Righting the wrongs
The Gospel reading last
Sunday touched on something very relevant to us today. Jesus said, 'If your brother does something wrong, go
and have it out with him alone, between your two selves.” Jesus tells us not
to remain silent when others do wrong but to correct their wrongs. He continued
to tell the people to persist in trying to change someone who is doing wrong
doesn’t matter if he changes or not.
This we all know is easily said but the most difficult
to do. Pointing out the wrongs others do, even those closest to us, is the most
difficult thing to do. Doing so will put us with odds with them and create
difficulties for us.
In our country sedition laws are freely used to
silence the people who voice out the wrongs of those in power. They can be
severely punished and their lives ruined for doing so. In our places of work
those who point out the wrongs of those in positions of power will be punished
by demotions or other forms of discrimination. Even in our church those voicing
out the wrongs of the clergy and his close advisors are punished with denial of
sacraments and other rituals.
Standing up for the right in an environment of bad today
is not easy but Jesus says that is what we must do. If we really follow Jesus
we will be ignored, marginalised, bad-mothed and denied our dues. We may end up
isolated, lonely, sad and poor.
When we look around we see wrong and evil winning
over right and good. It is very depressing to see good being punished and the
bad rejoicing with their victory over the good. We try to change but nothing happens.
We pray for divine intervention but again nothing happens. It looks like even
God does not seem to be on our side. As we ponder on what happened to Jesus for
standing for right we realise what we experience is nothing. It gives us strength
and courage to soldier on fearlessly doing the right at all times.
As Christians we are asked to do what the English
idiom says “To call a spade a spade”.
But to extent are we able to do that in our lives today?
Gospel, Matthew 18:15-20
15 'If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him
alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your
brother.
16 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: whatever
the misdemeanour, the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain
the charge.
17 But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and
if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a gentile or a tax
collector.
18 'In truth I tell you, whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 'In truth I tell you once again, if two of
you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father
in heaven.
20 For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.'
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