8th Sunday Year C: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

 Be formed before forming others

Image from:Transformed-by-Christ-Title-resized-600x450.jpg (600×450) (gaineschurch.org)

Readings: 1st: Sir 27:5–8; Ps: 91; 2nd: 1 Cor 15, 54–58; Gosp: Lk 6:39–45

Dear friends in Christ, two weeks ago, we started reading St Luke’s account of the beatitudes - a series of teaching comprising blessings and woes, which Jesus taught his disciples at the foot of the mountain. The beatitudes were intended to show the disciples the way that leads to happiness and the way that leads to misery. Gradually, as we have seen from last week Sunday, Jesus extended this teaching to modes of conduct for the disciples, and all of us as well.

In the gospel reading of last week, Jesus tasked his disciples to treat their enemies with love, mercy and compassion. He also instructed them not to judge nor condemn others. Then, in the gospel of today, Jesus taught his disciples more reasons why they should love their enemies, treat them with patience, mercy, and compassion, and why they are not to judge or condemn other people. Jesus did this by using three images drawn from everyday life.

The first image came with this rhetorical double-barreled question: can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? The answer to the first question is ‘No’, a blind person cannot lead a blind person. To the second question, the answer is ‘Yes’, because if a blind man leads a blind man, they will fall into a pit.

With these two rhetorical questions, Jesus was teaching his disciples that they would not be able to successfully lead other people out of their errors or sins, or to correct people in their mistakes unless they have allowed themselves to be transformed by what they have learnt from Him and what they have seen Him do. What does this tell us, dear friends?

Here, Jesus is challenging all of us as teachers, pastors, parents, guardians, leaders and whatever influencing role we have in the lives of others to first of all be motivated and influenced by His teachings before we set out to guide, to correct and to teach others. Dear friends, if we do not allow ourselves to be influenced and transformed by Jesus and His teachings, if we are not well convinced by the type of life Jesus is calling us to live, if we do not choose Jesus as the way in our life, then, telling others about the Christian life would be like the blind leading the blind.

Therefore, dear friends, we must allow our lives to be transformed by Jesus and to live a good sacramental life before we go out to correct and teach others. Also, we should learn about our faith: learn what the church teaches about the sacraments and what the scripture teaches, because we cannot be good disciples of Christ unless we have learnt from Christ.

Secondly, Jesus used another beautiful illustration to teach his disciple what people often do when they judge or condemn other people. He did it with these questions: "Why do you notice the splinter in your brothers' 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?", (Luke 6:41-42).

With these questions, Jesus touched the tendency inherent in all of us, that is, that tendency to notice the mistakes and wrongs of other people while turning a blind eye to greater mistakes in us; that tendency of exaggerating the evil in other people and overlooking the evil in us or, perhaps, with a view of hiding our own evils. Dear friends, have you not noticed that it is easy to find fault and mistakes in others?

With this second image, Jesus warned His disciples and all of us not to be the kind of disciples who are quick to point out the faults in the lives of other people but are too slow to recognize the sins in their own lives. In a special way, Jesus, invites us to be reformed and transformed before we reform others. He warned us not to be hypocrites as we set out to correct others in their mistakes. There should be no discrepancies between what we say and what we do. Thus, before talking about the sins of others, we should first of all look at ourselves in the mirror to know how we truly are.

Furthermore, Jesus used another beautiful image to teach His disciples why it is good to be transformed from within before setting out to transform others. The reason is that it is impossible for one to transmit what he doesn’t have, but it is very easy for good things to flow out of good people. He said’ "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… 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."

With this last picture, Jesus teaches us that just as a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit, so also a good person produces good, and an evil person produces evil. In other words, if we choose to live a life rooted in Him, the outcome would be the good fruits of kindness, gentleness, peace, mercy, compassion, faith, hope and love towards others. But when we choose to live outside the teachings of Christ, our lives will never contribute to the good of others nor to the edification of the society, because we cannot give what we do not have.