TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20)
We have observed that there are five great discourses in the
Gospel according to Saint Matthew. They begin with the Sermon on the Mount as
Jesus commences his ministry. They will end with the discourse over the “last
things” as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to lay down his life. In the gospel today
we hear part of the fourth speech that deals with the church.
It may be thought that Jesus would begin his discourse on
the church with a description of the various offices. However, with the
exception of naming the twelve as pillars and Simon Peter as his second, Jesus
is not interested in church structure. The entire fourth discourse has to do
with the behavior of the members towards each other. They have to become like children
dependent on God the Father for support. They should never give scandal to the
weak in their midst. The section today deals with handling the delicate situation
when a brother or sister falls into sin.
Before we can proceed, it is necessary to clarify the
question of judging. Some think that it is not Christian to say another person
has sinned. They propose as proof the phrase of Jesus: "Do not judge, so
that you will not be judged" (Matthew 7,1). But we are always judging. If
we say, "the grass is green", we have made a judgment. According to
experts, what the phrase "Do not judge..." means is that we do not
condemn anyone. Only God has the authority to send a person to hell.
In the reading Jesus commands us to approach the person whom
we judge to be in serious sin and ask him or her to repent. We should do this
in the spirit of accompaniment of which that Pope Francis often speaks. Accompaniment
never rejects or looks down on the other person for having done wrong. Rather, it
moves us to befriend the sinner in order to help him or her return to
righteousness. Many young people are cohabiting. It certainly is a serious sin
that their families and friends should not overlook. In addition to conveying
concern for their spiritual and emotional well-being, accompaniment reassures
the person of our love and tries to create a dialogue in which the person can
talk about the relationship. Particularly the parents of the cohabiting couple
should accompany their children without promoting the sin.
The presence of a second or third person will reinforce the
seriousness of the situation while maintaining privacy. The important thing is
to preserve the relationship of the sinner with the community of faith. The
person in serious sin should not receive Holy Communion, but he should feel
invited to participate in the mass. In fact, the obligation to attend Sunday
Mass applies to him or her regardless of the sin.
Jesus gives his Church the right to exclude notorious
sinners. Such action has at least two motives. It is hoped that the sinner, made
aware of the seriousness of his condition, will soon reform. In any case,
others will realize that they have to avoid the sin.
One other thing about the discourse draws our attention.
Jesus includes prayer in his teaching on how to deal with sinners. We should
pray that our judgment of sin is sound. We also want to ask the Lord for the
appropriate attitude and words to win the trust of the sinner. Above all, we
ask that the sinner be reformed. Confronting another person about sin is always
delicate. It may backfire on us. So we
also want to ask the Lord to free us from sin.
