A SENTINEL TO NEIGHBOUR

 

First Reading: Ezek 33:7-9

Second Reading: Rom 13:8-10

Gospel: Mt 18:15-20

On this twenty third Sunday in Ordinary time the readings stress on one’s responsibility towards his/her immediate neighbour. In the first reading the Lord is explicating the job of the prophet as that of sentinel. The prophet in the community is like watchman/woman of the city. The job of the sentinel is to warn the inhabitants of the city about the coming threat (Ezek 33:3). The sentinel may not be able to defend the city from the threat that is approaching the city. His/her job is to alert the people so that they may find their own ways and means to escape from the threat. If sentinel fails in his/her duty to alert the people, the whole city will see the destruction. The sentinel will be held responsible for the destruction. If sentinel assumes that the inhabitants of the city may very well know about the coming danger as they themselves are the cause for it and remains silent, without blowing the warning trumpet, still he/she will be held responsible for the destruction. Because, the sentinel has no authority to decide on the fate of the inhabitant. He/she has to do the given job without any judgemental attitude. The Lord applies this same principle to the role of prophets in the community. At times these prophets or sentinels or watchmen/women are either ministers of the Word or priests or lay preachers or religious or anyone who is aware of the arising danger to his/her neighbour. Their job is to alert sinners and wicked about their destruction. They have no authority to decide on the fate of sinners. Everything is between God and the individual. If one’s neighbour does something wrong he/she only has the duty to correct, not an authority to punish.

In the Gospel, we have the procedure to be followed in reprimanding one’s neighbour for his/her wrongdoings. Our focus should be on removing the sin, not the person. Therefore, the Lord tells us to confront the person personally first (Mt 18:15). When that personal encounter fails in bearing fruit we may seek the help of others and the church (Mt 18:16-17). However, the Lord has not given any permission to punish the wicked. He only tells that if all these means have failed to bear fruit, just leave that person alone. Let that unhearing wicked be a Gentile or tax collector to you (Mt 18:17), meaning let we keep ourselves away from that person. Jews maintain distance from gentiles and tax collectors. They don’t rule them out from their city. They maintain distance from them so that they neither be influenced nor tempted by them to wickedness. This is what we have to do. We have the duty to correct the wrongdoers but never intend their fall. Our focus should be on getting the wicked person back into the flock, as the good shepherd brings back the strayed sheep. For this to happen we need love as stressed in the second reading. When there is love for neighbour the focus falls on the sin rather than the sinner. When there is love the good of the wicked is intended than the destruction of the wicked. When there is love there is an intention to correct than to punish the sinner. When there is love there is CAREfrontation than CONfrontation.

To sum up, the readings of today suggest two things. They are; i) duty to correct one’s neighbour and ii) do the reprimanding with love and care. The final verse of today’s gospel is about Lord’s presence in CAREfrontation (Mt 18:20). In Jewish setting it is believed that when two or three gather together and discuss Word of God or things of God, the presence of the Lord is there. They call this presence of the Almighty as Shekinah – the glory of the Lord which rested upon the tent of meeting in the Old Testament. When we correct our neighbour with love, the Lord is present there because as St. John says, God is love, where there is love there is God (1 Jn 4:7).

May we encounter our neighbour with love so that the presence of the Lord is with us. May we never fail to correct our neighbour even if that seems to bear no fruit, because who knows he/she may get transformed after our encounter. If we miss that precious chance we will be held responsible for not alerting our neighbour. Not committing sin alone is not holiness, rather helping others not to commit sin is an intrinsic characteristic of Christian holiness. We have to be light to the world (Mt 5:14) by showing the way for the sinners and the wicked. When it is dark we can bring the light in. when darkness is thickest we need to keep ourselves away from it so as not to be engulfed by it. Let love reign over us.