Reflection for Sunday September 10, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Matthew 18:15-20

Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

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. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

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Reflection:

The story is told about a church ministry leader who would always shout at his members whenever they commit mistakes. Eventually, the members had enough of his domineering behavior, so they decided to leave the church ministry which he leads. 

It is always very tempting to show off our authority and power. But what many of us don’t know is that the more authoritarian we become, the more we alienate ourselves from the people we love and lead. The more domineering we become, the faster we hasten our downfall. 

Whenever there is conflict, the devil would always tell us to harness our domineering behavior and arrogance through the exercise of our authority. But this kind of behavior will never heal conflict; it will even exacerbate conflict. 

In our gospel for this Sunday, Jesus has an advice for all of us on how to deal with those with whom we have issues to settle. Jesus advises us to always choose the path of humility, love, and fraternal correction, never the path of power tripping, arrogance and dominance. 

In other words, we have to sit down and talk, we have to extend our patience to the limit, and not to get angry—this is the way to restore and heal a broken person and a damaged relationship.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas