Bài
Giảng Chúa Nhật thứ 23 Thường Niên – Năm A
Những lời lẽ không khoan nhượng về tội lỗi được rút ra từ cả Cựu Ước và Tân Ước được đem vào trong các bài đọc trong Thánh lễ Chúa nhật này. Trong khi tất cả các phong trào tôn giáo trong lịch sử đều đi kèm với những giáo huấn về tội lỗi và sự tha thứ, thì Do Thái giáo, và tất cả các Giáo hội Kitô giáo sau này bắt nguồn từ Giáo hội Công giáo đã nâng cao loại giáo huấn đạo đức này bằng cách liên hệ nó với mối quan hệ cá nhân mà mỗi người và toàn thể cộng đồng tín hữu có với Thiên Chúa.
Vì vậy, trong bài đọc thứ nhất, chúng ta thấy tiên tri Ezekiel được nhắc nhở về những bổn phận trọng đại của mình với tư cách là một tiên tri, và được cho biết rằng ông sẽ phải chịu trách nhiệm cho những người mà ông đã không cố gắng khuyên răn họ từ bỏ tội lỗi. Trong thư gởi cho các tin hữu thành Roma Thánh Phaolô đã nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng chúng ta phải cẩn thận tránh xa lỗi và tuân giữ các điều răn, lời khuyên răn đã được tóm tắt trong câu nói: “Ngươi phải yêu người chung quanh như chính mình”. Ngay cả tác giả Thánh vịnh cũng đã cùng chung trong điệp khúc, trung thành thuật lại lời cảnh báo của Chúa: “Đừng cứng lòng như tại Meribah, như trong ngày ở sa mạc Massah. Tại đó, tổ tiên các ngươi đã thử thách Ta; họ đã thử thách Ta cho dù họ đã thấy các việc làm của Ta”.
Đây là một lời kêu gọi cao cả, và cũng là điều mà mỗi môn đệ chúng ta khi đã chịu phép rửa tội của Chúa Giêsu đều phải đón nhận. Nếu điều đó vẫn chưa đủ thách thức, tiếp theo chúng ta hãy xem xét những gì Chúa nói về những người không “nghe Giáo Hội”: Ngài nói với chúng ta: “…hãy đối xử với người ấy như người ngoại đạo hoặc người thu thuế”. Trong các Tin mừng, Chúa Giêsu có nói gay gắt về người ngoại đạo (10:5), nhưng Ngài cũng chữa lành con trai của viên đội trưởng ngoại đạo (8:5-13) và con gái của người phụ nữ Canaan (15:21-28). Hơn nữa, Chúa Giêsu bảo các môn đệ của Ngài “hãy làm môn đệ cho muôn dân…” (28:19), đương nhiên bao gồm cả dân ngoại.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew
18: 15-20
Uncompromising words about sin drawn from both the Old and New Testaments weave together the readings for mass this Sunday. While all religious movements through history have been accompanied by moral teachings concerning sin and forgiveness, Judaism, Christianity which emerged from it, and all of the Christian churches which then stemmed from the Catholic Church elevated this sort of moral instruction by relating it to the personal rapport that each person individually and the entire believing community collectively have with God.
Sin is more than a violation of a rule then, it is an act which wounds the unity and charity that should exist between all people, and between all people and God. It is especially tragic when sin marks the relationship between those who believe in Christ.
To this end, in the first reading we see Ezekiel the prophet being admonished as to his solemn duties as a prophet, and being told that he will be held responsible for those whom he does not try to dissuade from their sins. In the epistle Paul in turn reminds us that Christians must be careful to avoid sin and to observe the commandments, which are summed up in the saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Even the Psalmist joins in the chorus, faithfully reporting the warning of the Lord: “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert. There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works”.
In the Gospel St. Matthew takes what we have heard in the earlier readings a step further: he describes our Lord’s preaching on the subject of sins committed by fellow Christians and the efforts toward their conversion which every believer is required to make. A desire for reconciliation within the community is expressed by Christ which makes it clear that the whole Church bears responsibility in this respect: “If he refuses to listen to [two or three witnesses], tell the Church”. This is a lofty calling, but one which must be taken up by every baptized disciple of Jesus.
If that is not challenging enough, next we consider what the Lord says about those who do not “listen to the Church”: he tells us: “…treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector”. Now in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus does speak sharply of the Gentiles (10:5), yet he also heals the son of the pagan centurion (8:5-13) and the daughter of the Canaanite woman (15:21-28). Further, Jesus tells his disciples to “make disciples of all the nations…” (28:19), naturally including the Gentiles.
This appears to teach us that if we are to be faithful to the example of the Lord then we must extend opportunities for reconciliation and forgiveness even to those who at first rebuff our efforts at healing. If we do so consistently—and out of love for Christ who forgave even his persecutors—then we can be sure that with the Lord’s blessing our efforts will eventually succeed, and will contribute to the growth in unity and charity of the living Body of Christ which is the Church.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 2026
Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” Matthew 18:15
When someone sins against us, especially in a grievous way, anger and condemnation can quickly arise as strong temptations. Our natural sense of justice often takes over, and we may find ourselves rationalizing a response rooted in judgment rather than compassion. In today’s Gospel, however, Jesus offers the much better path—to seek reconciliation, not division. The ultimate goal is to win the sinner back to God and restore the bond of communion.
Sin touches every human relationship, with the sole exception of the one shared between Jesus and His Blessed Mother. Their mutual and perfect charity rendered sin and division entirely absent from their union. What a sublime and singular gift they shared!
But we are not perfect. Even the most loving and holy relationships are affected by human weakness, and sin inevitably creeps in. We sin against others, and others sin against us. Sometimes the sin is deliberate and deeply wounding. Other times, it stems from weakness or the absence of fully formed virtue. Regardless of its source, every sin inflicts harm and weakens the communion we are called to share and deeply desire.
In today’s Gospel, while Jesus appears to be addressing serious sin that severs a person from sanctifying grace—mortal sin—the same principles apply to all offenses, even venial sins and spiritual imperfections. The Christian response to sin must always be grounded in mercy. Whether we are correcting or being corrected, the goal must always be to heal, to restore, and to deepen our unity in Christ.
To begin applying these spiritual principles, call to mind those toward whom you may harbor resentment. Start with your family, since familial bonds—due to their natural closeness—are especially vulnerable to sin. Resentment born of sin is often present in close relationships. While some wounds may have caused deep fractures, even the most loving bonds can suffer subtle injuries. Prayerfully examine these relationships in your life.
If the wounds are deep and hostilities strong, the path forward is usually clear: Seek to win over your brother, sister, parent, or spouse. And if you are the one who has caused the wound, then humbly acknowledge your sin without excuses. That is always the better path. Always.
To aid this process, it is helpful to recognize a hidden dynamic: Holding onto resentment or anger can bring a certain emotional satisfaction. Though it may seem surprising, this is often the case. Anger energizes the emotions and creates a charged feeling that, while disordered, can feel gratifying—like a drug that fuels addiction. The first step is to recognize this disordered emotional pattern for what it is. The next step is to realize that a healed and reconciled relationship offers a deeper and more lasting fulfillment that is far superior to the fleeting satisfaction of resentment or hostility. Winning over another—or being won over by one we have wronged—is profoundly rewarding. It transcends emotion and enters the realm of grace, producing true peace and spiritual joy.
Reflect today on the first step of reconciliation outlined by Jesus in the Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Take sin seriously. Acknowledge its presence in your relationships, especially the close ones. See yourself both as one who is sinned against and as one who sins. Identify the offenses that diminish love. Confront those sins with courage and humility. Reject the false comfort of resentment, and seek instead the true consolation that comes from unity and charity. This is the path that leads to a share in the holy love between Jesus and His Blessed Mother—a love they desire us to know and live. Lord of perfect mercy, Your Sacred Heart burns with a deep desire to win us back to Yourself—fully reconciled and united in love. I repent of my sins before You, and I pray that Your love, living within me, may become a wellspring of mercy for others. I forgive all who have sinned against me, and I repent of the sins I have inflicted upon others. Restore every relationship in my life, Lord, and endow them with the same pure and holy love You shared with Your Blessed Mother. Jesus, I trust in You.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 2026
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have entrusted your people with the responsibility of caring for one another. Give me the humility to receive correction, the courage to offer it when necessary, and the charity to seek the salvation of others rather than their condemnation. Pour your love into my heart through the Holy Spirit, so that everything I do may build up the unity of your Church and draw others closer to Christ.
1. Reconciliation in the Church: Jesus teaches his disciples that following the Good Shepherd means seeking not only the lost but also the reconciliation of those who have fallen into sin. Fraternal correction must therefore begin with humility, prudence, and genuine charity, seeking restoration rather than condemnation. When private correction fails, the matter is brought before witnesses and ultimately the Church, whose authority to “bind and loose” continues Christ’s work of forgiving sins and restoring communion. Even this process is ordered toward salvation, not rejection. Jesus then connects this ministry of reconciliation with the promise that “where two or three are gathered together in my name,” he is present among them. A Christian community that corrects with charity, forgives, seeks unity, and prays together becomes a living sign of Christ’s presence and of the communion he came to establish.
23rd Sunday in Ỏdinary Time
Year A
It may be a very short Gospel this Sunday but it contains three distinct sections that appear to be quite unrelated. If we find ourselves a bit puzzled as to why these three disparate segments of Christ’s teaching were put together then we first ought to spend a little time considering just how the Gospels were composed.
We have to understand that the Gospels were written some years after the events that they describe. If you look up Wikipedia you will see that many scholars reckon that Matthew’s Gospel was not written earlier than 80 AD which would make it almost fifty years after the death of Christ. The earliest they think is Mark which is dated about 68 AD.
However, none of the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles (which is essentially the second part of Luke’s Gospel) mentions the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and since this was something prophesied by Jesus you would think that the fulfilment of his prophecy might have been mentioned. So some of the more traditional theologians argue for an earlier date and tend to think that this proves that all the Gospels must have been written before 70 AD. Whenever they were written we realize that it likely to have been at least twenty or possibly thirty or more years after the death of Christ. The Gospel writers must, however, have used as their source material many of the stories told about Jesus either in written form or orally given by the original witnesses.
We surmise that these separate stories of particular incidents in the life of Christ were certainly circulating within the Christian community in those early years. Most of these accounts would have been factually based but some might have been a bit more fanciful and it was the Evangelist’s job to sort out the true from the false and to put this vast amount of material together in a coherent and credible way.
That’s why we end up with sections of the Gospel such as the one given today which have three separate pieces of Christ’s teaching put together as if they were spoken on the same day at the same time. But just looking at the text we can see that they are completely unrelated to each other are so were unlikely to have been originally one unit. This should not undermine our faith in the integrity of the Gospels but rather give us an insight into how they were actually composed. We can regard the Evangelists as being under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as they went about the process of editing the various stories and accounts of the life of Jesus that were handed down to them. It is the judgement of the early Christian community that those Gospels produced by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the most authentic and that those put together by other authors are not to be relied upon.
It is time to take a look at the text. The first few sentences provide a way of settling problems within the Christian community. Basically, they provide a template of how to deal with the situation if a member of the Church is found to be doing something contrary to the Gospel.
This is a problem which must have come up fairly frequently among the members of the early Church and here the words of Jesus provide a procedure to use in such a situation. What he tells us to do is fairly obvious and follows what we might call the rules of natural justice. Nevertheless, the fact that these words are spoken by Jesus gives the members of the Church reassurance on how to proceed.
In verse eighteen we are given the text about binding and loosing. It is curious because we note that Jesus already spoke those words in chapter sixteen when he told Peter that he would give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps they are repeated because earlier they were addressed only to Peter while here they seem to be addressed to the whole group of disciples. We know that these words are the origin of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and so it is important that they are repeated and said to all the disciples. It is crucial that there should be no ambiguity and that this ministry of reconciliation is not restricted to Peter but involves all of the disciples. The last couple of sentences are also quite interesting. They speak about where two or three gathered in the name of Jesus having their prayers granted. It reminds us of the earlier phrase in chapter seven: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’
Jesus certainly encourages us to ask the Father for the things we need and promises that what we ask for will be granted. You might think that this is very rash of him, promising unequivocally that our requests will be granted. And you might also wonder if Jesus’ promise can be relied upon because perhaps you remember some things that you asked for that were not granted. This is a tricky issue. Some people might say that you ought only to ask for proper things; that would rule out praying for a pay rise or praying for something that might be immoral or to other people’s disadvantage. But Jesus makes no such qualification. However, we do know that prayer changes us. We know that we might start by praying for one particular thing but end up asking for another.
A priest once told me that when he was a teenager, he prayed very hard for a motorcycle but never got one. Years later, after he was ordained, he was sent as a missionary to Africa. When he got there the Bishop said that he had no money to provide him with a Land Rover but instead was able to give him a motorcycle. Fifteen years after the event his prayers were answered but certainly not in the way he expected!
I think that we ought to look at intercessory prayer in the same way as that priest learned to do. We ought to see the whole picture and not think in the short term. We might, for example, pray very hard for healing for a particular person, not realizing that because of that illness a whole family had started to pull together and were acting as a family unit for the first time. The healing came not to the individual but to them all as a family.
Not only that, but the sick person might have found great meaning and purpose in their life as a result of the suffering they had to undergo. Even if it brought about their early death their illness may have been the very thing that brought them to experience salvation. And what deeper healing could there be than that. These things are a great mystery. But Christ is clear, ask and it will be given to you. And the text today stresses that praying with others is more powerful than praying alone. We would do well to remember this. Jesus concludes by reminding us that whenever we gather in his name he is with us. What greater consolation could we have that this? What greater comfort could we have than knowing that he is here with us right now?
Những lời lẽ không khoan nhượng về tội lỗi được rút ra từ cả Cựu Ước và Tân Ước được đem vào trong các bài đọc trong Thánh lễ Chúa nhật này. Trong khi tất cả các phong trào tôn giáo trong lịch sử đều đi kèm với những giáo huấn về tội lỗi và sự tha thứ, thì Do Thái giáo, và tất cả các Giáo hội Kitô giáo sau này bắt nguồn từ Giáo hội Công giáo đã nâng cao loại giáo huấn đạo đức này bằng cách liên hệ nó với mối quan hệ cá nhân mà mỗi người và toàn thể cộng đồng tín hữu có với Thiên Chúa.
Vì vậy, trong bài đọc thứ nhất, chúng ta thấy tiên tri Ezekiel được nhắc nhở về những bổn phận trọng đại của mình với tư cách là một tiên tri, và được cho biết rằng ông sẽ phải chịu trách nhiệm cho những người mà ông đã không cố gắng khuyên răn họ từ bỏ tội lỗi. Trong thư gởi cho các tin hữu thành Roma Thánh Phaolô đã nhắc nhở chúng ta rằng chúng ta phải cẩn thận tránh xa lỗi và tuân giữ các điều răn, lời khuyên răn đã được tóm tắt trong câu nói: “Ngươi phải yêu người chung quanh như chính mình”. Ngay cả tác giả Thánh vịnh cũng đã cùng chung trong điệp khúc, trung thành thuật lại lời cảnh báo của Chúa: “Đừng cứng lòng như tại Meribah, như trong ngày ở sa mạc Massah. Tại đó, tổ tiên các ngươi đã thử thách Ta; họ đã thử thách Ta cho dù họ đã thấy các việc làm của Ta”.
Đây là một lời kêu gọi cao cả, và cũng là điều mà mỗi môn đệ chúng ta khi đã chịu phép rửa tội của Chúa Giêsu đều phải đón nhận. Nếu điều đó vẫn chưa đủ thách thức, tiếp theo chúng ta hãy xem xét những gì Chúa nói về những người không “nghe Giáo Hội”: Ngài nói với chúng ta: “…hãy đối xử với người ấy như người ngoại đạo hoặc người thu thuế”. Trong các Tin mừng, Chúa Giêsu có nói gay gắt về người ngoại đạo (10:5), nhưng Ngài cũng chữa lành con trai của viên đội trưởng ngoại đạo (8:5-13) và con gái của người phụ nữ Canaan (15:21-28). Hơn nữa, Chúa Giêsu bảo các môn đệ của Ngài “hãy làm môn đệ cho muôn dân…” (28:19), đương nhiên bao gồm cả dân ngoại.
Uncompromising words about sin drawn from both the Old and New Testaments weave together the readings for mass this Sunday. While all religious movements through history have been accompanied by moral teachings concerning sin and forgiveness, Judaism, Christianity which emerged from it, and all of the Christian churches which then stemmed from the Catholic Church elevated this sort of moral instruction by relating it to the personal rapport that each person individually and the entire believing community collectively have with God.
Sin is more than a violation of a rule then, it is an act which wounds the unity and charity that should exist between all people, and between all people and God. It is especially tragic when sin marks the relationship between those who believe in Christ.
To this end, in the first reading we see Ezekiel the prophet being admonished as to his solemn duties as a prophet, and being told that he will be held responsible for those whom he does not try to dissuade from their sins. In the epistle Paul in turn reminds us that Christians must be careful to avoid sin and to observe the commandments, which are summed up in the saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Even the Psalmist joins in the chorus, faithfully reporting the warning of the Lord: “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert. There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works”.
In the Gospel St. Matthew takes what we have heard in the earlier readings a step further: he describes our Lord’s preaching on the subject of sins committed by fellow Christians and the efforts toward their conversion which every believer is required to make. A desire for reconciliation within the community is expressed by Christ which makes it clear that the whole Church bears responsibility in this respect: “If he refuses to listen to [two or three witnesses], tell the Church”. This is a lofty calling, but one which must be taken up by every baptized disciple of Jesus.
If that is not challenging enough, next we consider what the Lord says about those who do not “listen to the Church”: he tells us: “…treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector”. Now in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus does speak sharply of the Gentiles (10:5), yet he also heals the son of the pagan centurion (8:5-13) and the daughter of the Canaanite woman (15:21-28). Further, Jesus tells his disciples to “make disciples of all the nations…” (28:19), naturally including the Gentiles.
This appears to teach us that if we are to be faithful to the example of the Lord then we must extend opportunities for reconciliation and forgiveness even to those who at first rebuff our efforts at healing. If we do so consistently—and out of love for Christ who forgave even his persecutors—then we can be sure that with the Lord’s blessing our efforts will eventually succeed, and will contribute to the growth in unity and charity of the living Body of Christ which is the Church.
Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” Matthew 18:15
When someone sins against us, especially in a grievous way, anger and condemnation can quickly arise as strong temptations. Our natural sense of justice often takes over, and we may find ourselves rationalizing a response rooted in judgment rather than compassion. In today’s Gospel, however, Jesus offers the much better path—to seek reconciliation, not division. The ultimate goal is to win the sinner back to God and restore the bond of communion.
Sin touches every human relationship, with the sole exception of the one shared between Jesus and His Blessed Mother. Their mutual and perfect charity rendered sin and division entirely absent from their union. What a sublime and singular gift they shared!
But we are not perfect. Even the most loving and holy relationships are affected by human weakness, and sin inevitably creeps in. We sin against others, and others sin against us. Sometimes the sin is deliberate and deeply wounding. Other times, it stems from weakness or the absence of fully formed virtue. Regardless of its source, every sin inflicts harm and weakens the communion we are called to share and deeply desire.
In today’s Gospel, while Jesus appears to be addressing serious sin that severs a person from sanctifying grace—mortal sin—the same principles apply to all offenses, even venial sins and spiritual imperfections. The Christian response to sin must always be grounded in mercy. Whether we are correcting or being corrected, the goal must always be to heal, to restore, and to deepen our unity in Christ.
To begin applying these spiritual principles, call to mind those toward whom you may harbor resentment. Start with your family, since familial bonds—due to their natural closeness—are especially vulnerable to sin. Resentment born of sin is often present in close relationships. While some wounds may have caused deep fractures, even the most loving bonds can suffer subtle injuries. Prayerfully examine these relationships in your life.
If the wounds are deep and hostilities strong, the path forward is usually clear: Seek to win over your brother, sister, parent, or spouse. And if you are the one who has caused the wound, then humbly acknowledge your sin without excuses. That is always the better path. Always.
To aid this process, it is helpful to recognize a hidden dynamic: Holding onto resentment or anger can bring a certain emotional satisfaction. Though it may seem surprising, this is often the case. Anger energizes the emotions and creates a charged feeling that, while disordered, can feel gratifying—like a drug that fuels addiction. The first step is to recognize this disordered emotional pattern for what it is. The next step is to realize that a healed and reconciled relationship offers a deeper and more lasting fulfillment that is far superior to the fleeting satisfaction of resentment or hostility. Winning over another—or being won over by one we have wronged—is profoundly rewarding. It transcends emotion and enters the realm of grace, producing true peace and spiritual joy.
Reflect today on the first step of reconciliation outlined by Jesus in the Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Take sin seriously. Acknowledge its presence in your relationships, especially the close ones. See yourself both as one who is sinned against and as one who sins. Identify the offenses that diminish love. Confront those sins with courage and humility. Reject the false comfort of resentment, and seek instead the true consolation that comes from unity and charity. This is the path that leads to a share in the holy love between Jesus and His Blessed Mother—a love they desire us to know and live. Lord of perfect mercy, Your Sacred Heart burns with a deep desire to win us back to Yourself—fully reconciled and united in love. I repent of my sins before You, and I pray that Your love, living within me, may become a wellspring of mercy for others. I forgive all who have sinned against me, and I repent of the sins I have inflicted upon others. Restore every relationship in my life, Lord, and endow them with the same pure and holy love You shared with Your Blessed Mother. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have entrusted your people with the responsibility of caring for one another. Give me the humility to receive correction, the courage to offer it when necessary, and the charity to seek the salvation of others rather than their condemnation. Pour your love into my heart through the Holy Spirit, so that everything I do may build up the unity of your Church and draw others closer to Christ.
1. Reconciliation in the Church: Jesus teaches his disciples that following the Good Shepherd means seeking not only the lost but also the reconciliation of those who have fallen into sin. Fraternal correction must therefore begin with humility, prudence, and genuine charity, seeking restoration rather than condemnation. When private correction fails, the matter is brought before witnesses and ultimately the Church, whose authority to “bind and loose” continues Christ’s work of forgiving sins and restoring communion. Even this process is ordered toward salvation, not rejection. Jesus then connects this ministry of reconciliation with the promise that “where two or three are gathered together in my name,” he is present among them. A Christian community that corrects with charity, forgives, seeks unity, and prays together becomes a living sign of Christ’s presence and of the communion he came to establish.
It may be a very short Gospel this Sunday but it contains three distinct sections that appear to be quite unrelated. If we find ourselves a bit puzzled as to why these three disparate segments of Christ’s teaching were put together then we first ought to spend a little time considering just how the Gospels were composed.
We have to understand that the Gospels were written some years after the events that they describe. If you look up Wikipedia you will see that many scholars reckon that Matthew’s Gospel was not written earlier than 80 AD which would make it almost fifty years after the death of Christ. The earliest they think is Mark which is dated about 68 AD.
However, none of the Gospels or the Acts of the Apostles (which is essentially the second part of Luke’s Gospel) mentions the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and since this was something prophesied by Jesus you would think that the fulfilment of his prophecy might have been mentioned. So some of the more traditional theologians argue for an earlier date and tend to think that this proves that all the Gospels must have been written before 70 AD. Whenever they were written we realize that it likely to have been at least twenty or possibly thirty or more years after the death of Christ. The Gospel writers must, however, have used as their source material many of the stories told about Jesus either in written form or orally given by the original witnesses.
We surmise that these separate stories of particular incidents in the life of Christ were certainly circulating within the Christian community in those early years. Most of these accounts would have been factually based but some might have been a bit more fanciful and it was the Evangelist’s job to sort out the true from the false and to put this vast amount of material together in a coherent and credible way.
That’s why we end up with sections of the Gospel such as the one given today which have three separate pieces of Christ’s teaching put together as if they were spoken on the same day at the same time. But just looking at the text we can see that they are completely unrelated to each other are so were unlikely to have been originally one unit. This should not undermine our faith in the integrity of the Gospels but rather give us an insight into how they were actually composed. We can regard the Evangelists as being under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as they went about the process of editing the various stories and accounts of the life of Jesus that were handed down to them. It is the judgement of the early Christian community that those Gospels produced by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the most authentic and that those put together by other authors are not to be relied upon.
It is time to take a look at the text. The first few sentences provide a way of settling problems within the Christian community. Basically, they provide a template of how to deal with the situation if a member of the Church is found to be doing something contrary to the Gospel.
This is a problem which must have come up fairly frequently among the members of the early Church and here the words of Jesus provide a procedure to use in such a situation. What he tells us to do is fairly obvious and follows what we might call the rules of natural justice. Nevertheless, the fact that these words are spoken by Jesus gives the members of the Church reassurance on how to proceed.
In verse eighteen we are given the text about binding and loosing. It is curious because we note that Jesus already spoke those words in chapter sixteen when he told Peter that he would give him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps they are repeated because earlier they were addressed only to Peter while here they seem to be addressed to the whole group of disciples. We know that these words are the origin of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and so it is important that they are repeated and said to all the disciples. It is crucial that there should be no ambiguity and that this ministry of reconciliation is not restricted to Peter but involves all of the disciples. The last couple of sentences are also quite interesting. They speak about where two or three gathered in the name of Jesus having their prayers granted. It reminds us of the earlier phrase in chapter seven: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’
Jesus certainly encourages us to ask the Father for the things we need and promises that what we ask for will be granted. You might think that this is very rash of him, promising unequivocally that our requests will be granted. And you might also wonder if Jesus’ promise can be relied upon because perhaps you remember some things that you asked for that were not granted. This is a tricky issue. Some people might say that you ought only to ask for proper things; that would rule out praying for a pay rise or praying for something that might be immoral or to other people’s disadvantage. But Jesus makes no such qualification. However, we do know that prayer changes us. We know that we might start by praying for one particular thing but end up asking for another.
A priest once told me that when he was a teenager, he prayed very hard for a motorcycle but never got one. Years later, after he was ordained, he was sent as a missionary to Africa. When he got there the Bishop said that he had no money to provide him with a Land Rover but instead was able to give him a motorcycle. Fifteen years after the event his prayers were answered but certainly not in the way he expected!
I think that we ought to look at intercessory prayer in the same way as that priest learned to do. We ought to see the whole picture and not think in the short term. We might, for example, pray very hard for healing for a particular person, not realizing that because of that illness a whole family had started to pull together and were acting as a family unit for the first time. The healing came not to the individual but to them all as a family.
Not only that, but the sick person might have found great meaning and purpose in their life as a result of the suffering they had to undergo. Even if it brought about their early death their illness may have been the very thing that brought them to experience salvation. And what deeper healing could there be than that. These things are a great mystery. But Christ is clear, ask and it will be given to you. And the text today stresses that praying with others is more powerful than praying alone. We would do well to remember this. Jesus concludes by reminding us that whenever we gather in his name he is with us. What greater consolation could we have that this? What greater comfort could we have than knowing that he is here with us right now?
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