23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-6-20

Ez 13:8-10.  Ps 95.  Rom 13:8-10.  Mt 18:15-20

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

         If there is one absolute in our secular culture today is non-judgmentalism.  That basis of that implicit bias is that there are no universal, absolute, objective  standards that apply to all people at all times in every situation.  All moral propositions are subjective and culturally relative.  What follows is that you have your understanding of the truth and/or correct moral behavior and I have mine.  Since there are no autonomous standards for right moral behavior, it all comes down to personal preference.  My truth is as good as yours—so, what right do you have to judge me?  If you do, you are an intolerant moral bigot.  Some people from a religious background will try to defend this point of view by citing Jesus’ famous enjoinder: “Judge not you will not be judged.”

But, what should be clear from all three of today’s readings is that we can point out another’s moral failings using an objective standard—indeed, Jesus does it all the time!  The challenge is how we should navigate judging behavior while loving the other person?  Our second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is imminently helpful: “Love does no evil to the neighbor, hence, love is the fulfillment  of the Law” (Rom 13:10).

By way of reminder, before Paul became a Christian he was a serious student of the Torah under the wise and learned guidance of the rabbi Gamaliel.  Paul knew the Law thoroughly.  In light of his experience of encountering the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul did not abandoned the Law; rather, he re-situated it, re-contextualized it in relationship to the Lord Jesus.  Christ’s coming did not negate the Law, which after all, was understood as a manifestation of God’s will, but he fulfilled it.

Why?  The Law is a manifestation of God’s consciousness.  So, to be in right relationship with God is to follow the Law.  Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s mind because he is the Word of God made flesh.  So, Jesus is the meeting point of being faithful to Yahweh and being a faithful Israelite.  As we see in the Historical books of the Bible, the Israelites were not very faithful to their covenant duties and responsibilities, which is why God sent the prophets.  The ultimate prophet is Jesus who faithfully fulfills the Law.

What did this fulfillment look like:  The evangelist John proclaimed that the nature of God is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:7-8); therefore, the fulfillment would embody love.  For Paul, love is the converging point to which all of revelation tended.  Jesus is the Incarnational embodiment of love; that’s why he is the fulfillment of the Law.

So, what is love?  Contrary to what many think, especially the young, love is not a feeling, sentiment, or emotion.  Love is an act of the will.  It is willing the good of the other as other and then doing something about it.  Will and action—that’s love!

            So, you see what love does?  It breaks us out of our small ego-encapsulated lives and allows us to mingle with reality.  Think of a seed that goes into the earth and breaks open and thereby mingles with the earth in a life-enhancing, life-producing way.  The little seed self-contained isn’t very much; but, when it breaks open, mixes with the soil, that’s when it produces life.  That’s what God wants of us.

Now, in light of all this, let’s turn to our first reading from the prophet Ezekiel and the Gospel—both of which deal with the touchy issue which we call ‘fraternal correction.’  When, how, and to what extend do we correct those who are in a morally reprehensible or dangerous situation?  Again, we face this all the time in our relationships because our lives are so interconnected.  But, rather than deal with the issue directly, our favorite pastime is critiquing others, finding fault.  There’s a reason for this penchant: it makes us feel better ourselves when we tear down others.  In a strange moral calculus, the more I lower someone down, the higher I elevate myself.  And, what’s more, I can inflate my self-importance without doing a lick of interior or moral work!

What we don’t do is to confront people directly and this too for rather obvious reasons.  When someone is doing something morally wrong, reprehensible, dangerous, or divisive, we will talk about to be sure; we’ll drag them down to others, you bet!  But, direct confrontation, that’s emotionally threatening.  We might get some highly-charged emotional blow-back.  We might get critiqued in return.  We might lose a friend.  We don’t want to risk getting hurt; so, we don’t do it.

What would happen if we looked at the issue from Paul’s criterion of love?  We would first see this: that fraternal correction is necessary.  If someone is in a bad way, doing something harmful, is on a destructive negative path, the movement of love would be to correct them because that would be a very concrete way of living the Good News to the other.  To remain silent, to talk about the person behind their back in a non-constructive way is not a move of love.

So, both the first reading and the Gospel remind us that we have to overcome our reticence to fraternal correction even though it will always be a tough thing to do.

In today’s Gospel Jesus gets right to the point:  if a person is on an errant path, talk to them!  If the person, however, doesn’t respond, what then?  Do we revert back to gossiping and backstabbing?  No! Bring to the situation one other person.  See how restrained Jesus is as he prevents this conflict from turning into a scapegoating frenzy.  By bringing another person in,  may he or she can help resolve the problem.

If that doesn’t work, only then bring in the Church.  The Church, not the gossiping community.  Don’t invite everybody, but only those who are committed to helping this person.

This is very, very important advice to all of us because here is a moral question we face all the time: what do I do when someone is on a self-destructive path, when someone is doing something that is deeply annoying or harmful?  Don’t do nothing—don’t retreat into a ‘it’s not my business” more or just gossip about it.  As a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, we are morally obliged to do fraternal correction.  But, then how do we do it?  Do it in the loving manner recommended by Christ Jesus.

People of God, let Paul’s principle sink into your heart, then apply it concretely to this particular situation of fraternal correction. Amen.