Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J –
Twenty Third Sunday of the Year September 10, 2023
Ezekiel 33:7-9 Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20
As Christians we are responsible and are made accountable for the welfare of those under our care, be it children, parents, elders, or even friends. People holding any office of responsibility have the need to be accountable for the work they do, be it a doctor, a lawyer, an officer or a Pastor. In each occupation, there is a responsibility and full accountability is required of the individuals. As Christians we are not individuals but members of the Body of Christ that is the Church. The readings of today tell us of God’s command of spiritual responsibility and accountability that each one of us have towards our neighbours. It speaks of our responsibility of correcting our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in error. This obligation always existed in the Catholic Church, from the early days of the Christian community right up to the present time. They challenge us to care for our brothers and sisters and protect them in their physical and spiritual needs. The Gospel of today presents to us matters pertaining to the relationship between the members of the Church. Jesus stipulates a process for dealing with a community member who sins against another person. He lays down the guidelines for fraternal correction in the Christian community. At the same time he tells us of his own presence when the community meets in prayer in his name.
Several images for a prophet appear in the Bible. A prophet is one who is chosen by God as his spokesperson and his mouthpiece so as to communicate his message to all. His role is to speak for God and to speak in the name of God on his behalf. Amos likens a prophet to a plumb line placed among the people to demonstrate how little they match up to God’s commands. The King of Israel regarded Prophet Elisha as a vanguard protecting the people against the enemy. In today’s first reading God describes Prophet Ezekiel as a watchman over the people of Israel. He is called by God as his servant and agent and must therefore obey God, his master. The image is of a sentry placed on hill top or some elevated place, at the time of a threatened invasion. The sentry’s duty is to give warning to his fellow citizens the moment he sees the signs of invasion. God tells his prophet to warn the sinner of the certain damnation that will follow if he does not mend his ways.
Love of neighbor was the hallmark of Christianity which expressed the love of God and the working of man on behalf of God. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus stresses the importance of the need of loving our brothers and he considers it as of greater importance than sacrifice. The love of neighbor presupposes the love of God, for if God is not known and loved, there can be no basis, no motive for true love of neighbor, which is charity. Human love is based on natural affection as among the members of a family. The love of brother is not restricted to fellow Christians but is extended to all. In the second reading of today, twice in three verses Paul speaks of fulfilling the law. The way to do so is by loving one another. This would imply caring for and helping others. It is a debt we always owe. Paul mentions here four commandments, not to commit adultery, not to kill, not to seal, not to covet, and refers to whatever other commandments there may be.
The Gospel passage of today deals with such situations within the Christian community. The whole of Matthew chapter 18 is a discourse on mutual relations within the Christian community and, especially, what to do when divisions arise, as must inevitably happen. We are communities of sinners trying to be saints and there are many pitfalls on the way. In today’s passage we see a three-stage procedure for dealing with a community member who has done “something wrong”. Presumably, it is some form of external behaviour which is harmful to the quality of the community’s witnessing to the Gospel. The whole thrust of the passage is that we should all work towards reconciliation rather than punishment. There will also be a desire to keep the issue at as low a profile as possible without any unnecessary publicity. At the same time we are obligated to privately approach the sinner so we will not publicly humiliate him or her.
Then we have the second step in the mode of reconciliation. If the offender refuses to listen to his “brother”, then others should be brought in as confirming witnesses. This involves confronting the community member with one or two additional persons. This step comes from the teaching of Deuteronomy Chapter 19, verse 15. This is a more serious step and again it is hoped that the matter will be resolved by it. If neither of the first two steps works and if he refuses to listen to these, then he has the duty to report to the Church. The ‘Church’ here is understood as the local community because during the time of Jesus the term Church was not in use. However, in the thinking of the Christian Testament, each self-contained community is a ‘church’ as written in the Book of Revelation where letters are written to seven ‘churches’ or local communities.
If these steps fail to produce any result, the final step is taken as the last resort. If the offender still refuses to listen or to change, he is to be treated as a gentile or a tax collector. That was generally interpreted and the first impression was that the person is to be shunned totally by the community as a hopeless and incorrigible person. This however sounds very strange coming from the teaching of Jesus who never set limits to human forgiveness. He was always known as a kind, gentle and forgiving person and accepted good and bad. He was always merciful and did not permit the stoning of woman caught in adultery. The Prodigal Son was received with open arms after he had decided he no longer wanted to live his life of debauchery and, by his own decision, came back to his father. He accepted Matthew and Zacchaeus and went to dine with them. He reached out to sinners and forgave them and he said it is the sick persons who need the doctor and not the healthy. The sinners and tax collectors always approached him easily and that led to serious opposition from Scribes and Pharisees. Therefore when Jesus says that they must be treated like gentiles and sinners, it really means to treat them as Jesus did, namely, with love and affection.
Immediately after this Jesus speaks about power to bind and loose. “Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven…” These words indicate that the community has the power, given it by God, to make a judgment on who is fit to belong to the Body of Christ. It is a necessary power to preserve the integrity of the community as a witness to the Gospel. It is also a dangerous power which can be abused. This power was originally given to Peter is now extended to the disciples. Here it seems to be within the context of imposing or lifting the excommunication of a community member. It requires very sensitive discernment because it is easy to exclude someone who may in fact be telling the community some wholesome truths it needs to hear.
Jesus further tells the disciples: “If two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” Jesus indicates that when all things fail, there is the common prayer. United prayer is powerful, sensible and effective than any sort of resentment and he will be there. Wherever Christians meet together in truth and love, whether it is for prayer, study, or decision-making, Jesus is present and Jesus speaks and acts. This is both a tremendous gift and also a great responsibility. This efficacy does not require large numbers of people. A mere gathering of two or three persons in Lord’s name is all it takes. This was also the popular rabbinic teaching at the time of Jesus. This passage tells us that our prayer must never be selfish and that selfish prayer cannot find an answer.
The love of others requires a capacity to experience another person as a person. This is not easy; we normally see others as we see objects and things, as facts, not as persons. We can also speak of categories of persons, groups, classes, and even want to speak in their name, and perhaps never experience anyone of those abstract groups as a personal. Love is the only adequate response of our capacity to relate to persons, yet how difficult we find it just to experience even one person as a person. There is a clear duty to make oneself responsible for others’ actions. Today in the church Jesus places on us the painful obligation of fraternal love in the watchful love we show towards others.
One summer evening after a festal hour of singing and dancing the whole tribe sat around the chieftain. He began to speak to them: “If you have quarreled with a brother and you have decided to kill him,” as he spoke he looked directly at the one of the group, “first sit down, fill your pipe and smoke it. When you have finished smoking you will realize that death is too severe a punishment for your enemy for the fault he has committed, and you decide to give a good whipping instead. Then you fill your pipe a second time and smoke it to the bottom. By then you feel that the lashes will be too much and instead some simple words of reproof would be sufficient. Then when the third time you have filled your pipe and smoked it to the finish, you will be better convinced that the better thing to do is going to that brother and embraces him.