This passage comes from a chapter in which Ezekiel sets down the
responsibilities of the prophet as he envisages them after the
restoration from exile.
One of the images under which he defines that role is that of the
watchman, a familiar figure in the defense system of Palestine.
Watchmen were posted on the hills to warn of the approach of a
foreign invader.
Ez 33:1-6 are a parable; verses 7-9 (today’s reading) are its application to the prophetic role. It is characteristic
of Ezekiel that he conceives the prophet’s function as
concerned with individuals.
This was a result of the destruction of the nation as a corporate
entity at the time of the exile. Henceforth all that the prophet can
do is to speak to the individual.
If the prophet fails to deliver the warning, it is his own
responsibility. If he does deliver it and the individual refuses to
pay heed, it is not the prophet’s fault. He has discharged his
responsibility.
Ezekiel’s picture of the prophet as watchman has been selected
to go with the Gospel, which speaks of mutual concern in the
eschatological community, in which we all share the gift of the
Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm: 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
The Venite consists of two parts: the first a call to
worship, the second a warning against neglect of the word of God.
The first part is very popular among Anglicans as the invitatory
canticle of Morning Prayer, but in most recent revisions the stern
warnings of the second part have frequently been omitted.
Yet, it was this second part that the author of Hebrews (Heb 3:7-4:13) took up and expounded as especially relevant to his Church.
The situation of the people of this Church was that they were
growing stale instead of advancing in the Christian life (the
medieval sin of acedia), just as Israel grew tired in the
wilderness.
The refrain, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts,” is singularly apt after Ezekiel’s parable of
the watchman.
As we saw last Sunday, chapters 13-15 of Romans consist largely of ethical exhortation. Here Paul
presents the second table of the Decalogue.
Note the unusual order (Hellenistic-Jewish): 7, 6, 8, 10, according
to the Reformed and Anglican enumeration; 6, 5, 7, 9-10, according
to the Roman and Lutheran enumeration.
Paul then summarizes (Rm 13:9) its single injunctions in the all-embracing command of Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Note the
logical structure of this passage:
1. An imperative (Rm 13:8a).
2. The grounds for the imperative (Rm 13:8b).
3. The second table (Rm 13:9).
4. A deduction from the imperative
given in verse 8 (Rm 13:10).
Evidently Paul is drawing upon an established pattern of catechesis.
This pattern was probably derived from Hellenistic Judaism, as is
shown not only by the order of the commandments but also by the
typically Hellenistic attempt to discover a single unifying
principle behind the separate injunctions.
The teaching of this passage is that there is really only one
commandment that is universal and covers every situation and to
which we are always obligated—the commandment of love. The separate
commandments of the Decalogue are to be seen as specifications or
illustrations of what love may mean in particular situations.
This Gospel reading is closely connected to last week’s. These
are the only passages in all four Gospels in which the term
“church” (ekklesia) occurs. Both passages
include the promise about binding and loosing; in Mt 16 it is addressed to Peter only, and in Matthew 18 to the disciples
generally.
It would seem reasonable to suppose that Matthew has taken both
passages from a common source that formed a commentary on church
origins: (1) a community rule (Mt 18:15-17), paralleled at Qumran; (2) the promise about binding and loosing,
which in our opinion comes from a resurrection story, as is
indicated by its combination with the Tu es Petrus saying
in Matthew 16 and by the parallel tradition in John 20:19-23.
In its original form this tradition was evidently a saying of the
risen Lord empowering the Twelve to admit or exclude men and women
from the kingdom according to whether they accepted or rejected the
kerygma.
By combining it with the saying about fraternal correction,
Matthew’s source has converted it into a church rule. Binding
and loosing now become the function of the whole community, and
their character is changed to the administration of discipline
within the community.