Ezekiel 33:7-9

Sunday, September 10, AD 2023 | Ezekiel 33:7-9 | The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D. |

From: The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D.
The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina

Ezekiel 33:7-9
7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

Psalm 32:1-7

Romans 13:1-10
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; ⁴for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. ⁶For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. ⁷Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Matthew 18:1-20
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ ²He called a child, whom he put among them, ³and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 6 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes! 8 ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire. 10 ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. ¹²What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. 15 ‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. ¹⁶But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. ¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

Homily

            The issue coming at us today, from the Gospel reading  and especially from the OT reading, is addressing – and perhaps, hopefully, correcting – sin … which is not an easy topic. For how many of us enjoy having pointed out to us that, what has become, perhaps, a way of life for us, or something we really want to do, is sin?

            How many of us like having pointed out to us that what we’re doing, or what we really want to do, is wrong?

            From today’s Old Testament reading: The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel: “I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel … to give them warning from me. If you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity.”

            So! … How well do you think it would go over to try to tell an alcoholic parent – even though it is the truth:  “You’re scaring the life out of your children by your alcoholic anger and rampages”? How easily, how happily, do we think that he would receive that message?

            Or to a self-medicating, drug-using mother, how well would it go over to say – even if it is the truth – “You are ruining, maybe even abusing, your children by the way you’re self-centeredly living your life and neglecting them. And that’s not to mention what such a life is doing to you.”

            Or, to a husband and father, leaving his family to be with a mistress: “You are likely causing, whether you realize it or not, unimagined, immeasurable harm to your children for whom you have a God-given responsibility, by abandoning them and their mother and traipsing off with another woman.”

            In these instances, just to cite a few, how well would such admonitions, “calls to repentance,” go over?

            Based on my pastoral experience, and based on our collective knowledge and experience of human nature, we know, rather well, that such warnings, admonitions, corrections, i.e., calls to repentance, usually don’t get the desired result.

            And, thank heavens — even though the Ezekiel text could, possibly, provide justification for all kinds of finger-pointing, accusing, and denouncements of other people — we don’t do it. Accusations and finger-pointing are dangerous to those who do it: Once there was an occasion when a group of scribes and Pharisees tried to challenge Jesus, accusing and denouncing a woman who had been caught in adultery. Accurately citing the Law, they asked whether she should receive the proper legal consequences, stoning. To which he replied (as we all know the story), “Let the one without sin casts the first stone.”

            Now … Did Jesus dismiss the Law itself? No.  Did he dismiss holding up, remembering, and the keeping of the Law? No. Did he fault or condemn for their act of remembering and holding to the Law those individuals (the scribes and Pharisees) who had remembered and held to the Law? No.

            What he did do was to establish a perspective, a foundation (a basis) from which to look at the Law – and sin – and bring sin (and the way we live) to people’s attention, and a way actually to encounter people with accountability. St. Paul cites it, and comments upon it, in today’s second reading, from the letter to the Romans.

            “The Commandments … are summed up,” writes St. Paul, in this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.” That means: when we truly love our neighbor – and our spouse, and our children – which includes “honoring our commitments to them,” then we will have fulfilled the Law. Also, this foundation from which to look at all things, Love, means that, when we set out to admonish someone else, the way (the method) given to us for doing it, is that we exemplify love in our lives in such a way, and so thoroughly, that our lives show others how to live. Now THAT is a tall order! And it is much – so much — harder than pointing the finger and hurling accusations!

So how, from where, do we possibly get the ability, the strength, to „live Love” in such a way that our lives become an example and mirror to others  to show them their own sin, and then, show them how to live? Again, from today’s reading, we have the answer from St. Paul:

            “Put on,” he writes, “the Lord Jesus Christ;” “put on Jesus Christ…” and that, we have done, brothers and sisters – or: it’s been done for us – when we were baptized.

Metaphorically, the baptismal water running upon us was a “putting on” of Christ. Sometimes, in our baptismal liturgies, dating back to the earliest days of the Church, “putting on” Christ is symbolized by placing upon the newly baptized a white garment.

            Yet we actually “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” we receive Christ in our baptism, thus receiving his Spirit, his strength, his power within us, giving us the foundation actually to live “Love.” In baptism, we are “shaped” (conformed) to the image of Christ.

            Yet, surrounded by the sin, death, sadness, waywardness, and self-will of the world around us, how are we to remain strong “in Christ,” such that the strengthening baptismal water of Christ does not dry up and go away?

            Ah!… Christ provides for our refreshment! He knows that we are surrounded, hounded, and wearied by sin, within us and around us, distracting us from living up to our commitments, and living our lives in such a way to be a loving example to others.

            And so, he continually offers us the refreshment of Love. There would be, there is, no better way to be strengthened for Love than to have Love dwell within us … if we could, perhaps, even eat it – and thus have dwelling within ourselves Love.

            And this is what we have, when we eat and drink the presence, the Body and Blood of Christ. Love then dwells within us, so that we can be, with our lives, an example of Love to the world.

            Amen Come, Lord Jesus.