Fr. Michael Williams

Of all the gospels, St Matthew’s gospel, is the one which clearly shows that Jesus is gathering and forming a community of believers. Jesus wants His followers to be a community of believers. And to be part of the Lord’s community means His followers will have to renounce individualism. To be part of the Lord’s community or church they will have to give up egoism and selfishness, because these things destroy communities.

Egoism and selfishness are the building blocks of the individualism that we often find in our own modern society. A Beatles song that sums up this attitude is George Harrison’s, ‘I, Me, Mine’. People today often say ‘I don’t need to go to Church I talk to God at home’ or ‘I don’t need to follow God’s commands, I have my own rules’. It’s the ‘I, Me, Mine’ approach to religion and morality. But ‘I, Me, Mine’ is not Jesus’ way.

Jesus established a community of believers; a community that gathers around the Lord and renounces individualism. To be a member of the Church means to live in community with Jesus and the rest of His disciples. It is the opposite of living selfishness. To live in community with others means I don’t just think about myself and my own needs, it means I think about others and their needs too. In other words to be a part of the community of the Church means we must love. We must love Christ, and His teachings, and love one another.

But the Church is made up of human beings who can go astray, if egoism and individualism take hold. So in today’s gospel Jesus is telling us that part of love is correction. All of God’s commandments are aimed at correction. Correction is necessary for human beings who are tempted, and fall into sin and selfishness.

In the first reading we heard about the prophet Ezekiel, who was raised up by the Lord within the community of Israel, to correct the people who had fallen into grave sin. Ezekiel was told by the Lord that he is obliged to warn the wicked man to repent. This is because serious sin leads to separation from God, and God does not want this separation. That is why He sends to His people, prophets who warn against sin. Not to warn others about wrongdoing is a sin of omission. Omitting to speak about the commandments out of fear is always displeasing to the Lord.

To correct someone who has strayed from the true path is an act of love. It is never an act of love to confirm somebody who has strayed into grave sin. But Jesus tells us in the gospel that the whole process is a gradual one and driven by love. However, if the sinner does not accept the third and final attempt, then they are excommunicated. They are out of communion with the Church. Excommunication is itself an act of mercy. It allows the individual to think about the seriousness of their actions, and so hopefully it will lead to repentance.

It’s worth noting that ‘there is not only the duty to correct, but the duty to allow yourself to be corrected’ (Cantalamessa). Christ’s teaching on correcting others, should always be read in conjunction with another statement he once made, ‘Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye’ (Luke 6:42). We are all in need of correction!

So let’s pray for the courage to speak out against wrongdoing, and so help lead people who are out of communion with the Lord, back into communion with Him. And let us also be humble enough to accept correction when we are in need of it.