Monday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

The reproach of St. Paul is devastating and it is hard to not hear how it echoes in our own day.  Once immorality becomes known the Church has a responsibility to root it out – if we do not and try to justify it out of pride, the whole lump of us will rot.  We have nothing to boast about as a Church if we begin to condone what is wrong or simply fail to pronounce judgement in a way that demonstrates clearly that sin separates us from God.  The Church can only remain attached to Her Spouse if she detaches Herself from sin.  On the one hand, each of us are personally held accountable before God for our own sins and failings – we are called to repentance so that the Lord’s mercy may heal us and we may convert our lives with the help of His grace.  On the other hand, we are collectively responsible for the holiness of the Church – this is where the practice of excommunication came from.  Certain errors and sinful practices, when they become publicly known and defended must be removed, and if that means individual persons are no longer held to be in communion with the Church, it is for their good and the good of the Church.  They cannot be saved if they do not understand their need to convert in order to return to communion.  The Church cannot be a sacrament of salvation if it espouses the lies and practices of Satan.

We see that the leaders of the synagogue in today’s Gospel were in error and were unable because of their pride to admit it.  This old leaven, their insistence that healings ought not be performed on the sabbath, was corrupting the faith of Israel.  How can we ensure that we do not begin to fall into pridefully holding onto an error that will destroy our communion with the Truth?  Here is St. Ambrose’s commentary on today’s Gospel:

Then you heard the words of the Lord, saying, “Stretch forth your hand.” That is the common and universal remedy. You who think that you have a healthy hand beware lest it is withered by greed or by sacrilege. Hold it out often. Hold it out to the poor person who begs you. Hold it out to help your neighbor, to give protection to a widow, to snatch from harm one whom you see subjected to unjust insult. Hold it out to God for your sins. The hand is stretched forth; then it is healed. Jeroboam’s hand withered when he sacrificed to idols; then it stretched out when he entreated God.

ORIGEN:

We learn from this that there are different kinds of immorality, some of which are more serious than others. When God judges it, he will take extenuating factors into account and vary the punishment accordingly. In this case, Paul is teaching us that even when there has been a legal marriage ceremony, if it goes against the law of God, it is immoral and will be condemned accordingly.¹

AMBROSIASTER:

If this man were not thrown out, the spirit of the church would not be saved on the day of judgment, because the source of the contamination was infecting them all.²

JEROME:

Paul has delivered over to Satan those who had already blasphemed of their own free will.³

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA:

This is not to be taken literally. What Paul means is that the person concerned should be put out of the church and forced to live in the world, which is ruled by Satan. That way he will learn to fear God and escape the greater punishment that is to come.⁴

SEVERIAN OF GABALA:

When Paul says that this man must be delivered to Satan, he does not mean that he should be handed over to the power of the evil one. Rather, all the evils of this life, for example, diseases, sorrows, sufferings, and other circumstances, were attributed to Satan, and it is in this sense that Paul uses the term here. What he means is that this man should be exposed to the hardships of life.⁴

AMBROSIASTER:

Just as the sin of one person contaminates many, if it is not dealt with once it is known, so also does the sin of the many who know what is happening and either do not turn away from it or pretend that they have not noticed it. Sin does not look like sin if it is not corrected or avoided by anybody.⁵

CHRYSOSTOM:

Paul says that the Corinthians are to blame, because by taking pride in this man they have hindered him from repenting. Here he indicates that the problem is one for the whole church, not just for an individual. This is why he uses the symbol of the leaven, which, although a small thing in itself, transforms the whole lump into its own nature. This man will do the same thing if he is allowed to go unpunished.⁶

CHRYSOSTOM:

The old leaven refers among other things to the priests who allow an enormous amount of the old leaven to remain within the church, namely, the covetous, the extortioners and those guilty of doing anything that would keep them out of the kingdom of heaven.⁷

AMBROSIASTER:

Just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, an evil life corrupts the whole man. Therefore Paul wants us to avoid not only evil acts but all interest in sin, so that sincerity may cleanse our lives and truth may exclude all deception.⁵

AMBROSE:

Then you heard the words of the Lord, saying, “Stretch forth your hand.” That is the common and universal remedy. You who think that you have a healthy hand beware lest it is withered by greed or by sacrilege. Hold it out often. Hold it out to the poor person who begs you. Hold it out to help your neighbor, to give protection to a widow, to snatch from harm one whom you see subjected to unjust insult. Hold it out to God for your sins. The hand is stretched forth; then it is healed. Jeroboam’s hand withered when he sacrificed to idols; then it stretched out when he entreated God.⁸

1. COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.23.15–20.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 46). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
2. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 46). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3. AGAINST RUFINUS 7.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 46). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
4. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 46). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
5. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 47). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
6. Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 15.5.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 47). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
7. Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 15.11.  Bray, G. L. (Ed.). (1999). 1–2 Corinthians (p. 47). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
8. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 5.40.  Just, A. A. (Ed.). (2005). Luke (p. 100). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.