Readings: Ezekiel33:7-9; Romans13:8-10;Matthew18:15-20
Theme: Speaking the truth in love
By Michael McCabe, SMA
The theme of today’s scripture readings is at odds with the commonly held view that we should mind our own business, and let other people mind theirs. We are only responsible for our own behaviour. It is, of course, true that each of us is responsible for his or her own behaviour. However, as Jesus reminds us we also have a responsibility for others, one that, at times, may include correction.
Our first reading is taken from the prophet Ezekiel, one of the great prophets of Israel. Ezekiel lived about 600 years before Christ at a time of great turbulence in the history of Israel. In this reading, he presents himself as a watchman appointed by God to warn the people of Israel of approaching disaster, and to call on them to repent and live in fidelity to the covenant God made with them. The reading makes it clear that the prophet is responsible only for warning the people. If they ignore his warning and do not repent, then the disastrous consequences of their failure rests on their shoulders. God sends prophets to warn people of the error of their evil ways, but leaves them free to choose the right path or continue down the wrong road.
The Responsorial psalm echoes Ezekiel’s warning and makes a heart-felt appeal to the unfaithful people of Israel not to harden their hearts but to open them and listen to the voice of the Lord, who guides them in the ways of truth, justice and love. ‘O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts’ (Ps 94:7). These words are surely equally relevant for us today, as we struggle to hear the Lord’s voice amidst the many conflicting voices of our dangerous and confusing world.
The words of Jesus in the Gospel reading are clear and unambiguous: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves’ (Mt 18:15). It is important to note the context in which Jesus is speaking. He is instructing his disciples as a community called to proclaim and witness to God’s reign on earth, on how they should behave towards one another. He encourages them to challenge and help one another to live fully Christian lives, lives of integrity and loving service in accordance with God’s reign of justice and love. So, when they see that a member of the community is not living in accordance with their Christian calling, they should not speak of that person’s failings behind his or her back – which is what we all tend to do. Rather, they should go directly to the person in question and try to put him on the right path. And they should correct that person with love, not with self-righteous anger – which will most likely have the opposite effect to the one intended. St Paul reminds us in the second reading today that ‘love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour’. It is never right to correct a brother or sister in a way that hurts them. Indeed, if we do not love the persons we wish to challenge or correct, then we had best not try to correct them at all.
In Western society today we tend to think of correcting an erring brother or sister as inappropriate for a liberal and tolerant society. We have an exaggerated sense of our personal autonomy and independence of one another. We forget that we are all interdependent and that our lives are inextricably bound up with one another. This truth is captured in a single African word, ‘ubuntu’, which means ‘I am because we are’, and in the beautiful expression of St Paul that we all form ‘one body’. For good or ill, our lives impact on one another. In the words of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, ‘Our echoes roll from soul to soul/ And grow forever and forever’. If we believe this, we are obliged to help one another to grow together to be the best that we can be as a Christian community of witnesses to the reign of God.
Often what inhibits us from speaking the truth in love to a brother or sister is our fear of rejection and conflict. We don’t want to take the risk of endangering our relationship with those we love. But a relationship built on the avoidance of all conflict rather than on truth is on a very shaky foundation indeed. There is a healthy conflict that leads to growth just as there is an unhealthy peace that is really another word for indifference. So, instead of tolerating all sorts of unchristian and destructive behaviour, today’s gospel challenges us to correct one another in love, and with respect, so that the entire Christian community, all members of the Church of Christ, may glorify the wonder and the beauty of God who has made each one of us in his image and who calls us to live as his children.
Listen to an alternative audio Homily by Tom Casey, SMA: