1st Reading, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

From: Ezekiel 33:7-9

Ezekiel, the people’s watchman

[7] ”So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. [8] If I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. [9] But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
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Commentary:

33:1-9. In this new account of his calling, Ezekiel uses the watchman metaphor to explain his role as a prophet. ln chapter 3 (3:16-21) his duty to counsel his hearers was stressed; now he develops the metaphor of the watchman in a time of war (vv. 2-6), underlining that it is a heavy and far-reaching responsibility. In this new stage it is only the wicked that the prophet will have to admonish (vv. 7-9); seemingly, the just, who, along with the impious, received a warning in the oracle of chapter 3 and who are not mentioned here, will never again stray from their path.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.