Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica XXIII per Annum A
6 September 2020 

This weekend is a most embarrassing Gospel for modern ears.  It’s embarrassing because Jesus encourages and even demands that his disciples commit sin!  Jesus encourages the most grave modern sin that is universally denounced even by non-Christians… he encourages us to meddle in other people’s business and to be “judgmental.”  It’s as if a person’s soul and its eternal destination matters!  Now, I trust you see I am being a bit facetious.  Jesus, who is God, certainly is not encouraging sin.  And though we might be uncomfortable with fraternal correction and though we know in our modern setting that we are almost assuredly going to be denounced for practicing fraternal correction in religious and moral matters, it is NOT sin to correct another.  And, in fact, to confront another whose sin is grave and which places his soul in jeopardy is a serious obligation of charity – not just an idea you might try sometime if you really have to – but a serious obligation of a believer.  It is ironic, no, that in an age that quickly denounces fraternal correction as being judgmental, the same accusers easily and quickly trade in their pious sanctimony and become among the worst offenders who broadcast someone else’s faults, mistakes, and sins to listening ears or all over social media.

Despite the way modern ears may want to reject correction, we must be serious about the lesson from Jesus in this passage that there is an authentic fraternal correction and that it is something we may need to be prepared to do.  Now, to be sure, there can be wrong and bad ways to go about fraternal correction.  And there can be ways to go about it that are in fact being “judgmental”.  But it is equally true, we must admit and be clear, that the mere fact that some attempts at correction can go astray does not mean all attempts at fraternal correction are motivated by judgmentalism.  We certainly know that Jesus is encouraging an authentic fraternal correction that is serious, that is charitable, and that is personal in that it demands a sincere human encounter and interaction with a brother or sister.  Failure to do fraternal correction in a good and a holy way is easy to spot.  Going up to someone guilty of grave sin and initiating the contact by claiming he or she is going to hell is not likely to go well.  We can all think of images of true failures – even sinful failures at correction.  Have you seen images of some of those radical groups who claim to be Christian and who show up to protest at funerals or other gatherings, holding huge placards announcing how God hates certain people, or how God rejoices in the death of certain people?  Jesus does not encourage us to do that.  Yet, he also doesn’t encourage us to be weak.  And in an age that prizes individualism and is marked by relativism, as if each person is the center and arbiter of his own absolute moral truth, we must admit that we are in fact called to confront sin.  And we are called to do so in a specific way and with the heart of Christ.

This fraternal correction harkens back to some of the earliest biblical evidence for the common responsibility we have for one another.  We can note the biblical account of the brothers Cain and Abel.  When Cain killed his brother out of jealousy and God asked Cain where his brother was, Cain famously asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper” (cf. Gen. 4:9)?  God rejected that claim.  None of us is alone or an island unto ourselves.  We are brought into relationship and into community and we have responsibility to one another.  You can see why the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel was selected and placed with the Gospel passage for this Sunday.  Here the Prophet Ezekiel is told that part of his duty is to be a watchman and someone who warns others.  If a wicked person is committing evil and the prophet does not speak out and attempt to convert the evil doer, God says the evil doer will die as is appropriate for his sin, but what’s more, the prophet will be held responsible for the death.  We are responsible for one another.  This lesson comes to deeper development in the instruction of Jesus in today’s Gospel passage about fraternal correction.

Now certainly these Scripture lessons have a direct and most serious application to the service of those who are prophets and, in the case of the Gospel, the apostles.  By extension this serves as instruction for those who follow after the apostles in shepherding Christ’s flock.  Thus, bishops and priests have a most serious obligation here.  And would that more in their ranks exhibited a noticeable courage to be watchmen in the Church for the salvation of souls.  We can and should pray for that.  And we should find charitable ways to motivate our shepherds to such courage.  But, by extension, we can apply this call to fraternal correction to others in the Body of Christ, as a call to all Christians to be so committed to the salvation of souls that we seek to speak out when we encounter a brother or sister in the faith sinning gravely.  Imagine the good that can be done for a soul when parents and family members speak out when a child is straying from the faith, supporting immoral lifestyles, cohabiting with a dating partner, or marrying outside the Church.  Imagine the good that can be done when a believer speaks to a friend and encourages a deeper conversion to the faith.  Imagine the good that can be done when a parent encourages a child or a friend encourages another person to go to confession or to be more faithful in attending Holy Mass.  And sometimes it’s the inverse.  It is a child who becomes the inspiration to the adults to draw closer to Christ.

No matter how uncomfortable we might be with fraternal correction and no matter how modern society might dismiss it as being judgmental, a lesson for us today is that we are our brother’s keeper and that to be a believer united to Jesus Christ as a member of his Body not only means that I myself must separate myself from sin and repent, but also that I must be concerned to see others in the community likewise leave sin behind.  We cannot be a part of Christ if we are not apart from sin.  See what I just did there?  In fact, acknowledging our own sinfulness, making regular use of confession, and having zeal to change our own ways likely helps us also be in the best position to approach a fellow disciple who needs correction, and to do so with the mind of Christ.

Some things stand out in this Gospel about how we are to approach this duty of fraternal correction.  First, we must note that we are speaking here of serious sin.  Sin that if not stopped places a person outside of the fold of the Church.  That’s why Jesus says, if they won’t listen even to the Church treat them as a Gentile or a tax collector.  That is, someone cut off and excluded from community.  Jesus is not encouraging us to be busybodies about smaller or lesser sins.  Yes, it’s obnoxious that a fellow disciple lied and claimed to not get your email.  Yes, it would be better if a disciple did not drop a colorful word.  Yes, it’s annoying that a fellow parishioner promised to bring the brownies to the meeting and then didn’t even both to show up!  This is not what Jesus is talking about.  He’s talking about serious sin that cuts someone off from the community.  Things like fornication outside of marriage, adultery, serious theft, using God’s Name in vain, idolatry and worship of false gods, not being in a valid marriage, etc.  Second, note how personal this is.  Don’t go broadcasting someone’s sin.  Jesus tells us to go to the person and he repeatedly reminds us this is a ‘brother.’  Go speak to the person alone.  If he won’t listen, then take one or two others.  If he still won’t listen then bring in the authority of the Church.  Have a direct personal encounter.  Let your brother or sister see your concern and hear from your heart of your love and concern for a gravely sinful situation.  I think the injunction to personal encounter here is instructive.  You have to have courage and own your concern and exhibit charity in order to look someone in the eyes and raise an uncomfortable topic.  It is comparatively easy and weak to do what most people do: avoiding touch issues altogether, trolling in the darkness online, assassinating someone’s character in tweets and facebook posts.  This is not Christian behavior.  Third, note the context here.  This Gospel passage fits in with what preceded and the lesson of seeking out what is lost.  What is the value underlying and motivating the confrontation of a sinner?  The motivation is not being “right” or showing yourself to have some imagined doctrinal or moral superiority.  Rather, what motivates the confrontation is the value of a fellow disciple, a human soul made in God’s image and likeness, the object of God’s love for whom He desires salvation.  This value can be seen in the Gospel language of having “won over” your brother.  The value is not the being right but gaining or winning a soul.  Finally, the goal of Jesus’ instruction is preventing a grave sinner from continuing in his sin with an unrepentant heart.  He invites us who are members of his Body to share in his mission to call others to repentance in order to have salvation.

When it comes down to it, do you believe that Jesus is God?  And do you believe that we must change our ways and be conformed to him to have salvation?  If you do, then fraternal correction really isn’t all that controversial.  If you don’t, well, today’s psalm spoke about a hardened heart.