Commentary
Sunday, 9/6/2020, Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Give the Warning and Spread the Word
First Reading Commentary: Ezekiel 33:7-9
Have you ever seen someone in the face of danger or about to get themselves into trouble and you know that you need to say something to them, but you choose to be silent? Maybe it is because you feel that it is none of your business. Maybe it is because you believe that the person will not take your warning and worse yet, they may lash out at you for giving the warning as they tell you to mind your business. Whatever the reason, today’s prophecy from Ezekiel is a warning not to make the mistake of not warning our neighbor because each of us is appointed to be a watchman.
If we see someone about to get into trouble and say nothing to them, their demise becomes our fault. If we fail to warn them against making a mistake, the trouble that they get into is our fault as much as it is their fault. Why? Because, if we had warned them, we may have stopped them from making that mistake but our failure to warn them, helped to lead them into it.
In Ezekiel’s prophecy, the LORD says that if He tells us to tell the wicked that they will surely die and we fail to tell them, when they do die, the LORD will hold us responsible. But if we do tell the wicked that they will die and they do not listen, when they do die, we will be saved.
God is not telling us to be our brother’s keeper and He is not telling us to keep our noses in other people’s business. But God is telling us to warn each other about the perils of sin. Sometimes, that is a very difficult thing to do, even with our own children after they become adults, but that is exactly what God tells us to do through Ezekiel today.
He is also telling us to evangelize. We are reminded that in Baptism, we are called to spread God’s Word as opposed to holding it within all for ourselves. What someone does with the Word after we give it to them is their choice and their God-given right by virtue of their free will. Our job is simply to share it.
There is also a connection between this prophecy and the Second Greatest Commandment. Our failure to warn someone when we see them headed for trouble is a demonstration of our not loving our neighbor. We are reminded that when Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment,” He gave two. The second greatest commandment being to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
So, the next time we see someone headed for trouble and we debate with ourselves as to whether we should say something, remember what the LORD tells us in Ezekiel’s prophecy today. Whether the other person listens to us or not, we are called to warn them and we are also called to evangelize.
Fulfill the Law—Don’t Just Obey It
Second Reading Commentary: Romans 13:8-10
We don’t think in terms of actually owing our love to another person but if we are to follow the Second Greatest Commandment, we must accept the fact that we do owe our love to each other. For that reason, Paul’s message today is short, sweet and to the point.
The words of Christ, “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself” are direct. Therefore, it is our responsibility and obligation to love each other under God’s Law. God does not put conditions on His love for us and we are not to put conditions on our love for others.
This is a very difficult thing to do when someone says or does something to hurt us. We may dislike someone for their offense, but we cannot allow that dislike to turn into hatred for that other person. Hate is the opposite of love and to hate is to sin.
St. Paul makes the point by mentioning that we shall not commit adultery, kill, steal or covet. If we break any of these commandments, we fail to love each other as ourselves. We actually fail to love others if we break any of the commandments. Paul makes it simple when he says, “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Forgive and Pray Together
Gospel Commentary: Matthew 18:15-20
Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession in Matthew 16:19 with Peter and again in John 20:22 with the Eleven after His Resurrection. Today’s gospel sounds like another institution of the sacrament because Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
But in today’s Gospel, Jesus is telling us that if we fail to forgive here on earth, we will not be forgiven in heaven. We are reminded of this every time that we pray the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Today, Jesus is telling us to make every attempt to work disputes out with whoever offends us in private. If we are not able to resolve the matter in private, we should go to court where all of the facts may be established on the testimony of other witnesses. If we are still unable to resolve the matter, we should take it to church.
We need to take a closer look at what Jesus means when He tells us to take unresolved matters to church. The instruction can be taken quite literally and should be taken quite literally if the matter is such that excommunication from the Church or the parish community would be appropriate.
However, Jesus is not telling us to go run to church and tell everybody what someone has done to us, in private matters, in an effort to get the church community to be against that person. To do so would be gossip and slander, which would fall under the commandment: “Thou shall not talk falsely against thy neighbor.” If we break this commandment, we fail to love our neighbor as ourselves which means that we break the Second Greatest Commandment.
But we can also take the instruction of taking it to church another way. If two or more of us are witness to someone’s conviction for a wrongdoing, we should take it to church in prayer. Not to blab the news to other people about what had happened but to give it to God in prayer. As one of my former pastors would say, “Leave it on the altar.”
Jesus said, “If two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.” In other words, if two or more of us ask God to unharden a person’s heart, God will answer that prayer. We may not see the change ourselves and it may take time because God does things in His time—He will wait for the person to be ready. This means that they must want to have their heart unhardened—they must be open to letting God in. But God will answer that prayer.
There is a similar message behind Jesus saying, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This does not mean that Jesus is not with us when we pray alone but He is with us in a very special way when we pray together because Jesus prays with us and our prayers are joined together as one. Don’t forget; Jesus prayed for us during His Agony in the Garden because Jesus is our greatest intercessor to the Father.
Think about that. We don’t think of Jesus praying with us because He is God the Son. But if two or three or more people are gathered together in prayer and everyone in the group is praying sincerely from the heart, then Jesus is with us and engaged in prayer with us. It does not get any better than that because the Second Person of the Trinity praying with us is the same as God the Son saying, “Amen—So be it.”
