2023 Sun Sept 10

 I.Theme –   Differing approaches and solutions to sin.

 "Forgiveness"- Sofiya Inger (2006)

About the artist

"I grew up in Russia, in the old northern town of narrow streets, ancient cathedrals, long white snowy winters, white cottonwood blizzards every spring…

"Painting became the color, the meaning, and the way to feel and to live. It led me through adolescence, strict schooling, sleepless nights of motherhood, through the strains of marriage, deaths, and the feverish attempts to grow new roots in strangely colored soil of a new country.

"All of that fascinates me.. people, their connections, aspirations, and the mysteries of everyday life…." 

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm – Psalm 119:33-40 Page 766, BCP
Epistle –Romans 13:8-14
Gospel – Matthew 18:15-20 

The readings today are about the ways and methods of combating sin. The message is not so much the concept of sin but how chosen individuals deal with it and from them the community at large.  We have to remember that all of this is leading to concepts of reconciliation.

Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry to his people in the Old Testament extended from 593BC to about 573 BC, from before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. to the time of the exile in Babylon. Today’s reading harks back to Ezekiel’s concern for individual responsibility.

The sentinel or watchman, chosen by the townspeople, was responsible for warning them of the approach of an enemy. They then could come in from the fields and take refuge. In this passage, God both chooses the watchman and sends the awaited enemy in judgment. There is an implicit tension between the punishment of the wicked and the desire that they repent and live. Israel believed that mere membership in the community of God’s people guaranteed salvation; here God declares that the individual is responsible for his or her own choices.

In the Ezekiel reading, God’s threat of a death sentence as a motivation to repent is what God calls prophets to announce. The threat of death is supposed to inspire the repentance that brings life.  God calls the prophet to be faithful and have courage to speak God’s warning to the people. It is a warning to those called to speak on behalf of God, but whose desire to play it safe, to please others.  In both this reading and the Gospel, our responsibility is to call others to live rightly.

According to today’s Psalm, learning and obeying God’s commandments and fearing God will keep you from sin and lead to life.  The poet proclaims a dependence on the Lard. She wants to observe the law with her whole heart , have her heart and eyes turned away from worthless things and toward God’s law and have disgrace turned away from her. The poet even says she wants to “follow” or walk in the way laid out by God’s precious law.  

In today’s Romans reading, Paul’s solution to sin is to “love one another” and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” which actually are the same thing, because Jesus Christ, in his faithfulness in life even to the point of death, fulfilled the law, which is summed up by the saying “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul’s injunctions to "love one another," to "love your neighbor as yourself," and to lay aside the works of darkness" (vv. 8,9, 12), mean that the pervasive individualism and "privatized" notions of faith that remain all-too-common features of contemporary church life must give way to a faith that actively nurtures and works toward mutuality, solidarity, and justice in our social transactions.

Matthew’s gospel approaches the question of evil within the personal sphere. How should a Christian act when the network of relationships hits a snag? It is inevitable that human connections will sooner or later go haywire. How then should we intervene?

First, he suggests dealing with the problem directly, before it grows like a cancer. We are often tempted to ignore trouble, which then becomes more difficult to heal. 

Jesus proposes that the person who feels wronged should initiate the reconciliation. Matthew outlines a community process that gives a “brother or sister who has sinned” an opportunity to repent, either in private or in front of the community, before the community bans them from participating in the community’s life.  

The process is kept private until various channels have been tried and exhausted. In contrast, we often rush to complain publicly before we even have a clear picture of what’s wrong. When the gossip spreads, the whole situation worsens. The process involves confrontation (confronting the sinner in private), negotiation (confronting the sinner with two or three others)  and adjudication (confronting the sinner by the community).  Sin is more than a private responsibility with which to deal.

Finally, he operates from a basis of compassion. The purpose of the process is never to humiliate or to condemn, but always to restore union with the brother or sister. In contrast, we often enter conflict with the self-righteous purpose of emerging as a winner. Jesus upholds the ideal that the person takes priority over our raging opinions and the causes we champion.

In the gospel Jesus makes clear that accepting this responsibility affects the well-being of the whole community. Traditionally, the sacrament of penance has been solely a private matter among penitent, priest, and God. 

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