Matthew 18:15-20

“If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, go and tell them what they did wrong. Do this when you are alone with them. If they listen to you, then you have helped them to be your brother or sister again. But if they refuse to listen, go to them again and take one or two people with you. Then there will be two or three people who will be able to tell all that happened. If they refuse to listen to them, tell the church. And if they refuse to listen to the church, treat them as you would treat someone who does not know God or who is a tax collector. “I can assure you that when you speak judgment here on earth, it will be God’s judgment. And when you promise forgiveness here on earth, it will be God’s forgiveness. To say it another way, if two of you on earth agree on anything you pray for, my Father in heaven will do what you ask. Yes, if two or three people are together believing in me, I am there with them.”

Food for thought!

Sometimes in the Bible we come across certain passages that are as relevant and practical in our lives today as they were thousands of years ago when they were first written. Today's readings are good examples of such passages. Together they remind us that as faithful Christians it is our responsibility to reach out to our not-so-faithful brothers and sisters and bring them back. They even go on to recommend practical steps on how to go about doing this.

A young woman, Lydia, strayed from the church as a teenager. After nine years of experimenting with atheism, spiritism, and new age, she found her way back again to the church, by the grace of God. Relating her story, Lydia said that what hurt her the most in all her nine years of spiritual exile is that nobody in the church missed her. Nobody ever phoned or visited to find out what was wrong. "I got the impression that nobody misses me," she said. 

Sounds familiar? There are many men and women in her situation. People we used to rub shoulders with; people we knew quite well; people who even were of our circle. Today's readings invite us to review our I-don't-care attitude towards people like Lydia, reminding us that, yes, it should be our business to reach out to them.

Reaching out to one another is not an option; it is an obligation. In fact, if and when we don't reach out to one another, we face serious consequences before God. Today's First Reading is about this: 

“Now, son of man, I am choosing you to be a watchman for [...]. If you hear a message from my mouth, you must warn the people for me. I might say to you, ‘These evil people will die.’ Then you must go warn them for me. If you don’t warn them and tell them to change their lives, those evil people will die because they sinned. But I will make you responsible for their deaths. But if you do warn the evil people to change their lives and stop sinning, and if they refuse to stop, they will die because they sinned. But you have saved your life. (Ezekiel 33:7-9).

In the gospel reading, Jesus spells out a clear procedure composed of three stages: (1) Approach the defaulting brother or sister person-to-person. (2) Go a second time accompanied by one or two trusted companions. (3) Bring the case before the local church. This may sound like a daunting procedure, but the good news is that in nine cases out of ten, we may never need to go beyond the first stage. A troublesome brother or sister approached in a personal and courteous manner is happy to come back without much argument.