Father Bill’s Sermon, Sunday, September 7, 2008

XXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time

If one knows nothing of jurisprudence at the time of Jesus, today’s Gospel reading can be construed to mean the exact opposite of what it says. For instance, I was given the vague understanding somewhere along the line, that this gospel was all about “correcting” the errant brother and “purifying” the Church. When someone is “sinning,” and you know it, you try to get them to stop, and if your private conference doesn’t work, you bring a few, then a group, then the whole Church, and if that doesn’t work, excommunicate them! Then, the Church is purified to some extent, and the brother is properly warned of the spiritual consequences of his behavior.

BUT, that’s NOT really what was being said. It looks like that IF you don’t know legal practice in 2nd Temple Judaism, but when you know what the background is, the whole reading comes out different–in fact, diametrically opposed to what seemed so obvious.

In 2nd Temple legal thought, NO ONE could be convicted by the testimony of only one witness. So, for example, if YOU saw someone kill someone else, and it was only your word against that of the murderer who would deny it, then no conviction can be obtained, and the case is dismissed. In order to proceed, a trial of any sort HAD to have at least two witnesses, and more were preferable. SO....what’s being said in today’s reading is: “IF you catch wind that someone is doing something immoral, go to them, and try to help them give this up and change their life. BUT, if they don’t listen, or can’t listen, you have to let it be UNTIL others begin to see what is going on, too. Now, you can’t go to others and tell them to “watch out for X or Y.” THAT is slander, and it is a more serious sin than murder, itself! So...you simply have to wait until two or three more folk are wise to what’s happening, then you take them with you, and you try to help a falling brother or sister make over their life. And if THAT doesn’t work, you wait a little longer, and pretty soon, bunches of folk will know, and then you can make this an open issue, getting the whole congregation involved in helping the fallen one to stand again.

Now, if THAT fails, then the fallen one is to be treated like what? A gentile or a tax collector, right? Well, I ask, “and how are Gentiles and tax collectors to be treated according to Jesus?” And when we look, we find that it is to the Syro-Phoenician woman (a gentile) that Christ went to cure her daughter, it is to the Roman Centurion (a gentile) that Christ offered healing for a servant, it is to the Samaritan woman (a gentile) whom Christ imparted the words that led to the conversion of the entire village. He’s with Gentiles all the time! And he made a tax collector (St. Matthew) his disciple! So, what is being said, is: FAR FROM SHUNNING OR EXCOMMUNICATING THEM, they are to be treated as “initiates” again, re-teaching the basics, re-evangelizing them from the ground up. It is not “excommunication,” but “broader charity” that is asked of the Church.

And this is followed by the statement that “binding and loosing” belong to the power of the Church JUST FOR SUCH INSTANCES. In other words, IF a brother has been keeping his store open into the early hours of the Sabbath, and opening it slightly before the Sabbath ends IN ORDER to make the extra money needed to care for a sick child or an ailing mother, you can “loose” him from the obligation of a 24 hour Sabbath! You can cut him some slack! If he CAN’T change, maybe the requirements can! OR, you can find a way to finance a charity for him so that he doesn’t need to break the Sabbath. But the “power” is with you to help him be the disciple he needs to be.

This is the second week in a row we hear of sin. Ezekiel reminds us that NONE of us can get out of this world without being stained by the sinful nature of living. There is no perfection on this side of the grave! No matter how hard we try, we’re going to make mistakes. This is the nature of humanity. Goodness, Ezekiel reminds us, is not in a naive “blamelessness,” that is impossible to achieve. Goodness is trying to be helpful to others in the midst of a selfish world....it isn’t blamelessness, it’s charity that defines goodness. Helping others grow to be all they can be lifts us and everyone else a little higher!

St. Paul reminds us that ultimately we measure our steps by asking ourselves: “is this a loving thing, or not?” Blamelessness, sinlessness isn’t what we strive for so much as kindness, gentleness, charity. When we strive to be charitable, our “pet sins” begin to take care of themselves.

So, the readings this weekend are NOT a call to purge the Church and “purify” the world–though crazy preachers for centuries have raised Inquisitions using these very verses. Rather, they call us to deeper charity, and greater tolerance, as we try to find ways that will help the floundering among us to rise a bit higher. We are not sanctioned to condemn them, but to help them be the better person they are capable of becoming–and in doing so, we, ourselves, become finer human beings in the process.

So, as we come to the table of the Lord of Judgement, this morning, realizing that He will hold a standard to our own lives to measure us, let us pray that our lives will be stretched by greater charity so that the measure with which we are measured will show our striving to be people of charity and blessing on our earth. And may God bless you all. +