Readings: Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95:1-2.6-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
A temptation that must be resisted when hearing a reading like our first reading from Ezekiel is to think that God is laying on you the same prophetic mantle he laid on Ezekiel. If you’ve ever read the Book of Ezekiel, you are grateful for that. Rest easy. God isn’t burdening you with all the sins of the Church.
It is also important to keep in mind that our uniquely Christian scriptures, which we collectively call “the New Testament,” are addressed exclusively to the Church, that is, to Christians both collectively and individually. Remember, that we fulfill our baptismal call to evangelize by bearing witness to Christ through our adherence to what scripture teaches, which is clarified and amplified by the Church’s magisterium throughout time.
Saint Paul, in our reading from his Letter to the Romans, provides instruction on how Christians living in the ancient capital of the Roman Empire were to comport themselves. In all ages, Christians are to live
imitatio Christi- in the imitation of Christ. In this passage, the apostle does nothing more than resound the words of our Lord: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
1 In his own teaching, the Lord himself simply cites the Law from Leviticus, which enjoins: “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
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It is notable in the verse from Leviticus that it implies one’s neighbor is limited to one’s fellow Israelite. While the Law demands that non-Israelites not be mistreated, it seems to draw a line between an “us” and a “them.” For a Christian, there is only us. There is no them. This is the point the apostle makes in our reading when he writes “love is the fulfillment of the law.”
3 Being a disciple of Jesus requires you to be a neighbor to those you encounter, especially the one in need, not just to your fellow Christian.
Our Gospel for this Sunday is taken from that section of Matthew’s Gospel known as “The Discourse on Life in the Church.”
4 This Gospel was written in and for an early Christian community that from its inception had been largely and, perhaps in the beginning, exclusively Jewish. But the Gospel was written at a time when this community was experiencing a crisis.
Primarily, the word “crisis” is a medical term. In this context, “crisis” refers to a “turning point for better or for worse in an acute disease or fever.”
5 Even when used in a more general context, a crisis is a turning point. One thing is clear: after a crisis, you’re never the same. You are either better off or worse off.
What was the crisis the Matthean church was undergoing? It was experiencing a significant influx of Gentiles, that is, non-Jewish converts. But even before this crisis, because the Church, then as now, was composed of people, conflicts undoubtedly arose. Therefore, structures of reconciliation were necessary to deal with both deviations from the community’s standards and to deal with injuries that members inflicted upon each other.
It is an unhealthy community that seeks to avoid or paper over conflicts. As a priest of my acquaintance once asked, “What do you call marriage in which there are no arguments?” I had to reply that I didn’t know. He answered, “You call a marriage in which there are no arguments dead.” This is true, too, of the Church, the Bride of Christ.
These structures, of course, needed to be in conformity with Jesus’ teaching, which means they are done out of love and have increased charity as their objective. This brings us back to our verse from Leviticus- “take no revenge and cherish no grudge.” Seeking revenge is perhaps the most anti-Christian thing you can do.
Elsewhere in his Letter to the Romans, Paul teaches “Do not repay evil for evil… do not look for revenge…Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.”
6 Let’s not overlook the Spiritual Work of Mercy that bids us to suffer wrongs patiently.
Revenge is a distortion of justice because it is merciless. Without mercy, justice is reduced to revenge. Another thing to be avoided is cherishing your grudges. Holding a grudge is what refusing to forgive looks like. It has been noted that holding a grudge (i.e., refusing to forgive) is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
As our Gospel indicates and the Church’s experience over the last few decades clearly shows, addressing critical issues directly isn’t just important, it is vitally necessary. Injustice and grievous harm cannot be ignored. But I think for most of us, many issues that arise within the context of the Church don’t rise to that level. Many can be resolved by broaching the issue straightforwardly and charitably with each other.
For several years I led a group for Catholics who were estranged from the Church and who were interested in coming back or, if they hadn’t stopped practicing, were interested in discussing their concerns. After a while, what struck me was how resolvable many of the issues we discussed were. Occasionally, our bishop at the time, John Wester, would come to our meeting.
I remember one woman sharing with the bishop some unpleasant experiences she’d had with a disagreeable priest. The woman did not accuse this priest of anything more than not being very nice to her. After speaking for a while, she asked the bishop what he thought about the experiences she had described. He said something like, “I think you’re giving that priest way too much power over your life. I am sorry that happened to you, but don’t let it keep you away.”
Not every issue needs to be addressed. Some wrongs are best born patiently, as anyone in ministry can tell you. Of those issues that need to be addressed, many are best addressed person-to-person,
cara-a-cara, brother-to-brother, sister-to-sister, sister-to-brother. Serious issues should be brought to the attention of leaders, who, as leaders, are required to follow through. Otherwise, it is a failure of leadership, a phenomenon with which we’re sadly all too familiar.
During this year of Eucharistic Revival, there is a lot of talk about Christ’s “Real Presence” in the Eucharist. Of course, the Church teaches that Christ is really present in the Eucharist, which refers to the whole of Mass. According to the Church, Christ is present in four ways. The first way he is really present, taking a cue from today’s Gospel, is in the gathering of the baptized - “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”
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I think Christ’s Eucharistic presence in the gathering of the baptized assumes and is even somewhat dependent on whether we are reconciled to one another and whether or not we are a reconciling community. Nothing is more fundamental to the Christian faith than forgiveness and reconciliation. This is why, earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches:
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift8
This is one of those things we should search our consciences for during the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass.
It should not be lost on us that God loves everyone, even sinners! Thanks be to God! At its very outset, the teaching we hear in our Gospel today is given to deal with conflicts in a manner that facilitates not just forgiveness but reconciliation and conversion. This evangelizes because it can cause non-Christians to marvel at the Church, saying, in the words of Tertullian, “look how they love one another.”
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1 Matthew 22:39; Romans 13:9.↩
2 Leviticus 19:18.↩
3 Romans 13:10.↩
4 Byrne, Brendan, SJ. “Matthew” in The Paulist Biblical Commentary. 944..↩
5 Merriam-Webster Dictionary online "crisis".↩
6 See Romans 12:17-20.↩
7 Matthew 18:20.↩
8 Matthew 5:23-24.↩
9 Tertullian. Apologeticus, chap. 39.↩
