8th Sunday - Biblical "sound bites"

 

"From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks"

Luke 6: 39-45

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030225.cfm

Grant us, O Lord, we pray,

that the course of our world

may be directed by your peaceful rule

and that your Church may rejoice,

untroubled in her devotion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who  live and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen

Today, we live in an age of “sound bites.” We want to know world affairs in a brief five-word statement.  These short and direct marketing brands such as the recognizable green and white logo for the coffee empire, Starbucks.   Since we live in an age of technology and phone texting our far more expressive speech is greatly lacking. Words are replaced by brief letters: “LOL” and “emojis” like a yellow smiley face. I’m convinced that most under the age of 35 sign their name either with a mere scribble or at best simply print (Sorry, personal bias).

In our Gospel this Sunday taken from the end of Luke’s “sermon on the plain” Jesus sits as a kind of wise scholar who offers his disciples brief but meaningful sound bites that cut to the heart:  “Can a blind person guide a blind person? . . . the splinter in your brother’s eye . . . the beam in your own . . . a good tree does not bear rotten fruit . . . every tree is known by its fruit . . . from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. .  .”

Certainly, any one of them spur reflection on the moral state of our lives printed on a banner or t-shirt.  Yet, these are far more significant as we see them in the body of Jesus moral teaching.  Luke collects these sayings of Jesus likely from various teachings he had given and places them in the context of the sermon Jesus gave to the hungry crowds. They are meant to offer all of us a foundation on which to stand.

What strikes me is that our Lord is expecting far more of us than simply pithy sayings.  The demands of discipleship go beyond the surface and speak to our heart.  A beam in the eye and the blind leading the blind challenge us to resist judgment of another.  Humility is paramount.  Christ teaches, we learn, we follow and over time, if we take the Gospel message seriously, we can inspire others to do the same.  Our blindness may indeed be our sense of self-importance and through our own insecurity we constantly puff ourselves up with an exaggerated sense of who we are or what we have supposedly done, or who we pretend to know.  Our position, our education, our experience, as valuable as they are, may lead us to think ourselves above others. We become blind to the truth that our lives, as Jesus followers, are ones of selfless love and service.

What about these trees and the bad fruit?  As obvious as that statement seems, Jesus reminds us that personal integrity is a mark of discipleship.  If we want to be true to our faith, then our heart must be changed.  If our heart is good, the “fruit” we bear will be visible in the good works we do, in the compassion and love we extend; in the good example we set for others.

One might think about our words and our actions.  Jesus berated the hypocritical Pharisees of his day who were bent on their outward show of perfection. 

Very soon Lent will begin. On Ash Wednesday we hear our Lord say that all the Pharisees cared about was their appearance.  So in the end it is not what we say that counts as much as what we do: “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good.” True goodness comes from the heart and not the words.  The popular saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi to “preach without words” is timely here.

So, this sermon of Jesus offers us a guide, a road map as such, and is a good basis as we approach Lent this week.  Are my words and my actions the same? Am I all talk, seeking the attention of others to make an impression?  How do others see me?  How does my own family see me?  Is my faith, my Catholicism only a label, a socially acceptable position, a repetitive motion I go through to satisfy my guilt?  Is all I do just show up, or do I participate for a reason – because I need to.

Do I honestly seek to conform my life to the Gospel of Christ and make a sincere effort to do the right thing towards others who are made, as I am, in the image of God?  Is my participation in the sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, really making a difference in my spiritual life or do I simply go through the motions, merely living on the surface of things?  When is the last time I thought seriously about the state of my soul?

As priest I do an awful lot of talking and guidance of others yet I too need to ask myself these same questions, in particular about the example I set and how I too am in need of constant conversion.  I certainly don’t have all the answers, and I too struggle at times with understanding.  Yet, Christ calls us to be consistent in the way he shows us.

Sound bites, these brief truths, are valuable for us to live out the mystery of God’s merciful love for us.  None of us lives this way perfectly.  If we did, we would have no need of a Savior.  God knows otherwise of course and offers us his love and grace.