Proper 18 (4th of September)
The prophet Ezekiel is a prophet of the exile. While Jeremiah is prophesying the judgment of the Lord in Jerusalem, Ezekiel is giving the same message in Babylon among the exiles. And now, Jerusalem and its Temple have been razed to the ground and the kingdom of Judah destroyed. But even now, God has not abandoned his people. The destruction of Jerusalem is not the end of the relationship, only a new stage in God’s dealing with them. “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Even in the midst of wickedness and destruction and ruin, God holds out the promise of forgiveness to anyone who chooses to turn back to him. We cannot take refuge in the idea that we have no control over events. We are each accountable for our own response to God. And he will not leave us alone, this side of hell.
That is why God called Ezekiel. God’s people are dying, physically and spiritually, because they will not turn from their wickedness. And so, in his compassion he sends them the prophet. Ezekiel is a watchman for God’s people. When they are in danger because of their sins, he must warn them of it. Or else he will be responsible for their destruction.
Now what does all that have to do with us? Well, from St. Paul’s instructions in Romans, it seems that some of the same message is still pertinent. “Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” This isn’t rocket science, folks. God is perfectly consistent. Just as to the faithful in exile, God tells us, “Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
But there is something more here than in Ezekiel. Not only are we to turn away from our sin and be faithful to the Lord, now we are being pushed beyond that into a proactive goodness that overcomes evil itself. We are to bless those who persecute us and do good to those who harm us. We are to love one another without hypocrisy and live in harmony and peace with everyone, at least insofar as it depends on us. We may not be able to keep others from hating us, but we must bless them when they do.
In fact, we have been promoted. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Each of us has received the Holy Spirit in baptism. The Spirit of the Lord, who came upon Ezekiel and empowered him to speak the word of God to his fellow exiles, that same Spirit now resides in each of us. And if we will allow him, he will boil over in us, empowering us to serve God with zeal and joy. And the service that Ezekiel offered his companions, we will all offer to each other.
Make no mistake; Jesus has made us all watchmen for our brothers and sisters. We are responsible for each other. And that means that we must confront our brother when he falls into sin. We are not allowed to horde the wrongs done to us and hold them against him. Instead, we must tend our relationships with honesty and courage. We have to “keep short accounts” by dealing with our conflicts and not allowing them to fester.
We have the model for this in our Gospel this morning. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” Notice that there is something implied by this action. You must have forgiven your brother before you go to him. If you go without forgiveness, you’re just picking a fight. You have no intention of “gaining your brother”, no intention of restoring the relationship. This process is not some sort of spiritual court system in which to sue your neighbor for emotional damages. Rather than going to him to address your grievance, you go to him for the sake of his own soul and for the sake of the family relationship. And that requires that you forgive first.
If that doesn’t work, then you get others involved. Only a couple. You’re trying to save the integrity of the body of Christ, not to punish your brother for his sins. Remember, St. Paul says, “Never avenge yourselves.” So find someone you trust, who isn’t just “on your side”. It’s possible that you are in the wrong. But even if you’re not, it’s still the relationships that you’re trying to salvage.
Only after that doesn’t work do you take your issue to the church, to the whole assembly. If you come to me and tell me, “Mrs. Green really hurt my feelings Friday night. What do I do?” then this is the counsel you will get. First, forgive Mrs. Green. Then, go to her to see if she wants to heal the relationship. Give her the chance to repent. If not, take a couple people with you. And only then bring the matter to me to be dealt with publicly.
The fact is we don’t like to do this, because it seems difficult. We don’t really want to forgive, because we don’t want to restore the relationship with someone who hurt us. And if we go through this honestly, we are really afraid the light will expose our own sin as well. It is much easier to complain about him to the people who we know will agree with us. But if we do that, then our communion is broken, and we have absolutely no business kneeling at this rail together in a lie, receiving Christ’s body and blood as if we were his united body on earth, when really we are just so much dismembered flesh, participating in each other’s destruction.
If we intend to serve God at all, then we must begin to serve each other this way. If we find our way to living at peace with each other, correcting each other, asking and granting forgiveness; then we will forge bonds of relationship that nothing can break. Jesus is gathering us into his body, and members of a body cannot be at war with each other.
It is as a united body that we have the kind of authority Jesus promises us. His promises here are not addressed to individual persons. “Whatever you all bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven.” “If two of you agree together on earth about everything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I.” The only way we can truly agree in the first place is to be gathered together in Jesus, completely united in his will and for his purpose. And once that happens, there will be no force in the entire cosmos that can stand against us.
But in order to be united like that, we will have to start with the basics. Repentance, forgiveness, keeping what I call “short accounts”. Love without hypocrisy. Allowing the Holy Spirit in us to boil over, serving the Lord. Rejoicing patiently in constant prayer. Blessing those who hurt us.
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