Gospel Delights!

Sunday, September 10, 2023

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ez 33:7-9; Rom 13:8-10; Mt 18: 15-20

Christianity is a call to fraternal communion. If ‘Love of the Other’ is not an extension of ‘Love of God,’ then Christian faith will not be relevant to our times and people. The 23^rd Sunday helps us discover the real meaning of practicing our Christian faith. 

Neighborliness is the crux of the first reading. When God sends His prophet on a mission, the expectation is that the prophet will carry out his duty faithfully. Though dutifulness is the obvious theme here, the underlying message transcends the prophet’s obligation. Surpassing any sense of professionalism, the mandate around the prophetic mission is ultimately about saving the soul of a person who has walked in evil ways. Accordingly, doing God’s duty means converting the wicked to goodness. Hence, by placing emphasis on saving the soul of a sinner, God calls for fraternal responsibility on the part of the prophet. The real fraternity that blossoms as a result of a prophet’s faithful mission is what God desires. 

The second reading from Romans follows the theme of the first reading. Paul’s insistence on love equates to fulfilling the law. He refers to the second set of the Ten Commandments which is essentially about being a good neighbor by not killing, stealing, coveting, or committing adultery. Neighborly love can blossom in the absence of sins against one’s neighbor. That is why, Paul sums up the virtue of love as the sole replacement and fulfilment of the law. For Paul, neighborly love makes laws irrelevant, and such fraternity is the hallmark of the Christian community. 

The Gospel is a powerful manifestation of neighborly love. The first sentence of Jesus summarizes what Jesus explains in the rest of the passage. When Jesus says, ‘If your brother sins against you,’ the reference is not necessarily to a biological sibling but to someone in the community. The use of and emphasis on the word ‘brother’ already implies reconciliation. 

Further, the personal, communitarian, and ecclesial measures that Jesus suggests only qualify the word ‘brother,’ because Jesus wishes that reconciliation prevails at the end in the community. The intention of Jesus is not to lose anyone. One who is right is obligated to initiate reconciliation with an attitude of neighborly charity. One who is wrong is obliged to make amends with his neighbor through contrition of heart. Thus, the three recommendations of Jesus are to exhaust every possibility for reconciliation. They are also intended to ensure that reconciliation will be the outcome at least in one of the levels if two others fail. Resorting to legal measures is not a mark of a Christian community. Hence, the corrective process is ordained for reconciliation and fraternal living.  

To top it all, Jesus highlights fraternal agreement as the yardstick for people united in prayer. In effect, Jesus is saying that if two or three are gathered in his name with no division, resentment, bias, or hatred, then that is the ideal form of prayer that will please the Heavenly Father, who will be pleased to listen to it. Away from such fraternal communion, no prayer can have meaning. Along these lines, we can also think that a prayer that is devoid of intentions on behalf of suffering humanity shrinks to be a selfish, individual exercise, even ousting God because the so-called spiritual motivation is not neighborly enough. 

The Divine arithmetic is radically different. It equates the loss of one person to the loss of a community. That is why Jesus talks about the shepherd who leaves the 99 behind to look for the one lost sheep. Being present as a community, praying for the community, and extending a hand to wipe out the misery of community members are ideal forms of practicing Christianity, which is proclaimed best in the fraternity. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar