If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, I will hold you responsible for his death. At baptism, we become prophets, that is, 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 out. For on the one hand, we have to deal with a God who expects his messengers to discharge their responsibility without fear or favor. And on the other hand, we have to represent God in a society and culture where God is no longer worshipped and to a people who do not give a second thought to God’s message. Yet, a prophet is expected to discharge his/her responsibility effectively in season and out of season. It is this fact that the Lord makes clear to Ezekiel in today’s First Reading. 
The Lord sought to remind Ezekiel that as a prophet, he had been made the community’s watchman. His was a responsibility of staying awake for the sake of the community’s safety. As a watchman, he could not afford to fall asleep lest he forgets to warn the people of an impending danger. And if that were to happen, he was to be held responsible for any calamity that was to befell the community. From the tone of the Lord’s words, 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 the good of the community. And it is this very message that comes out loud 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 passage [next Sunday’s Gospel Reading]), Jesus uses the anecdote on brotherly correction to inform his followers of the kind of life they have to live now that they have accepted to follow him. Jesus’ follower is one who keeps the interest of the other person at heart, even if that other person appears 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 is generally understood to bear no responsibility of seeking out the aggressor. And in case the aggressor refuses to seek out the aggressed in order to apologize, the aggressed remains blameless. However, says Jesus, it cannot be so for a follower of his: “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 by seeking out a fellow who has transgressed. Moreover, he/she should not give up on the first or second or even on the tenth attempt. This is because a disciple’s interest in seeking out his brother/sister who has transgressed is not to find out who was at fault (in order to condemn or judge). Rather, a follower of Jesus, as a keeper of his brother/sister, should be interested in 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/sister who has strayed, he/she might still refuse to be reconciled. If it comes to that, Jesus suggests that the aggressor be accorded the treatment reserved for Gentiles or a tax collectors. Now our ears have become used to hearing this 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’ statement was a directive on 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, even if from our point of view they don’t deserve it. This is what our prophetic call demands of us.