A Homily - The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

First Reading – Ezekiel 33:7-9 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 94(95):1-2, 6-9 ©

Second Reading – Romans 13:8-10 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Corinthians 5:19

The Gospel According to Matthew 18:15 - 20 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 We are one family, all human beings, and we are meant to love one another, to care for one another, to be watchful and take steps to protect one another. This is what it means to be in community, to live together as a family, and this is what Ezekiel intends to convey.

 Nevertheless, today’s reading makes the mistake of promoting an understanding of God and God’s justice that deviates from the way Jesus followed and taught us to keep. Ezekiel makes the ordinary mistake of circumscribing God’s love, making God a cruel judge and an executioner rather than a friend, a loving parent and a healer.

 Consider the wisdom of the psalmist:

 The whole of creation belongs to God, all that is good and all that frightens us, everything comes from God and will redound to the good…ultimately; this is the promise that we have been asked to hope for and place our faith in.

 It is good that we show our respect for the creator and sing songs in praise of God, but remember, God is our loving parent, not a king, and God has prepared each of us for the same blessing.

 Listen to the apostle when he says that love is the law!

 Let the knowledge of the law fill your heart, so that it governs your interpretation of it: love with justice, justice with mercy, love with respect, respect with caring.

 Focused your heart on the other, knowing that God is present with your neighbor, in the same way that God is present to you; your neighbor is your sister or your brother in the eyes of God.

 Be mindful!

 You cannot lie and serve God at one and the same time.

 The apostle tells us in the simplest of terms that the mission of the Church is to announce the reconciliation, that everyone is reconciled through the of God, which embraces all people. The members of the Church are meant to be ambassadors of this good news, not the keepers of it, or the guardians.

 The Church is not, nor should it ever be a recruiting agency, the purpose of the Church is not to sign, offering reconciliation with the divine as a reward for joining.

 Know this!

 The reconciliation has already occurred, and has been in process through Christ, since the beginning of time.

 The mission of the Church is to effectuate this reality but to proclaim it.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today:

 Always be wary of the scriptures that cast Jesus in the role of a litigator, as a legislator or the author the law code. These are the machinations of later generation, writing into the sacred text a justification for the authority they had usurped from Jesus.

 The authors of the Gospels put words into the mouth of Jesus that he did not speak, making representations for him that he did not intend, turning both Jesus and themselves into liars.

 The is Jesus’ summary of the:

 Love God with all your strength, all your heart and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

 That is the whole of the law.

 That is what Jesus said, and any interpretation of it that deviates from this axion is false.

 The ministry of Jesus was a ministry characterized by mercy.

 He said:

Do not forgive seven times, but seventy-seven times; he instructed us to resolve all of our conflicts before we go to prayer. Teaching us that if we go to prayer while there is a conflict between ourselves and our sister or brother (this means anyone), that we should first go to them and resolve the conflict, exhorting us to not return to prayer until you do.

 Be mindful.

 Every community has a duty to protect itself from dangerous people and predators. Jesus was not suggesting that we keep our doors open to violent, deranged and dangerous people…our hearts yes, but not our doors.

 However, if the recalcitrant member of the community is just a stubborn person, or merely argumentative, not a danger to you, themselves or others, if they are simply someone with a different understanding of the faith and the way than you yourself possesses, or that your community professes, and the only challenge the present is that they will not conform to the norms of the community…in that case treat them as Jesus would have treated a pagan or a tax collector, invite them dinner, sit down and eat with them and do not refuse them anything.

 This is the way.

 Do not believe the Church when it claims to have the authority to free people, or put them in chains, either here in this world or in the world to come.

 The Church does not have that authority, the disciples did not have that authority. The claim to possess that authority is derived from fear. On the part of the apostles it was the fear of losing control over the communities they presided over, and they set this fear against the fear of their members of being excluded from the group.

 It was a lie.

 Every single one of us possesses the power to forgive, with every recitation of the Our Father we are asked to forgive those who have done us harm, so that the harm they have done ceases to have power over us.

 We also have the power to forgive ourselves…more importantly to accept the forgiveness of those we have harmed, so that our guilt does not continue to be a stain on us, and a determinant of our path forward in life.

 We have both the power and the obligation as followers of the way to do so.

 

First Reading – Ezekiel 33:7-9 ©

If You do not Speak to the Wicked Man, I Will Hold You Responsible for His Death

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘Son of man, I have appointed you as sentry to the House of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, warn them in my name. If I say to a wicked man: Wicked wretch, you are to die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, however, you do warn a wicked man to renounce his ways and repent, and he does not repent, then he shall die for his sin, but you yourself will have saved your life.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 94(95):1-2, 6-9 ©

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;

  hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him, giving thanks,

  with songs let us hail the Lord.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

  let us kneel before the God who made us:

for he is our God and we

  the people who belong to his pasture,

  the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

O that today you would listen to his voice!

  ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

  as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

  when they tried me, though they saw my work.’

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

 

Second Reading – Romans 13:8-10 ©

Your Only Debt Should be the Debt of Mutual Love

Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord: consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Corinthians 5:19

Alleluia, alleluia!

God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 18:15 - 20 ©

If your Brother Listens to you, you Have Won Back your Brother

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

  ‘I tell you solemnly once again, 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.’

 

The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)