Wherever you have two people rubbing up against one another there will be conflict. Jesus provides a method for dealing with conflict that treats those who are in opposition with dignity and respect. However, Jesus recognized that not all conflict can be settled amicably. Hence, the last phase of conflict resolution: If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. We know what that means because we can see how Jesus dealt with Gentiles: he healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman and the servant of the Roman centurion. We know how Jesus dealt with tax collectors: he called St. Matthew to become one of his disciples and he pronounced a blessing on Zaccheus. From the example of Jesus we can see that we should never give up on building a relationship with another. Perhaps we cannot agree with everyone about everything but we can always reach out to one another with compassion. As St. Paul expresses a similar idea when he says, Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
