Homily for Wednesday, 13 August 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 19th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 9:1-7, 10:18-22; Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; Matthew 18:15-20

What does Jesus mean when he says to his disciples in our Gospel reading today: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”? How does Jesus’ saying apply to the situation of having to correct a sister or brother in Christ who has done wrong? Have any of us ever had to stand up to someone who was doing wrong (for those in our Faith Formation Summer Intensive Program here today, what about someone who was bullying another who did not “fit in,” for example?) What if the wrong action creates discord between individuals or within families, or even public scandal? How does the power of binding and loosing that Jesus gives to us apply then?

There is right and wrong, and so we are called to stand up for what is right and against evil and sin. And yet the power of loosing the bonds of sin is balanced with the power of binding; of holding others and ourselves accountable for sin.

And yet this power to bind and to loose is not meant to lead us to a sense of superiority, as though each of us are not ourselves sinners. Binding and loosing; the power to forgive sin and also the responsibility to hold one another accountable for good and evil actions, is meant to be both the exercise of individuals and of the whole Church community. Above all, when we must correct a member of the Church, we are invited to ask ourselves: Am I correcting the other person to stoke my own pride, or to strengthen the Christian community; the Body of Christ; the Church?

How often do we think of the good of the whole Church community when we correct somebody who has committed a sin? And yet this is what Jesus asks of us: If the sinner does not listen to one other person who corrects her or him, then bring witnesses. If the sinner will not listen to witnesses, then bring the case before “the Church.” Only when the sinner will not listen to the Church community might she or he be excluded from it; treated “as… a Gentile or a tax collector,” in Matthew’s words.

To bind and to loose; to forgive sin and to hold one another accountable for sin is not primarily about the sinner or even about the sin, but about the good of relationships; the good of community; the good of the Church. And even if one must, as a last resort, be excluded from this community for sins especially damaging to the community or persistent, serious sin, this exclusion (what we might call “excommunication”) is always meant to be a step toward healing; toward bringing the lost member back into community; back to the Church.

On binding and loosing, St. Augustine once said that, if we need to rebuke a sister or brother in Christ who has sinned, “our rebuke is to be in love, not eager to wound but anxious to amend.” May we let this be our test as to how we respond to sin, sisters and brothers in Christ. “Whatever [we] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever [we] loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” not for our own gain but for the strengthening of the Church; the Body of Christ.