HOMILY OF 23RD SUNDAY HOMILY THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

HOMILY OF 23RD SUNDAY HOMILY THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: WE ARE CALLED TO BE PROPHETS OF PEACE AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION

BY: Fr. Celestine Muonwe

Ezk 33: 7-9; Rom 13: 8-10; Mtt 18: 15-20

The Jews experienced two major exiles, the Assyrian Exile and the Babylonian Exile. The Assyrian exile of 722 affected the Northern Kingdom, whereas the Babylonian Exile, in which Ezekiel was involved, affected the Southern Kingdom, Judah, with Jerusalem as the capital. This exile came in two waves, the first beginning in 597 B.C. and the second beginning in 587 B.C. Ezekiel was a priest, and was one of the people exiled to Babylonia at this time.

Five years after the exile in Babylon, Yahweh called Ezekiel to be a prophet. He prophesied both doom for the city of Jerusalem and hope for the Israelites. He is usually called the prophet of the dry bones. He foretold Isreal’s restoration and return from exile, (chap.37). Ezekiel was a contemporary of Jeremiah, who prophesied in Jerusalem while Ezekiel was living and prophesying in Babylonia.

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In today’s reading, the Lord appoints Ezekiel as a prophet, and charges him with the most important function of a prophet: to remind the people of the ordinances of the Lord and to warn them about the dangers that await them on account of their inability to conform to God’s commandments. Today, a lot of people think that prophesy is all about predicting the future, telling people what would happen in their families, their own challenges and the like.

The idea of prophesy is heavily abused with regard to elections and politics. Many acclaimed men of God tend to predict who takes one political office or another in the name of God, and they refer to these predictions as prophesies, capitalizing on the gullibility of the people. Some self-acclaimed men of God have become prophets of politicians and their cronies. However, the major work of a prophet is to listen, know and understand the word of God, and warn the people concerning their evil and wicked ways, whenever the Lord instructs him to do so.

The Lord tells Ezekiel, that He has appointed him watchman over the house of Isreal. What is the work of a watchman? The form of these verses is modeled after a military encampment that has posted guards. In that setting, if a guard sounds a warning and the rest of the encampment fails to rally, the guard cannot be held accountable for the invasion. However, if the guard sees danger and fails to sound a warning, and the enemies are able to infiltrate the encampment and kill its inhabitants, then the guard is held responsible, and would likely be executed for failing to sound the alarm.

There are also consequences both for the people and the prophets as well. If the people fail to heed the words of the prophet, they will be responsible for whatever punishment and disaster that will befall them, but if the prophet fails to warn the people in accordance to the words of the Lord, the prophet himself will be met with divine punishment and wrath.

By virtue of our baptism, we are all prophets and have the responsibility to spread the word of God, to warn people who are living in sin to turn from their evil ways to the true path. This is a message of love in action, since truth shines out in love. Today, this message is very important.

Many parents are afraid of telling their children the truth, and fail to discipline them. Many people are going into paganism without anyone calling them back to the truth. Relativism is another obstacle towards bringing on the message of the Gospel; when people believe that there is no objective truth in anything, then there is danger in the well-being of the society, as they favour liberalism, the notion that one is free to choose the kind of personal conduct he or she likes.

Last week, St. Paul admonished us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, and warned us against conforming our lives to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, (12:1-2). Today, he tries to explain in greater detail what this Christian attitude of mind could look like. It is to be centred on the love of one another (13:8-10). Love, for St. Paul is the fulfillment of the law: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (vs 8a-9).

In verse 7, Paul says, “Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.” Jesus permitted borrowing (Matthew 5:42), but St. Paul maintains that we must settle debts promptly as an act of love for our neighbour, for whatever you would want men to do to you, do so also to them. This is the attitude of mind required from a Christian whose minds are transformed into Christ’s.

For St. Paul, we should not be party to useless and endless financial obligations, we should have only one obligation, the obligation to love. The love spoken of here for “one another” does not apply to only other Christians, but rather extends to all with whom we come in contact as the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches. When Paul says that love is the fulfillment of the law, he means that love (agape) doesn’t harm a neighbor.

One who loves his/her neighbor will not commit adultery with the neighbor or the neighbor’s spouse; will not murder the neighbor; will not steal from the neighbor; and will not covet the neighbor’s possessions. Hence, any action that would bring harm to one’s neighbor is inconsistent with love. The type of love noted by Paul is the agape love, which is a high form of love that is sacrificial and devoted to the well being of the beloved, the kind of love with which God loves us.

It is different from the other kinds of love; philos, storge, and eros). However, in our society today, there is so much attention on eros (sexual) love, hence, any mention of the word, love, is usually misunderstood. As such, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” could be misunderstood as endorsing sexual license, since the English word, love, is imprecise.

In the Gospel, the Lord sets for us a new standard for ensuring the continuity of love of neighbour when ruptured by conflict or misunderstanding; the settling conflicts and dealing with sin in the kingdom community: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” The Lord advocates for an open confrontation of the offending party with the offence committed against us.

It is essential that we go to the offending brother first, not gossiping to others, especially under the guise of sharing a prayer request, or seeking counsel. We should, instead, speak to the party directly. The Lord does not however, ask us to confront our brothers with every sin they commit against us.

The Bible asks us to bear with one another and be long-suffering towards each other; though there are some essential and scandalous things that we cannot suffer long with, and must address. The goal is reconciliation, whether we are the ones hurting or the ones hurt.

If however, the first approach to our neighbour fails, the Lord asks us to involve more persons. This is in line with the rabbinic law on the witness of two or three persons for an accusation against someone else to be valid. The presence of more than one person helps in the manner of giving a better advice, and seeing the misunderstanding from more than one perspective, rather than formerly seen or understood.

If the brother refuses to listen, the issue should then be tabled before the Church for deliberation. The judgement of the Church should be accepted in obedience to God, who has given the Church, and the disciples of Christ, the mandate to bind and loose on earth: “… Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.” When a brother refuses to listen to the Church, he should be regarded as a Gentile or as tax-collector.

By this, the Lord notes the importance of discipline in the Church. Gentiles and tax-collectors were outcasts, that is, they were counted as sinners and do not form part of worship in the Jewish community. Jesus says that there are grave sins that could lead to one being asked to stay away for a time from the community of worship, or some sanctions given in order to call back an erring brother.

Finally, Jesus emphasizes the importance of community prayer, that “if two or three agree on earth on anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” . There is great power in private prayers, but there are far more greater power in prayers said in a community, in a group. For instance, the prayers said by both parents for their children, or prayers said in unity in the Diocese. They make greater impact.

This is because where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus, He is in the midst of them. Whenever, and wherever we plan to gather for the work of Jesus, He is present always. This awareness of His abiding presence should be our strength whenever we gather for prayers, or for the work of God. We should not bother whether we have got a crowd or not, the Lord has given us an open access to Him, this should comfort us.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, You teach us to show love to our neighbour by confronting them with the truth whenever they go astray, and reconciling with them whenever they hurt us, please grant us the grace to love them as we love ourselves, and as you have loved us.

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