March 3^rd 2019.  Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:39-45

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 6:39-45

Jesus told his disciples a parable,
"Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,'
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.
"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the blind man who has a beam in his own eye but is fixated with pointing out the splinter in his brother’s eye. The attitude of placing oneself as a disciplinarian over others is one that we all have at various times. Sometimes we think we need to give others a moral lecture in order to straighten up the world. But Jesus saved the world, not by giving lectures, but by giving his life for us! We too ought to be ready to die for a person before we launch into a lecture of a moral sort. Only love in action gives us the right to speak with love. For Christians, love and truth coincide. Truth spoken without love is prone to being contaminated by elements that have no truth in them. This Gospel passage also speaks of the fruits of our works. The question I must ask is what fruit do I produce? The people around me will be able to answer better than I can! When they approach me, do I produce a harvest of love and mercy? Or do I produce moralisms, hardness of heart, relational bureaucracy? If we are honest with ourselves, then we will be aware that we produce much fruit that is rotten. Let us stop pretending to be the teachers of others. Let us place ourselves before life and the Lord as children willing to learn, disciples willing to follow the Lord Jesus.

Jesus speaks of the blind man with a beam in his own eye who places himself above others and points out the splinters in their eyes

In this seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, the first reading from Sirach speaks of how the truth about a person manifests itself: in times of tribulation and in the way he speaks, a man reveals what is inside of him. The reading ends thus: “Do not praise a man before he speaks, because this is the test of a man”. The last lines of the Gospel passage are similar: “The lips express what flows out of the heart”. What exactly is the point here? Why do the texts underline the relation between what is inside a man and what comes out in his attempts at communication? And how do these phrases tie in with the first line of Sunday’s Gospel: “Can a blind person lead another who is blind? Will they not both fall into the pit?” This example seems almost comical. Who is the blind person that Jesus is referring to? Later on Jesus keeps with the theme of vision when he asks, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the beam in your own?” This image is of course exaggerated, but to have a beam in your eye whilst focusing on the splinter in another’s is to be blind. Here I am trying to correct a small defect in your eye, whilst my eye is completely dysfunctional. This is the attitude of placing oneself as a teacher or disciplinarian over others, an attitude that is very diffuse among Christians, among Catholics. We make ourselves the teachers of those around us, with our fingers raised, telling them how they should live or not live. Such an acidic form of Christianity was widespread in the past and has not gone altogether away. This attitude often involves judgmentalism and a poor knowledge of those whom I am actually lecturing to. It is the attitude of one who believes he has something to teach. It is this attitude that renders him blind.

At times we all think we have the duty to straighten up the world by giving moralising lectures to others. But Jesus saved the world by giving himself for us

We can read this passage in parallel with a completely different passage from chapter 9 of John’s Gospel. The man born blind is healed by Jesus and speaks before the religious leaders in the synagogue. Jesus says, “I have come into the world so that those who are blind may receive their sight”. The religious leaders interrupt him; “Are you saying that we are blind then?” Jesus replies, “If you were blind you would have no fault, but because you claim to see, your sin remains”. Here we are presented with the image of one who pretends to be the great teacher of others, who claims to see clearly, a moraliser who straightens up the world. This is someone that all of us have inside, to some degree or other. At times we all think we have the duty to better the world by straightening up the lives of others. But the Lord Jesus sacrificed his life for the world. And we too, prior to giving moralising lectures to another, ought to be ready to give our lives for that person. Only love gives us the right to speak with love. How is it possible to speak the truth without love? For us Christians, love and truth coincide. A truth without love is a deception. Truth spoken without love is open to destructive tendencies that have nothing of truth in them.

What harvest do I produce? Do people receive love and welcome from me? Or do they receive hardness of hard, relational bureaucracy?

In a manner that is almost repetitive, the Gospel goes on, “Hypocrite, remove the beam from your own eye first, then you will see clearly. In other words, sort out your own weaknesses first before you start measuring with a callipers the weaknesses of others, Jesus then says, “A good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good”. Later, he says, “You cannot produce figs from thorn bushes, nor grapes from brambles”. This mention of figs and grapes is interesting, for it is the typical fruit of the Promised Land, whilst thorns and brambles are mentioned in Genesis 3 as being the fruit of sin. This leads to the question: if someone comes to us, what harvest do they receive? Do they receive mercy? Love? Welcome? Do they find figs and olives? Or do they find thorns, brambles, moralisms, hardness of heart, relational bureaucracy? What harvest do I produce? This is the question that must be asked. I cannot answer the question myself. It must be answered by those around me. If we are honest with ourselves, then we will be aware that we produce much fruit that is rotten. There is a phrase at the start of the Gospel that is very important: “No disciples is superior to his teacher, but when he is well trained he will be like his teacher”. Our life is a life of following Jesus. It is a life of discipleship and involves always learning more. Those who consider that they have something to teach others are generally unpleasant and destructive. A person who is aware that they have much to learn is able to speak in a more constructive, beautiful and useful way. Let us place ourselves before life as someone who has much to learn! Let us be aware of the rotten fruit that we have produced up to now and perhaps are still producing. Let us treat others as people to be welcomed, not corrected. We are disciples, not teachers. Life is a journey of discovery and how much we have yet to learn!