If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, I will hold you responsible for his death. At baptism, we are made prophets – messengers of God who are given the mandate of representing God before the people, and interceding for the people when in the presence of God. It is a call that is not easy to live. On the one hand, we have to deal with a God who expects us to be faithful in our call no matter what. And on the other hand, we have to represent God in a culture where God is no longer worshipped and at a time when God’s message is no longer given a second thought. Yet, we are expected to discharge our responsibility effectively in season and out of season. This is what the Lord makes clear to Ezekiel in our First Reading. The Lord tells Ezekiel that as a prophet, he has been made the community’s watchman. His is a responsibility of staying awake for the sake of the community’s safety. As a watchman, he cannot afford to fall asleep lest he forgets to warn the people of an impending danger. And if that happens, he is held responsible for any calamity that befalls the community. From the tone of the reading, it might have happened that Ezekiel had at one point protested at the fact that his ‘warnings’ were never heeded or that the people had ceased paying attention to God’s message. What we hear in today’s reading might have thus been a rejoinder from God that the lack of response from the people notwithstanding, Ezekiel had to continue delivering God’s message to the people. It was his duty and responsibility. God had raised him to be a watchman, not for his own good, but for that of the community. And it is this very message that we also find in the Gospel Reading. As if in anticipation of Peter’s question to him regarding how many times he should forgive his brother who sins against him (the passage immediately following today’s Gospel account), Jesus presents to his followers the kind of life they have to live now that they have accepted to follow him. Theirs is a life of keeping the interest of the other person at heart, even if they appear not to deserve it. Ordinarily, it is the responsibility of the aggressor to seek out the victim in order to apologize and mend ways. The aggressed individual should ordinarily bear no responsibility of seeking out the aggressor, for in case the aggressor refuses to apologize, he/she (the aggressed) remains vindicated. But not so for a follower of Jesus: “If your brother sins against you, do not wait for him to come to you. Rather, go and tell him his fault…and if he listens, you have won over your brother.” A follower of Jesus must always bear the responsibility for the wellbeing of a relationship. Moreover, he/she should not give up on the first or second or tenth attempt. This is because a disciple’s interest is not in finding out who was at fault (in order to condemn or judge) but rather on the preservation of the life of a community (relationship). But Jesus also knew that there is always a possibility that even after an umpteenth attempt at winning over a brother who has strayed, he might still refuse to be reconciled. If it comes to that,” Jesus says, “then treat him as you would treat a Gentile or a tax collector.” Now, our ears have become used to hearing the above statement by Jesus as suggesting that we forget or distance ourselves from our aggressors who have refused to mend their ways. Such an interpretation, however, would contradict Jesus’ command that we forgive indefinitely. Jesus’ directive that those who have refused to mend their ways even after multiple interventions be treated like tax collectors and pagans was meant to be the ultimate act of generosity that was demanded from a follower of his. Gentiles and Tax collectors were not the most liked figures in the days of Jesus. Gentiles were unpopular, not because of any particular bad thing they had done, but simply because they were different. They were not beneficiaries of God’s revelation, and were not living according to God’s dictates (they were pagans, so to speak). Tax collectors, on the other hand, were collaborators with the oppressive government of Rome in robbing the Jewish people of their wealth. And the fact that they made themselves wealthy by overtaxing their own people turned them into persona non grata. They were hated and loathed by the community. Their sins notwithstanding, Jesus would have been the last person to advocate their maltreatment. When Jesus met Matthew, a known tax collector, he invited him to conversion and when Matthew accepted the invitation, he forgave him his sins. And when John and James wanted to call fire and brimstone on a Samaritan town (a Gentile town), Jesus reprimanded them for even entertaining such thoughts. We have to look into the life of Jesus to find out how he dealt with those who were different or perceived to be so. He was nice to them. He talked to them. He forgave those who were known sinners. Shouldn’t this be the best way to treat even those who have refused to listen to us, those who have set themselves apart from us? Living our prophetic call is not an easy thing to do. This is because our baptism calls us to get out of ourselves in order to live a life that cares for the wellbeing of the other.