Today’s Gospel passage comes from Matthew 18. This chapter presents Jesus’ fourth big speech in this Gospel. It is called the Ecclesiastical Sermon or the “Church Order” discourse, in which “the emphasis is not on the structure of the church but on the care that the disciples must have for one another” (NABRE introduction). A significant element to consider is that Matthew is the only gospel that uses the Greek term ekklesía, “Church” in English. (The etymological meaning of ekklesía is close to “assembly,” namely the people; the term “Church” comes from the Greek Kyriakón that means the Lord’s house, i.e., the Lord’s realm.) The term ekklesía appears in Matthew 16:18 (read two weeks ago, the St. Peter’s primacy passage) and 18:17 (today’s passage). None of the other gospels uses it, but it is important as a reference to local communities in the Pauline literature (especially 1 Corinthians), Acts, and Revelation 2-3. The Catholic Epistles use it as a reference for a dispersed, universal body of believers.
The content of Matthew 18 is of utmost importance as it indicates the nature of life in Jesus’ Church in order to know how relationships must be lived out. The essential component is the spiritual life of each one of Her members and, as a consequence, the care for each other. Here we read expressions, such as “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 4), “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (v. 6), “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (v. 8), and “if he finds [the astray sheep], amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray” (v. 13). Then today’s passage comes.
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The central concept running through the passage is, logically, that of union or, better, communion (Greek koinonia), although the term as such is not used. Thus, we read of “binding and loosing” (i.e., tying and untying), of “being gathered together” in order to agree to ask for something. It is in connection with the idea of communion that we must understand the first section: “if your brother sins against you…” (v. 15). Notice that it is not just anybody, but “your brother.” Secondly, Jesus refers to an action explicitly categorized as “sinning.” Paying attention to the preceding verses, we can realize that sinning means an action that destroys the life of the Spirit in the person who performs the action.
The first reading, from the prophet Ezekiel, assists us in obtaining a better appreciation of the seriousness of the action entailed. The Old Testament language is more vivid, as it describes the accused as “wicked” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s synonyms: evil, immoral, vicious, unlawful, bad). Ezekiel lived in the first part of the sixth century B.C. (590s B.C.). The statement presented in today’s reading meant an important step forward in underlining the personal responsibility of the individual: “if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.”
Hence, a key question is what is the nature of the action that can eventually be the cause of separation from the Church (the Greek term anathema means “be separated” in certain contexts), which means the brother returns to the state of a Gentile, i.e., a non-believer. In other terms, the sinner has performed an action that cut him off from the vine, making him become a withered branch, no longer enjoying the life of the Spirit. In current theological terminology, we call it “mortal sin.”
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The second reading comes from the letter to the Romans. It seems there was some division in the community between Jewish and Gentile believers. St. Paul wants them to create a harmonious community and gives, in a nutshell, the rule we all should follow: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law… Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”