Homily for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Many years ago (and in fact we might not have been old enough to drive at this

time) someone said to me that he had been on holiday and he was surprised at

how fast the cars were allowed to go on the motorway. The speed limit said

120! But I pointed out that this was in km/h. In mph it was only about 75.

Correcting others – sometimes it’s easy, sometimes we just correct someone

without thinking, and at other times it might be more awkward, and we might

put it off, or wonder how best to go about it. Some people don’t like being

corrected. As they say in Yorkshire, “There’s nowt as queer as folk”. In the

first reading, the prophet Ezekiel is told by the Lord that he has to correct the

people, whether they are likely to respond or not. If he doesn’t, then not only

will the people have to answer for their behaviour, but Ezekiel will also be held

responsible for not trying to educate them and put them straight. You can

understand why he might be tempted to do a calculation instead and not want to

preach a difficult message if he thought the people wouldn’t listen to it

anyway. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah was told “You

will die” when he prophesied destruction and exile (see Jeremiah 26 and

following). In the end, he wasn’t killed, but only put in prison, and then when

the people were taken off into exile, he was taken with them.

So yes, we are also called to correct others and to reconcile with them. In the

New Testament it says that we should never let the sun go down on our anger.

Sometimes in marriage preparation courses, you hear the advice not to go to

sleep on an argument, a really good tip from those who have many years of

married life under their belt. But these things also apply to life in general.

In the second reading, St Paul reminds us that love is behind all the “rules” of

the moral life. When emotions get out of control, when selfishness raises its

ugly head, the “rules”, such as the Ten Commandments, remind us where the

straight and narrow is, and to rein ourselves in, with God’s help. If our more

instinctual part of ourselves is like a dog tugging at the lead, then the one thing

we mustn’t do is let go, otherwise it could get rather messy! “Love does no

wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

But what about when others do cross that boundary? As I mentioned, it can

sometimes be easy to correct others, especially if it’s only a small matter, but

more serious transgressions might be more awkward, especially if the other

person thinks it is justified. (Of course, it might be that the person doesn’t

know there’s anything wrong, or how else to respond in the situation.) There

are times when we have to act straight away, even if it might mean a bit of

public humiliation. Two boys in class are doing something dangerous that

could lead to injury. The teacher has to shout straight away “Stop!” Then he

might take each one outside of the classroom individually to correct them.

That’s a bit different to when I was at school, in a French class, when the

teacher saw a lad walking past outside and quickly opened the door, pulled him

inside, and gave him a good telling off, in front of the whole class, in French!

He was a bit lost for words.

In the Gospel, Our Lord gives us some advice, and a series of stages to go

through when it comes to correcting others. It can be easier to gang up on

someone, and jump a stage or two. But first, He says to have a word privately

with someone. Then, if that doesn’t work, involve one or two others. If that

doesn’t work, then take it to the higher authority. Lastly, if that doesn’t work,

then reject the person, excommunicate him or her, “let him be to you as a

Gentile and a tax collector”. Someone once said to me that he had written a

letter to the then Archbishop, complaining about the Mass times in his parish.

The Archbishop wrote back, saying, in effect, have you spoken to your Parish

Priest about this? His reaction to that was, yes, he’s got a good point there.

So yes, correcting others who are actually doing wrong is something we are

obliged to do. It’s not always easy, and to make it easier on the one we are

correcting, and perhaps increase the chance of success, we should start with a

private word, before we then involve one or two other people, and before we

then decide to take things any higher. And if we are the one being corrected,

then we need next time to keep the dog on the lead, and not let it go running

into the crowd.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk