23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes
Jesus teaches us today about how to practice fraternal correction. In short, if a brother or sister in the Church sins against you, approach him or her privately. If that fails to persuade, come again with one or two others. If that does not work, bring the matter to the Church. And “if he refuses to listen even to the Church,” Jesus says, “then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” Jesus says to treat an obstinately unrepentant Christian like “a Gentile or a tax collector.” What are we to make of this?
How would the Jewish crowds hearing Jesus’ preaching treat Gentiles or tax collectors? The Old Covenant kept Jews and Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) separate. For example, archeologists have found stone signs from the Jewish temple dating to the Gospel era which warned Gentiles or foreigners not to enter its inner courts. Those signs’ chiseled, red letters declared in Greek: “No foreigner is to…
