Eze 33:7-9; Ps 94(95):1-2,6-9; Rom 13:8-10; Matt 18:15-20
Theme: En Route to Peace-Making
- Steps to Peace-Making
Chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel, from which our gospel reading today is taken, is a continuation of the community life teaching which Jesus already started in Matt 13:54. In these passages, we see Jesus preparing his disciples on how to live in a community which he himself has formed them to be. In the first verses of this chapter18, Jesus teaches them about the life of humility and service in the community (18:1-4); then a life of taking care of the weak members (otherwise referred to as little ones) of the community (18:5-11); then a life of seeking after the lost members of the community (18:12-14). Then coming to 18:15-20, which happens to be our gospel reading today, Jesus speaks of the different steps a disciple must follow in resolving his/her issues with his/her offender(s). The first statement of Jesus: “If your brother sins against you” shows that Jesus knew that definitely, problems, misunderstandings etc. must arise between the members of his community. But his teaching thereafter shows that the problem is not in one offending another, but in the approaches taken in resolving the issues and also, most importantly, the readiness of the offender to accept his mistakes and be reconciled with his brother. The steps provided by Jesus towards this peace-making include:
First Step: Personal and Private Confrontation:
Jesus says “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. (Matt. 18:15 NKJ). There are so much to learn from this sentence.
i.The first is Jesus’s use of the word ‘adelphos’(brother). Yes…because we all are image of God, created by One God who is Our Father, and then redeemed by one Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ, we are brothers and sisters. Even when someone wrongs us, he or she remains our brother or sister. We must not discriminate or count someone off just because of what he or she did to us.
ii. The second point is that we have to approach whoever wrongs us. There is nothing that heals more than a soul that opens itself up to others. There is no need pretending everything to be ok when you know actually that you are keeping a malice because of what another person did to you. It is possible that the person did not even know how deeply you were pained by his/her actions. It is possible that he/she did not even know when he committed the offence. It is possible that he/she was not in a good mood, and his/her wronging you was just an extension or outward expression of his/her difficult moments. When you feel that someone did not treat you well or that something bad is done to you, instead of complaining, lamenting or castigating him/her, it is godlier to confront the person with love and with intention of making peace and healing yourself.
iii. The third point is the emphasis on the ‘between you and him ALONE”. One thing is to make a confrontation, another thing, which is more important, is where, when and how the confrontation is made. No matter how much you feel someone wronged you, you must first seek to speak to/with him ALONE. Jesus stresses ‘alone’ because you that is the most peaceful way to have a dialogue and a fruitful conversation. This personal confrontation is the first and the most important step given to us by Jesus in resolving our issues with others. In fact, the other two steps are to be applied only when this first step fails to bear peaceful fruit. If the person, however, accepts his mistakes, we are bound to forgive. Confrontation must not be a way of keeping a count for the person, but a way of healing ourselves and our relationship with others.
Second Step: Peer-Witness Confrontation
We must accept that some of us have difficult personalities. It is possible that you would take the issue to make a peaceful resolution and reconciliation with your offender, and he/she would deny you, or even show that he/she knows actually what he/she did and insists on his action. It is interesting to hear what Jesus asks us to do in this case. Jesus says, if after the first step, the person “fails to listen….” Failing to listen does not just mean if he/she does not give us a listening hear. Remember, the aim of approaching him/her in the first place is primarily to make peace with him/her. So, failing to listen here means failing to listen (that is to accept) the peace offering you are extending to him/her. That is, if he fails to admit his wrongs, and consequently, is not open to repent of them and make a reconciliation. Jesus did not say, we should fight the person, or rain curses on him/her. Rather he says we should go and bring one or two others with us. Bringing one or two other people does not mean bringing people who would fight or break bottles, or release hot slaps and blows etc. No,these other people must also aim at making a peaceful reconciliation and helping the brother to understand his wrongs.
Third Step: Community Confrontation
If the second step fails to bring the person in question to acceptance of his wrongs, the case then goes to the community (ekklesia). The community which Jesus refers to here is not shrine people, nor some evil men in the community who parade themselves as community leaders, nor even to some Christian elders who sow more of seed of discord. Jesus uses ‘ekklesia’ to refer to this community. Ekklesia in the New Testament means the assembly of Christ’s faithful under the human-leadership of the apostles. Hence, Jesus refers to the Church as the community of the believers. It is always something shameful and sad to hear that two members of Christ’s community went to one shrine etc. to get judgment over their issue. It is the duty of the Church to settle issues that arise among their members.
- Challenges to this Peaceful Confrontation
From the teaching of Christ, we see Christ’s emphasis in doing everything possible to make a brother to realize his mistakes and repent from them. As individuals, members of one community of Christ, and then the Church at large, it is our duty to make our fellow brothers and sisters to realize their mistakes. But sadly, in most cases, this is not done. Sometimes, when a case is presented to us, and because the offender is a high-profile person, or a top member of the church, or a top member of the lay community, we keep silent or look the other way. Many times, we see someone suffering injustice, maltreatment, etc. and he/she keeps crying out to those who are in the position to confront the offender, but because of what we enjoy from the person, or what we stand to gain from the person, we listen to the complaint of the suffering member, promise to act on it, but then we go to the offender only to praise him. It is against this that the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel (Ez. 33:7-9) speaks. God has appointed each and everyone of us to be a prophet. The major role of a prophet in the time of the people of Israel, that is, in its original inception, is to warn people against their sins and remind them of the necessity to repent of their evil ways, ask for forgiveness and embrace God’s love. During our baptism, the sign of cross which the minister made on our lips means that our mouth has been opened and that we have been given the power of a prophet and are now charged to bring God’s word to people. Do we still speak against evil in our society irrespective of who will be offended? Do we still stand up in our village meetings, yard meetings, street gatherings, etc. to speak against evil in whatever form it appears? Do we still defend the cause of an innocent?
In the first reading, the problem is not in the prophet receiving God’s message, nor in his recognizing that Mr. A or Mrs. B is a wicked person. The problem is in the prophet’s keeping silent. God said to the prophet, “If I say to a wicked man: wicked wretch, you are to die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death”. From this sentence, God is telling the prophet the following:
i. You must not close your eyes nor keep quiet over the wickedness of a wicked man/woman.
ii. You are not to paint words in presenting his/her wickedness to her. It is not your word, it is mine, and you must say it as it is.
iii.You must aim, not just at passing my information, but at making the wicked man to repent of them. The role of a prophet is not just to shout, “wicked man, you must die”, because, although that may be the raw message, the intention of God always is that the wicked repents of his sins.
iv. The question is not if the wicked man finally dies, or for you to keep on praying and quietly wishing that he dies one day. If the wicked man dies without any effort from us, as God’s prophets, to make him repent, then we have our judgment beforeGod because we fail in our duty as God’s mouthpiece.
- What Then Can Help Us Carry Our Prophetic Work Without Prejudice, Fear or Partiality?
Sometimes, we fail in following these teachings because either we are afraid of the persons involved, or we have committed ourselves so much that we find it difficult to speak against them, or that we have the ‘It does not concern me” feeling. St. Paul warns us that the only debt we must owe one another is the debt of love. Our duty to make our brother/sister recognize his/her bad ways and repent from them is part of our love-debt to them. And we must always be motivated by this love. In the same way, when we live in love, we will always be open to receive corrections from our brothers and sisters. If the love of Christ exists in and among us, there won’t be fear of peaceful confrontation, nor fear of accepting our mistakes, nor fear of asking for forgiveness.
Let us listen to the Psalmist as he says to us: O that today you would listen to his voice, ‘Harden not your hearts.’
Wishing You a wonderful Day of the Lord
Fr. Nnamah Chukwuezugo