I believe each of us, at some point of our lives, would have done something wrong to another person, or another person would have done something wrong towards us. When a person has done something wrong towards us, how do we respond? Do we try to deal with the issue in a gradual and amicable way? Or do we go straight away to higher ups, and demand that such higher ups deal with the person? What about if we are the ones who have done something wrong towards others? Would we be humble and willing to make amends, talk things through, seek forgiveness, and move on?
In today's Gospel, Jesus said, "If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector."
As you can see, dealing with another person who has done something wrong is not an easy or quick matter. It requires patience, persistence, firmness, compassion and mercy towards the other person, instead of taking the easy way out, wash our hands off any effort to dialogue with the person, and get higher ups involved to "kena" or "give it nicely" to the other person. We ought to be against the wrongdoing, not the wrongdoer, and try to help the other person grow and change for the better, instead of belittling or humiliating the other person, possibly to boost our pride and ego. Have we been charitable and loving towards those who have wronged us?
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