By Father Paul Nord, O.S.B.
Sunday Scripture
First Reading: Sirach 27:4-7; Response: Psalm 92:2-3, 13-16; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
Sirach here compares a shaken “sieve” with a person speaking. A sieve allows the edible grain to pass through, but the useless husks remain behind — to be thrown away. These useless husks are compared to “one’s faults” which are revealed when a person speaks. This reading also emphasizes how human speech reveals “the bent of one’s mind.” A person’s speech is compared to “the fruit of a tree” which again reveals what has been hidden — either thoughts or faults.
“Testing” is the second theme of this Sirach reading. First, it says that “tribulation is the test of the just.” Tribulation is compared to pottery that is put into the hot furnace. The fire tests the quality of the pottery — either hardening it or destroying it. This suggests that tribulation should strengthen a just person, not break them. Finally, these verses describe human speech as a “testing” which reveals a person’s true character. Therefore “praise no one before he speaks,” because that person’s speech might reveal a hidden fault which reveals him to be unworthy of praise.
In the 15th chapter of First Corinthians, Paul powerfully defends belief in the resurrection of the dead. Paul asks (1 Corinthians 15:12): “But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?” Paul then proceeds to show how the entire Christian Gospel requires that we believe in Christ’s resurrection and that we believe in the resurrection of the dead who belong to Christ.
Today’s reading has the final verses of the 15th chapter of First Corinthians. It describes what will happen when “the last trumpet … will sound” (1 Corinthians 15:52). This “trumpet” refers to the end of our current age, and the full arrival of the kingdom of God. The following verses use “clothing” imagery to describe the resurrection of the dead. Our present earthly bodies are described as “corruptible” — that is, subject to death and decay. Thus our earthly bodies must be “clothed” with incorruptibility. This “clothing” imagery represents the transformation which the Nicene Creed calls “the resurrection of the dead” and the Apostles’ Creed calls “the resurrection of the body.” These verses complete the argument began in 15:12-14. As Paul says: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith” (15:13-14).
Paul also says that the human body is “mortal” — and thus “must clothe itself with immortality” (15:53). This description of “the resurrection of the body” is followed by poetic mocking of death as powerless before the victory of Christ Jesus. His resurrection has destroyed death itself — “death is swallowed up” in the victory of Christ. Death is mockingly asked: “Where is your victory?” and “Where is your sting?” Like a defeated enemy, “Death” is confronted — and mocked.
Paul says, “the sting of death is sin” — but Jesus has defeated sin. Paul says, “the power of sin is the law.” Elsewhere in his letters, Paul observes that “the law” of the old covenant had not defeated sin and death — in contrast to the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Paul concludes this verse by giving thanks to God for Christ’s victory over death and sin. Finally, Paul urges his fellow believers in Christ to “be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.” Paul assures them that if they do this, “your labor is not in vain.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives this parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person?” The answer to this is obvious — “no!” Jesus emphasizes his point with the image of both persons falling into a pit. Jesus uses this parable to introduce his comments about a disciple in relation to his teacher. Jesus implies that the disciple is metaphorically blind — badly lacking in understanding or true perception of reality. By contrast, his teacher must not be “blind.” The teacher is able to help his disciple to correctly “see” reality. Thus the disciple must be “fully trained” by his teacher. In Luke’s Gospel, teacher appears 15 times (excluding this verse). Thirteen of these 15 times, “teacher” refers to Jesus, so here “the teacher” almost certainly refers to Jesus also.
As the teacher, Jesus seeks to cure his disciples’ “blindness” by asking them: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” This is humorous exaggeration, because “the wooden beam” describes the main support of a house’s roof. Such a wooden beam is much, much larger than a human eye. This continues the message that the disciples are “blind” because such a large piece of wood would obviously prevent any sight. The disciples are “blind” to their own fault, but able to see “the splinter in your brother’s eye.” That is, the disciples perceive the faults of others — perhaps accurately, perhaps not. Jesus thus teaches that if the disciples are to be cured of their blindness, they must first realize their own fault, and act to remove it. In this way, their blindness might be cured, and then they “will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” Our sins blind us. Worse, if we focus on other people’s sins, this prevents us from recognizing our own sins — a deeper form of blindness.
In the final verses, Jesus describes how good fruit comes from a good tree, and rotten fruit from a rotten tree. Thus the nature of the tree dictates the nature of the fruit. Jesus uses this principle to contrast “a good person” versus “an evil person.” Like the trees, a good person produces good “fruit,” and an evil person produces evil “fruit.” Here the fruit are the words and the actions of the good or evil person. The impossibility of picking “figs from thornbushes” or picking “grapes from brambles” is humorous to anyone who has gone exploring for edible fruit in unfamiliar terrain.