August 13, 2014 6:30am

When I thought about today’s two readings, I decided that I needed to do some clarifications.

Each passage can be misleading if it is taken only at face value.

In the first reading, there are some sentences about the Lord calling six men with weapons to go through the city and just kill everyone.

Ezekiel has this vision of God ordering this massacre as a punishment for sin.

Well, we have to be clear.

This is an early, pre-Christian concept of God.

It just doesn’t stack up with the image of God that Jesus reveals.

And furthermore, Ezekiel is probably really saying that the sins of people will bring death and ruin on everyone.

God doesn’t so this.

We do this to ourselves when we fail to follow God’s way.

Ezekiel, I suggest, was trying to get that point across when he speaks of God ordering the killing.

That is not who God is or what God is like or what God does.

We also need to understand today’s gospel correctly.

Jesus is giving a procedure for correcting wrongdoing and reconciling.

He says that if someone will not even listen to the Church, to the broader community, then treat the person as you would treat a Gentile or tax collector.

On the surface we may think that this means to throw them out, exclude them, and have nothing to do with them.

But, how does Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors?

He associates with them, finds good in them, and never gives up on them.

Just think of Zacchaeus and even Matthew who wrote the gospel from which today’s passage is taken.

So Jesus is really saying: never give up on people, and never kick them out or exclude them or make them feel unwanted.

Stick with them, include them and make them feel the faithful love of God.

That’s the best way, maybe the only way in the long run to accomplish conversion and reconciliation.

So, two important clarifications to the readings today.