Eigth Sunday in ordinary time C Luke 6,39-45

In many tragic events, doctors often state that they might not have died if the affected person had received help in time. For this reason, various training courses are given to young children in kindergartens on how to help a seriously injured person or to prevent situations with a tragic ending. We, believers, know well that just as the health of the body needs to be taken care of, the health of the soul also needs to be taken care of and protected for eternal life. Today Jesus informs us, explains, and warns us against several mistakes that could cause the death of the soul and wishes us to live in union with Him and avoid eternal damnation.

His discourse is short but varied in content and style, and one senses a kind of free flow of words from which love emanates strongly. First, he asks: Can the blind lead the blind? Won’t they both fall into the pit? Then she touches on the relationship between teacher and pupil: The pupil is not above the teacher. Even if he learns everything, he will be like his teacher. Then follows the well-known and famous simile of the speck and the plank: Why do you see the mark in your brother’s eye but do not see the plank in your eye? And he concludes by pointing out the relationship between wood and fruit: There is no good tree that bears bad fruit, just as there is no wrong tree that bears good fruit. Every tree can be known by its fruit. From this flow of the Lord’s words, it is clear that everything He said applies to man. He says that a man bears fruit in the measure in which his heart is. A good man bears good fruit, an evil man rotten fruit. And just because man is fond of short speeches and few words, let us also try to look among these sentences for one introductory lesson and wisdom for us.

Let us note the circumstances under which Jesus uttered these words. In addition to the apostles, a large crowd from Judea and Jerusalem around Tyre and Sidon listened to him. The Beatitudes were spoken before them, the doctrine of love to enemies, and the philosophy of mercy and kindness. In these few sentences, the Lord expressed the core of his teaching while emphasizing what is most appealing, most necessary, and most demanding in it. Those who listened to him could not remain indifferent to such actual speech, and therefore various reactions began to awaken in their hearts. It was from this crowd that Jesus chose the foundation of the future Church – the apostles – and helped them, even more, to accept his teaching and become his witnesses.

The people who listened to him rightly questioned: How shall I live this teaching? What kind of witness of Christ should I become? How can I convince others, without violence, that this teaching is from God? Jesus, through the tangle of his thoughts, answers these questions when he paints a portrait of the disciple or spiritual teacher that every baptized person is obliged to be. He says that anyone who wants to proclaim his teaching must first know it and then be penetrated by it. If he is to point out to others their errors, he must first consider whether he is not committing similar or worse errors, which he must first correct. If he would like to be a master, he must avoid moralizing, and what he would like to impart to others must first be seen in him. Only then will he become a good tree. If he does not get rid of his faults, even the most beautiful words and heroic deeds will become harmful rather than helpful. And that is a wrong tree, bearing bad fruit.

The lesson we should take away from God’s word today, then, is to become a good tree with good fruit. And that is a lifelong journey, a tough and arduous one. It was also walked by the monk Pambos, about whom Socrates Scholastikos (380-450) writes. He could neither read nor write, so he came to another monk to learn a psalm from him. When he heard the first verse of the 39th Psalm: I will be careful of my conduct, lest I sin with my tongue, he wanted to avoid listening to the second verse. Going away, he said: That is enough for me! I must first learn to live this verse… When they met half a year later, and the monk wondered that he had not come to know the next verse, he replied that he still had not learned to live the words of this verse. And when after a long time another monk met him, he said to him: For 20 years I have been learning to live it by working hard on myself…

Today, let us ask for the strength to know our faith, love our faith, and become seers who know the precepts and keep them. Let us notice our imperfections more than the imperfections of others, all so that our lives may bear healthy fruit that will be rewarded when we meet Christ at the hour of our death. In this way, we will avoid a tragic event and pass from life on earth to live eternal.