Reconciliation & Repentance

Homily for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Deacon Thomas Stephenson

September 10, 2017

In the Gospel we just heard, Jesus calls us to correct a brother or sister who has sinned. We might ask, though, who are we to judge? Don’t we hear this quite a bit these days, aren’t we told that we shouldn’t judge others? The concept seems to be that, no matter what someone may be doing, correcting sinful behaviour amounts to judging that person. Even Pope Francis said “Who am I to judge?”, although the quote by itself lacks the context in which it was said. The Pope listed a few conditions the person would meet before he would refrain from judgement. We need to know the full statement to understand the meaning.

Jesus wants all sinners to come to repentance and reconciliation. Obviously, if we are to correct someone in sin, some judgement of the person’s behaviour is required; we can’t correct someone unless we are aware of a sin that needs to be corrected. We tend to equate judging or correcting with condemning. However, the point is not to make the other person feel condemned; just the opposite, we should help them to feel that they are so loved, by God and by us, that we want to regain our brother or sister. It is not for us to force someone to behave or believe a certain way, but to help them to understand how or where they have gone wrong.

The verses we heard in today’s Gospel come immediately after the Parable of the Lost Sheep. The Lord is like the man who searches for a lost sheep, and sometimes it is up to us to recognize when one of His sheep is going astray, and help to guide him or her back, to change the path they are on.

Going astray does not always mean committing sins such as the ones St. Paul mentioned in the second reading – adultery, murder, theft, coveting, or other serious sins. Sometimes, it is not a matter of consciously choosing the wrong path, but rather drifting on currents that slowly take us away from the Lord. Currents in daily life, sometimes subtle, that undermine the truth and promote false beliefs. There are many concepts today that may sound very nice, that may even be called spiritual, but which lead us into misunderstandings about God and our relationship with Him. We must be prepared to intelligently and patiently offer correction to those of our brothers and sisters who may have become ensnared by some of these ideas. It is our responsibility to uphold the truths of our faith, to counter errors, and to do so with love and humility.

We heard in Ezekiel that God was tasking him to be the watchman. This is another time when the reading is better understood when we read what comes before and after the short passage we have here. In the previous six verses, at the beginning of Chapter 33, God presents a description of a watchman and his responsibilities, and that he is to be accountable for providing the necessary warnings. God tells Ezekiel that if he does not warn the wicked man, Ezekiel himself will be held responsible for his death. In the following verses, the Lord says “I swear I take no pleasure in the death of a wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversion, that he may live.” If the Lord takes pleasure in the wicked man’s conversion, in his repentance and reconciliation, shouldn’t we be happy to do our part to facilitate that conversion?

In our second reading, St. Paul says “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” He then goes on to list some of the commandments, and says that they are “summed up in this word ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’”. We know that this is what Jesus taught us – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” So, loving one another is not an option; it is what we owe to each other. And part of the love we owe to one another is our obligation to correct our brothers and sisters when we are aware that they are in sin or error.

The other side of that is when we find ourselves in the position of being corrected. At one time or another, perhaps many times over the course of our lives, we may end up travelling down the wrong path, or believing things that will take us away from the truth. Remember last week, when Jesus went so far as to tell Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus rebuked him because Peter was not thinking as God does, but as humans do. We are humans, so that is how we should be expected to think. So, we may need someone’s help to adjust our thinking. And, as humans, we will naturally fall into sin. We may have sufficient understanding to recognize our sin and come to repentance, and go to confession. However, we may not see it ourselves, and require some guidance to give us a better perspective. When that help is provided, we should accept it respectfully and graciously, thankful that this person cared enough about us to bring our sin to our attention.

God loves each of us, even when we are sinners, which is often the case. We are called to love our brothers and sisters too, even, and perhaps especially, when they are sinners. In love, we may need to correct them in their sinfulness, and we may need to support and sustain them in their conversion. Let us pray that we all may come to repentance and reconciliation, with praise and glory to God forever. Amen.