Because of a slight difference in the text, some people see this passage as dealing with the duty of one member of the community to correct another who has done something wrong, others see it as dealing with the problem of making peace between two people, when one has done wrong to the other. It may be that the advice given can apply to both situations. If a situation of this kind has arisen we must do everything we can to make the person who has done wrong see his mistake and put things right, because we cannot allow a situation to continue in which a person is causing scandal in the community by his sin or in which the relationship between two persons has been spoiled. The second big point is that we must seek to correct the wrong situation within the Christian community. The other points are: that it is good to express your feeling about the bad situation and not keep it inside yourself; it is good to talk to the person who is causing the trouble face to face, and that avoids two things that many people do, namely, instead of talking face to face to the person they talk behind the person’s back to everyone else; if you find that two-man talk doesn’t work, call one or two good and wise people to join you in talking to the man, because if the feeling between you and the other man is too big a barrier, they may be able to create a better atmosphere; if this small group fails you can take the problem to the Christian community or its representatives; if that doesn’t work you may feel that you have to regard the man as a hopeless case, in the way that Jews always regarded pagans and tax-collectors;, but even their case is not hopeless, because Jesus was successful with them and maybe no one is really a hopeless case, if we can only find the right way to go about him; the passage seems to imply that where we have problems and disputes amongst Christians, the Christian community should settle it and he should not be taking one another to court. As many Christians seem to like to do. The previous reference to community leads to the last part of today’s reading, which reminds us that, where we have even as small number as two or three Christian brothers or sisters, we have a small Christian community, and where there is Christian community, there also Christ himself is present. The passage reminds us that sin and disputes and divisions are unchrist like and should have no place in a community, large or small, that calls itself Christians. The shame is that our Christian communities are full of these things. Paul says that when people are causing divisions, it is a sign that the spirit is not at work in them (1 Cor 3: 1-9).
Jehoiakim became king in Judah in 609 and became subject to Babylon in 605. Nebuchadnezzar became king in Babylon in 604. Jehoiakim staged a revolt against Babylon and the new king Nebuchadnezzar replied, by sending his Babylonians into Judah. In 598 Jehoiakim succeeded Jejoiakim just at the time when Nebuchadnezzar was laying siege to the city of Jerusalem. After three months Jehoiakim surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar and in 597 the king and his nobles and the skilled craftsmen were taken into exile in Babylon. This is known as the “first deportation.” Ezekiel was among the people taken into exile. About four years later, in 593, God called Ezekiel to be his prophet for his fellow-exiles. His message was that the people of Judah had brought this exile upon themselves because they had been unfaithful to God. Worse things were going to come, because Jerusalem and the Temple, whose priests were living unworthy lives, would be completely destroyed, Judah would cease to exist as a county, because it would be devastated and all the healthy people would be taken, like themselves, as exiles and slaves into Babylon. Jeremiah had already foretold this, as we saw last week, and eventually it happened in the year 587 under the same king, Nebuchadnezzar. Later, Ezekiel’s message was different. He began to console the exiles and to promise them that after doing punishment in Babylon, they would return to Judah and Jerusalem, and the Temple would be re-built. The people would be purified by the sufferings of the exile, and they would be ready to serve God properly with a new heart and a new spirit. Their hard heart of “stone,” which had made them stubborn, would be replaced by a soft heart of “flesh,” which would make them ready to please Ged. In today’s reading we have the warning which God gave to Ezekiel as his prophet, to exercise his responsibility for the conversion of God’s people. As a watchman he must warn the people, as soon as he sees, from his place on the hill-top, the signs that the enemy is coming, so the prophet must make God’s message known to the people as soon as he receives it from God. If the prophet does not warn people to leave their sinful ways, the people will die in their sins, and the prophet will bear the blame. Chapters 33 to 39 deal with the prophecies of the restoration of the people to their country, which actually began in 538. The exile lasted about 60 years, from the time of the “first deportation” until the time of the “return.” “Our crimes and our sins weigh us down, we are rotting away because of them; how can we survive?” The experience of the exile brought them to their senses – for a while!
Paul has been talking in verses 1-7 about the tribute that people had to pay to the colonial power of Rome and the taxes they had to pay to the local authority. He says they should do their best to pay them. In our verse 8 he turns to private debts and in half a sentence he says you should not have any private debts – owes no man anything. Then he goes to say that there is one debt we owe to everyman and that is to love. One writer says it is a debt we must discharge every day and every day we owe it again. Jesus talks about Mark 12: 28-34 when he says that all the commandments can be put into two: love of God and love of our neighbour. He makes clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 29-37 that our neighbour is first anyone we find in need, and second even our enemies, because the Jew, because the Jew, who was beaten and robbed, and the Samaritan, who helped him, were enemies. Again, he tells us in Matthew 5: 43-48 that we have no claim to credit if we love only those who love us and we must also love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. It is when we do that, that we are perfect like our heavenly Father, because he lets his sun shine and his rain fall equally on the good and the bad. St. John talks about it in Romans 12: 9-21 where he says that we must not be overcome by the bad things that people do to us by returning evil for evil, but instead we must overcome the evil that others do to us by the good that we do to them in return. And in Romans chapter 5 he shows how God gave us the example and his Son has given us the example too. In 5:10 “we were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son.” In 5:8, God has shown us how much he loves us, because it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. In 5:6 “when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked.” And Paul speaks of it again in this reading 13: 8-10. There is a love which us based on self-interest, we love someone for what we can gain; there is a love which is based on attraction and natural affection. But there is also a love which goes beyond self-interest and beyond attraction and beyond natural affection and which extends even to those whom we do not naturally like and even to those who do harm to us. If we love, we will do no harm to anyone. If we love, there is no limit to the good we will be ready to do for others. If we love, we will do good to others without expecting anything in return. If we love, we will do good even to those who do harm to us. We must love others, because God loves us and God loves the others. We must love those who are our enemies too, because God also loves those who are our enemies. That’s the kind of love that fulfils all the laws. In fact, that kind of love makes all laws unnecessary.
Kefa W. MHM
What you’ll find here is my personal reflection on Scripture. I don’t claim to have all the answers, only a sincere desire to seek truth. Some of the references used are drawn from past study and experience, and I may no longer be able to recall all their exact sources. Feel free to leave your comments or personal reflections below as we continue to grow deeper together in the Word of God. I’ll see you next Sunday.
