We need one another
Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
What an indictment from our first reading: “[if] you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death” (Ezekiel 33:6).
There was a story told of a group of people on a voyage to heaven. They set sail in a gigantic ship to cross the oceans to meet God. Few meters away from shore, with their gaze already seeing heaven, suddenly, they were shipwrecked. Those who could swim began to swim to the safety of heaven. There was an Olympic swimmer among those shipwrecked. He swam quickly to heaven. On arrival on the shores of heaven, God was there to welcome him to heaven. God asked him, “were you alone?” He said “no, there were many of us but we were shipwrecked, so I swam to safety”. God said to him, “no one enters heaven alone, go back and save at least one person from drowning and bring the person here with you”.
From the lesson of this story, individualism is not Christian, and it is a sure recipe for going to hell-of-fire. The liturgical lesson of today was captured succinctly in these words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I cannot be who I ought to be, if you are not, who you ought to be.” In other words, salvation is a collective enterprise. We need one another. Even though Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement was made in the context of racism or civil rights movement, where he was soliciting for mutual love as the way forward in the face of racism, his intuitions are applicable in many other contexts. For example, the endemic corruption in Nigeria defies one-man-solution, all hands must be on deck to reduce significantly the plague of corruption in Nigeria. Of course, we had individuals like Tunde Idiagbon, Gani Fawehinmi, Tai Solarin, and a host of other individuals who want Nigeria to be a great country, free of corruption and ready to lead the African continent out of her self-inflicted mess, but experience has shown that those working in favor of corruption and developing underdevelopment in Nigeria are more in number and more powerful too!
The first perspective on why we need one another for salvation, which Ezekiel proposes in the first reading, is the fact that we have one God and one humanity – God wants us all to be saved and freed of sin. This is the point underscored by the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading of today. The fact that God will require the blood of every sinner from my hands and your hands changes the dynamics of salvation. Salvation is not a personal affair in toto, it is more of a collective responsibility. God demanded the blood of Abel from Cain, today he asks the blood of so many people wallowing in sin from you and from me: what are we doing against sin, how do we encourage virtue and holiness? Your inaction and my silence only make us worse than the perpetrators of all kinds of sins. When I correct a sinner, I am only creating an enabling space and environment for my salvation and those of others. I make everybody’s salvation near impossible when I involve myself in sin and wrongdoing.
Indeed, the angle of fraternal correction too works, as a way of seeing the first reading of today, and, perhaps, the gospel as well: “[if] you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death” (Ezekiel 33:6). However, why must I be responsible for my brother’s sin? The question of Cain comes in handy: “who made me my brother’s keeper?” Well, by sharing the same nature and having the same God, we have responsibilities and duties towards one another. It is true that Ezekiel says to us today, “[if] he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself” (Ezekiel 33:9). However, let us look at it this way: whom did God create for hell-of-fire? No one! If we understand our responsibility for everyone’s salvation, including ours, in the light of Paul’s statement, “Indeed, preaching the gospel is no reason for me to boast; it is an obligation that has been imposed upon me. And woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16); then, what counts is our success and not our efforts alone. A good teacher is one who helps his students to be successful in life, who measures his success from the perspective of the successes of his students, and not from the size of his salary, and the promptness with which he receives his remuneration.
Jesus, who came to die for the sins of others, not his, teaches us the length to go to fight for the salvation of everyone. Jesus never gave up on humanity. Instead, he died for the salvation of humanity; he lived his life and died his death for others! In the example of today’s gospel, the first duty toward a fellow sinner is to confront the sinner, one-on-one, no gossip, no slander, no libel; second, if no success, get the Christian community involved; third, mete our punishment or sanction – “treat him as a gentile.” These steps sound very African to me, traditional Africa, I mean, where every child belongs to the community, when no one is asked his name, rather, “whose child are you?” was the usual question. Africa is a context in which pedigree counts and is important – “beauty is how beauty behaves,” not just what the eyes see.
Jesus’ perspective, in today’s gospel, is not different from that of Ezekiel – we have the same God, we have the same nature, so we are brothers and sisters. Hear what the gospel says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:30). Why will God be in the midst of at least two persons and not one person alone? The answer is simple, because “male and female, he created them.” God created a collective, a community and not individuals! The community he created is the community he came to save and wants to save. Since he died for the salvation of all, he expects us, Christians, to give up our lives for the salvation of humanity.
No one can remain sinless or keep God’s commandments or die for another without love. The summary of having one God and one humanity is the law of love. Paul makes this clear in our second reading – “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). You know what, it is not the fact that you tell someone their sins that converts them, it is the love that you show them, despite their sins, that touches them towards repentance. Love is the power of conversion; no amount of fear, and force and coercion can bring about conversion, but the Spirit of God made manifest through the power of love is all that is needed.
It is only when the other becomes a neighbor that love has the opportunity to penetrate the heart of a sinner – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. It is the love that you wish for yourself, the salvation you want for yourself, all the goodies you want for yourself that you must extend to others, before God’s love and the love of neighbor can be in your heart. On this point, hear Paul one more time, “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law” (Roman 13:10). To think of and work for the good of the other is a clear sign that you live in love and work in love for the salvation of all. Do not travel through life alone, travel with others towards salvation. Do not work for your salvation alone, work for the salvation of everybody. Not I alone, but We, all of Us: Salvation for All!
Assignment for the Week:
Choose somebody to pray for all week long!