20150812 CORRECTING A RECALCITRANT SINNER
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Deuteronomy
34:1-12 ©
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Leaving the plains of
Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah opposite Jericho, and the
Lord showed him the whole land; Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of
Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb,
and the stretch of the Valley of Jericho, city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with
your own eyes, but you shall not cross into it.’ There in the land of Moab,
Moses the servant of the Lord died as the Lord decreed; he buried him in the
valley, in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but to this day no one has
ever found his grave. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died,
his eye undimmed, his vigour unimpaired. The sons of Israel wept for Moses in
the plains of Moab for thirty days. The days of weeping for the mourning rites
of Moses came to an end. Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of
wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. It was he that the sons of Israel
obeyed, carrying out the order that the Lord had given to Moses.
Since
then, never has there been such a prophet in Israel as Moses, the man the Lord
knew face to face. What signs and wonders the Lord caused him to perform in the
land of Egypt against Pharaoh and all his servants and his whole land! How
mighty the hand and great the fear that Moses wielded in the sight of all
Israel!
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Psalm
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Psalm
65:1-3,5,16-17 ©
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Blessed be God,
who gave life to my soul.
Cry out with joy to
God all the earth,
O sing to
the glory of his name.
O render him glorious
praise.
Say to
God: ‘How tremendous your deeds!’
Blessed be God,
who gave life to my soul.
Come and see the
works of God,
tremendous
his deeds among men.
Come and hear, all
who fear God.
I will
tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud,
with high
praise ready on my tongue.
Blessed be God,
who gave life to my soul.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps110:7,8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O
Lord, are all of them sure;
they stand firm for
ever and ever.
Alleluia!
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Or
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2Co5:19
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Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was
reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted
to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 18:15-20
©
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Jesus said, ‘If your
brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your
two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does
not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three
witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to
these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the
community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.
‘I tell
you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven;
whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.
‘I
tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at
all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three
meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’
CORRECTING
A RECALCITRANT SINNER
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: DT 34:1-12;
MT 18:15-20
The
Gospel touches on a very concrete reality in our lives, namely, to correct a
recalcitrant brother. St Matthew gives a three-stage trial procedure in
dealing with such a member in the community. Scripture commentators
are in agreement that this is basically a construct of Matthew and not from the
lips of Jesus. Matthew was merely adopting a legal practice already
existing in Judaism. Indeed, it would be difficult to believe that Jesus
could advocate ex-communication, namely, to treat such a person as a Gentile,
for we know that Jesus always preaches about compassion and forgiveness.
Furthermore,
based on our own experience, we know that this three-stage procedure does not
really solve our problems. On the legal level, we might have apparently
resolved the problem by taking action, but we know that the heart of that
person has normally not been won over. Taking legal action is
always the last resort because the heart of the accused is not converted.
It only breeds resentment and anger. Why?
Firstly,
take the first stage of the trial procedure. It says that if your brother
has committed some wrong against you, go and point out his fault … if he
listens to you, you have won over your brother. Now such a stance can
appear to be rather biased. We come with a position already, thinking
that we are right and the other person needs to be converted. He is supposed to
listen to us, rather than we listening to him. There is hardly any
dialogue since dialogue requires openness and the readiness to admit that we
can also be wrong in our judgment. And even if we are open, the
accused party may not be willing to speak about the matter yet. There are
other psychological and emotional factors involved, for example, the wounds are
still raw and the trust is still not there. So trying to tell a person
that he is wrong would only be met with anger and denial. It leads to
retaliation. Nasty letters written to and fro do not solve a problem but
worsens it.
Secondly,
the plaintiff is supposed to summon another witness, apparently to be on his
side again. And presumably, if another witness can be an arbitrator, it
may not work also because the third person can also be prejudiced. The
fact that the plaintiff has himself called another to be his witness or arbitrator
would seem to lack credibility. Indeed, to be truly more objective, both
parties must first agree to a common arbitrator. Our own life experience
has taught us that involving a third party can make the situation even more
complicated, especially when the third party does not show himself to be
impartial.
In the
third stage, the accused is to be referred to the Church, i.e. the authority,
and then if he ignores the authority, he should be excommunicated. Even
among ourselves, how many of us would really want to report our
misunderstandings with our brothers to the authorities? And even if we do
so, and the authority listens to us and takes action, have we really solved the
problem? The history of the Church has shown how applying the rule of
excommunication has caused more harm than good. The way to correct a
person is not by applying juridical discipline but persuasion, patience and
dialogue. That is why the Church hardly excommunicates anyone
publicly. Indeed, to alienate someone from us is not really helping
that person. Did not Jesus speak about compassion, forgiveness and so on?
Notwithstanding
my critique on the legalistic procedures given by Matthew, it does not mean
that such a three-stage trial procedure cannot work. It can, if we read further
down the passage, where further guidelines are given. These, I believe,
are the pre-requisites before the legal process can take place. What are
these?
Firstly,
from the book of Deuteronomy, we have Moses who meets God face to face.
Now, before we can meet man face to face, it presupposes that we ourselves have
truly met God face to face. For it is in having met God face to face that
we come to recognize our own faces – our motives, our intentions and how we
might be reacting to a situation. What is important in any conflict is
that the parties involved must be ready to pray before the Lord, asking for
forgiveness of his own sins before thinking about the sins of others against
him or her. Only through prayer, will we recognize that whilst we demand
justice, God prefers that we learn how to forgive like Him. Jesus
Himself, although innocently accused, did not seek justice but only forgiveness
of His enemies.
Secondly,
the gospel tells us that whenever two or three pray in his name, our prayers would
be granted. That is to say, after we have prayed on our own, we need to
pray with our accused brother. Unless we can pray together first, I doubt
both parties can be truly open to each other, since we are not yet even open to
the Spirit. But if we have truly prayed together, we can be quite
confident that that openness resulting from our common search for the truth and
for love will help us to find an amiable solution. This is what it means
to pray in His name – to have this common desire with God, for life and
love. If the love of God is not in us, there is no way to resolve a
problem through legal means. Whoever loses the case will feel even more
aggrieved and worse still, if one cannot afford a good lawyer to defend
himself.
Finally,
we must realize that the power to bind or loosen is a basic principle with
regard to our well-being. No one can ultimately force us to be open
or to forgive, not even the external authority. Of course, they can
physically alienate us, but that does not mean the problem has been
resolved. Ultimately, the power to forgive or to heal is dependent on
ourselves. But the point is that when we are able to surrender our pride
and our unforgiveness, then we are liberated for life and love. The
refusal to let loose will bind us even more in our misery. What is even
sillier is that in refusing to forgive someone, we hurt ourselves much more
than our enemy.
Yes,
the task of fraternal correction is perhaps one of the most difficult things in
community life and inter-personal relationships. It is something that we
wish to avoid all together. However for those who are too quick to
correct his brother, he must also be prudent. For what he sees and
condemns in another brother is but a mere projection of his poor judgments and
prejudices towards life and others. However if we have searched
ourselves thoroughly and still not be reconciled, then we can treat our accused
brothers as pagans. It does not mean that we condemn them; rather, we are
giving them the opportunity to reflect on their actions. Excommunication
and punishment meted by the authorities can only be exercised when dialogue has
reached a deadlock. Then for the greater good of the unity of the Church and
her interests, the authorities have to step in to protect the community from
being destroyed by a few individuals.
Let us
be reminded of the words of St James in all that we do. He wrote, “Speak and
act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because
judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy
triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12f)
In another text warning us against judging others, he wrote, “Do not slander
one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them
speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not
keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one
Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are
you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11f)
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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