September 10, 2023
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) on September 10, 2023 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; and Matthew 18:15-20.
My family loves to retell a story from 23 years ago. Everyone agrees on 2 facts:
- My sister’s wedding took place in Columbus, OH.
- When my parents arrived, their wedding clothes were still in Pittsburgh, PA.
But the fun of the story is in the remaining details. Who left the clothes back in Pittsburgh? Who saved the day? That all depends on who’s telling the story!
Don’t we want objective truth? There are times when truth-telling is essential. To build meaningful relationships, we need to address conflict, especially when family members engage in destructive behaviors, destructive to themselves or to others. However, many other times, the differences in perspective simply enrich the experience. With the wedding story, the different perspectives weave a tapestry of additional depth and color – re-creating the pandemonium and the personalities. Life is complex, but complexity often contributes to the beauty and humor of life!
As we listen to the readings today, this comes to bear in two very different ways: our readings are all about dealing with conflict within the family of believers, and each writer has a different perspective, adding to our prayerful consideration.
One thing is beyond dispute: our God is a god of mercy. Let’s celebrate that!
Today’s passages come from four different members of our Judeo-Christian family articulating the Word of God, but from different perspectives. Wild uncle Ezekiel tells us in no uncertain terms that we are responsible for one another’s actions. The psalmist – she’s the poet of the family – testifies to the importance of listening, especially listening to the voice of God. Cousin Paul used to be something of a firebrand, but now he’s a family sage, charging us to do all things in love. And Jesus gives us specific advice on how to address conflict within the family.
Sometimes, I think we lose the nuances in Jesus’ message. The goal of addressing conflicts with our family members is always to re-establish or to strengthen our communion with our brothers and sisters, and therefore to strengthen our communion with God. For those who refuse to reform their behaviors, Jesus tells us to treat them like Gentiles and tax collectors.
But in his gospel, Matthew has previously shared at least four examples of how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors:
- Declaring that the Roman centurion has more faith than all Israel (8:1-11): “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but only say the word…”
- Calling Matthew to be a disciple (9:9-13)
- Table fellowship with tax collectors (11:19)
- Curing the Canaanite woman’s daughter (15:21-28)
Let’s repeat the main point: We are supposed to address each other’s sins in order to build communion, not to prove that we’re right and they’re wrong. Sadly, in this day and age, it’s too easy to ex-communicate ourselves from people who have different perspectives. We use news media that only reports things from the perspective we want to hear. We use internet programs like Pandora so that we only hear music similar to what we already know. At home, we relax in the backyard by ourselves, rather than sitting on the front stoop and talking with neighbors. On social media, we surround ourselves with people who agree with us.
No matter how hard I try to limit the range of perspectives within my social circle, somebody will still inevitably do or say something that will cause me to bristle. Will I address the conflict with familial love? Will I reach out in a spirit of communication or ex-communication? Jesus tells us: “When two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am.” As long as we address conflict in the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will provide us with the guidance to build communion.
Here at the Paulist Center, we have a remarkable sense of communion on the big things, a sense that we are truly gathered in Jesus’ name. But because we are so passionate, we occasionally become critical of each other over what at first blush seem to be smaller things. No matter how passionate we feel about certain details, we need to continually ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in approaching one another with at least as much familial love as Jesus showed to tax collectors and Gentiles.
My extended family, on the other hand, disagrees on the big things. Whenever I tell a story, one of them will almost always insist that I’m telling it wrong. Another is a political commentator on news networks that I cannot stand to watch. Because a third one regularly commented on my social media posts that I was a religious heretic, I “unfriended” him. But two weekends ago, I found myself in another part of the country with all these relatives for a family funeral, the biggest gathering of my cousins in 11 years. I was nervous about being with my relatives, since the divisions in our country and our Church have become much more intense over the intervening years. It turned out to be a truly wonderful communion-building experience with every single one of my relatives because we treated one another with the love of Christ! And although I got annoyed every time that one relative loudly insisted I was telling a story wrong, I’m sure everyone else enjoyed the warp and the woof of our family tapestry.
It is hard work to continually welcome a diversity of perspectives, but doing that holy labor leads us to a greater awareness that it is the Holy Spirit, not us, that gathers us in the name of Jesus. Despite our differences, we share one bread at this one table to become the one Body of Christ.