March 2, 2025
Luke 6: 39-45
Theme: Listen Carefully
In the last two Sundays’ gospels taken from Luke’s ‘Sermon on the Plain” we have a message that goes against human logic. Jesus used the Beatitudes to challenge the worldview of His day. He turned it upside down, as it does ours. Today’s excerpt presents several sayings of Jesus about ethical living. A few are reminiscent of the proverbs of another Jesus, the son of Sirach, from our first reading. The book of Sirach was written about 175 BCE and is sometimes called The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach. This passage discusses what one’s words reveal about the speaker. In today’s gospel Jesus uses parables to reinforce the message of chapter six vv. 20-38. Parables are vivid pictures put before the hearer to provoke thought. Luke gives these largely traditional parables 6: 39-40, 41-42, 43-45 specific meaning.
The first is a homely image of two blind men. One blind person leading another and if they are not careful, they will both end up in a pit. Jesus met several blind people during his lifetime, and some showed great insight and yet others, the Pharisees for example, may have had good eyesight, but grave spiritual blindness. The disciples were also blind until they had their eyes opened by Jesus’ teaching. This could be a general warning that teachers in the community must base their teaching on the truth of the gospel. More likely, the blind man is a Christian who ignores the teaching of Jesus in this sermon which calls for love of enemies and sharing of possessions (6:27-28)
In the early church, the baptized were referred to as “the illuminati- the enlightened ones “because the light of Christ had opened their eyes, but unfortunately as the years passed, they sometimes lost the light of the gospel and become blind guides to others who had also forgotten the message of Christ.
Jesus recalls another saying,” The disciple is never superior to his teacher, but a fully trained disciple will be like his teacher.”
More tragic is the situation of those in the second parable who do not know their own blindness. It highlights our tendency to see the tiny blemishes in other people while not noticing our own grave failures. Sensitive to the specks in the eyes of others we are ignorant of the planks in our own. When we have a plank in our eyes it is hard to remove the neighbour’s splinter. Huge logs prevent a clear vision of the demand of the word of God.
The third parable concerns trees and their fruits. The tree is a common Biblical image for the wise individual (Jer.15.7; Ps 2:3.) “You can tell a tree by its own fruit.” The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good whereas the evil person produces evil. We are accustomed to interpret these words of Jesus as meaning that we must value people from what they do and this is their meaning in the context of Matthew’s gospel (Mt 7:15-20). Here in the gospel of Luke they have a different meaning, they are an invitation to assess people from what they say:” for the words of the mouth flow out of what fills the heart.” The words that the believer speaks have come out of a heart full to the brim and overflowing with the teaching of Christ.
On Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we start our long journey to Easter. Lent is a time when we are reminded where we really belong, and what we are made for, we have been chosen by and belong to God.
Luke 6: 39-45
And he told them 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 thornbushes, 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.
Meet Sister Marie Andre Mitchell, SNDdeN
