23rd Sunday of Year A

Ezekiel 33:7-9
Romans 13:8-10
Matthew 18:15-20

Let’s help each other stay on the righteous path.

My brothers and sisters, what do we do when we see a brother and sister commit a wrongful act? Do we keep quiet, do we speak to the person, or do we make it public? What if the wrongful act has hurt us immensely? Do we act out of our hurt? Do we seek revenge? Do we seek to shame the other person? Without exception, all of us have witnessed wrongful acts; all of us have been hurt. How did I act? More importantly, what is the loving and right way to react? This week, the Scripture invites us to reflect.

Christianity has always been a communal faith. In the early Christian community, we read how “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.” (Acts 2:42-23) In other words, as a community, Christians can do wonders! Indeed, we do not journey through faith alone. We need our community, our brothers and sisters in faith, to keep us faithful. Indeed, it is our duty to help each other stays faithful. In times of our weakness, we need a brother or sister to correct us, to lovingly point out our errors. And conversely, when a brother or sister is experiencing a moment of weakness, we are in turn called to lovingly correct them. This is the essence of a Christian community. This is what it means to be collectively called the body of Christ. Counsel is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:7-11). It is also a duty of a Christian. Hence, in the First Reading this week, God says to us, “If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.” (verse 8)

However, our counsel – even when it is delivered purely out of love – is not always graciously accepted. As a result, we are sometimes hesitant to provide counsel – for fear of a negative reaction. In the Gospel, Jesus instructs us to be persistent and patient, giving us a three-step process to approach a brother or sister with sensitivity:

1. First, we need to approach the person alone, with non-judgmental and loving words: “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” (verse 15) We do this to make it clear that our objective is not to embarrass the person, but simply to point out their erroneous ways.
2. If our private counsel is not constructively received, we should then seek the help of one or two brothers and sisters who are respected and well-reputed in the community: “But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” (verse 16) We do this to show the other person that it not just us who feel that way. Having just one or two to support us helps limit the possibility of the matter becoming public. In this way, we help maintain the dignity of the other person.
3. And only if all else fails, then as a last resort, we involve the wider community: “If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (verse 17) Even then, Jesus instructs us to give the person every chance to correct. Jesus made it very clear that ostracising the person is the very very last resort.

So, my dear friends, let us reflect. Do I take my duty to be my brother’s or sister’s keeper seriously? Do I hesitate to counsel a brother or sister? And when I do so, do I do it with love and patience? Or do I do so out of my hurt and with a vengeful heart? Do I seek to ostracise the other person on the first instance, rather than as a last resort? Do I gossip about the other person rather than helping to counsel the person? As we ponder over these questions, let us remember that as a Christian, love must always be our motivation and our end goal. To act in righteousness is an act of love. To keep a brother and sister on the path of righteousness is also an act of love. As St Paul wrote to the Romans in the Second Reading: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (verse 8)

To conclude this week’s reflection, let us ponder upon these words of St Paul, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col 3:12-14)

Let us proceed in love. Amen.

22nd Sunday of Year A

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27

Are we pressured to conform to the world?

What do we do when we find the world’s values conflicting with our Chirstian values? As Christians living in the world, we often feel the pressure to conform to the world, to fit in. And from time to time we do succumb, compromising our Christian values to fit in. While we may think that our challenge in these modern times is particularly great, the conflict between Christian values and the world’s is as old as Christianity itself. In fact, we can even argue that the challenge is worse for the early Christians.

Let us consider the following moral challenges early Christians faced at the times of the Roman empire:

• A marriage where the man and woman are equal partners was not a common concept. In most families, the man reigns supreme while the woman is expected to be subservient to her husband. Against this social norm, St Paul teaches, “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21)
• Slavery was rife, where the master may demand anything of a slave, including performing all forms of demeaning acts. But in a letter to his friend Philemon, St Paul urged his friend to treat his escaped slave Onesimus kindly, even requesting that Philemon grant Onesimus his freedom and treat the latter as a brother. “Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother” (Phm 1:15-16).
• Even helping the poor and widows was not a social norm. Against the prevailing worldly norm, St James taught Christians “to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (Jms 1:27)

Thankfully, the world has changed since. In fact, the above are examples of how, over time, the world has adopted Christian values as its own. Indeed, these changes might not have happened if the early Christians have given up on their Christian values and simply conform to the world. And the struggle certainly was not easy for the early Christians. We can imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for these early Christians to swim against the tide. And from time to time, some would turn away from their Christian values and needed reminder to stay true to their faith. We read how St Paul reprimanded the Corinthains in one instance: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife.” (1 Cor 5:1) Indeed, we have much to be thankful for – to Christians over the ages in holding true to their faith. But the work of the Christian discipleship is never done. It is now our turn. Today, the gulf between Christianity and the world remained significant, for example, on topics such as greed, pride, envy, marriage and sexuality. So, my brothers and sisters, we ask ourselves: What is my response when I am torn between my Christian values and the world’s? Do I stand firm? Or do I succumb?

But it is not just us or the early Christians who were challenged. In the Gospel, we often find the disciples themselves conforming to the world instead of Jesus’ teachings. For example, we read how the disciples arguing among themselves on who was the greatest among them (Mk 9:33-34). We read another example in this week’s Gospel, of Peter wanting glory without the sacrifice. “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.'” (verse 21-22) This earned Peter a sharp rebuttal from Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (verse 23)

And we should not be surprise that it is the same even in Old Testament times. In the First Reading this week, we read how Jeremiah was mocked and persecuted for his faith. He said, “I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’ For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.” (verse 7-8) But importantly, in spite of the hardship, Jeremiah was unwilling to deny his faith: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” (verse 9) In the same vein, St Paul counselled us in the Second Reading, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (verse 2) Indeed, as St Paul explained, our sacrifices for our faith is a form of worship: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (verse 1) My brothers and sisters, if we are struggling between our faith and the world, today, let us take Jeremiah and St Paul as our inspirations.

So my dear friends, this week, let us reflect and meditate on our struggles – between our faith and the world. As we do so, let us draw strength from Jesus’ words from the Gospel this week: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” (verse 24-26)

Amen.