exception see Jos. Ant. 14.450). When people in a community had much grain to grind, they took it to the community mill, pouring it between an upper and lower millstone. Jesus refers here not to the lighter millstone turned by a woman's hand but to the heavier community kind turned by an ass—heavy enough to take one quickly to the bottom of the sea (Deissmann, 1978:81; compare 1 Enoch 48:9).” Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getCommentaryText&cid=1&source=1&seq=i.47.18.4.
4. Reliable statistical data with full citations are not plentiful, but Lloyd Rediger and others reference several studies indicating alarmingly high rates of clergy sexual misconduct. The data ranges widely: 6.1% of Southern Baptist pastors reportedly admitted to having had sexual contact with church members, compared to 10% of clergy respondents admitting this in a Graduate Theological Union study, and as many as 38% in a survey reported by R. A. Blackmon (The Hazards of the Ministry, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1984). See Lloyd Rediger, Beyond the Scandals: A Guide to Healthy Sexuality for Clergy, Augsburg Fortress, 1983 (pp. 5–6, 9, 30, 57–58, 63–64, 69, 80, 94, 107). See also http://www.beliefnet.com/story/101/story_10199_1.html.
5. The character quoted is “Lily Devera” in the film Not in My Church, available from FaithTrust Institute at http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/index.php?p=Not+in+My+ Church&s=134.
6. See Rediger (op. cit.), p. 115.
7. James Brook, Indian lawsuits on school abuse may bankrupt Canada churches, New York Times (November 2, 2000). Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E0DA1E30F931A35752C1A9669C8B63&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FR%2FReligion%20and%20Belief.
8. Gay Abbate, Catholic Church in Canada faces scrutiny over abuse, The Globe (May 13, 2002). Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://www.rickross.com/reference/clergy/clergy73.html. See also “The Catholic Church faces new steps in dealing with scandal,” ReligionLink. Retrieved online October 11, 2007, at http://www.religionlink.org/tip_050531.php.