Our Teachers, Our Tests, The Beam in Our Eye, and Good Fruit.
To reach perfection we must go through a certain number of tests. In the first reading this Sunday from Sirach, the author tells us that we must pass tests. But no matter how well we do on tests a disciple is not above his teacher (Luke 6:40).
The only job that I can think of where we do not have to pass tests before we get the job is the job of being a parent. For new parents, the only experience we have is what we retained from our parents. My father always reminded me of the scripture verse we heard today that “a disciple is not above his teacher.” Especially when I worked for him after high school on many construction projects. I made more than my share of mistakes.
A disciple was much like a student, with the added element of following and patterning after the master or teacher. In this way, the disciple would never be greater than the teacher. But as every parent wishes, we wish that our children will succeed more than we do in life. If we train our children to follow in the footsteps of our profession, we always wish that they will be better at their career than we are at ours. Jesus said that everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. We will become like those we
follow, so we must decide to choose good teachers to follow.
Jesus gave a wonderful promise. As we are taught by Him and grow in Him, we will become more like Jesus. The Lord Jesus became like unto us in our low estate, that we should become like Him in his glory. Cloth yourself with Jesus Christ and sin will not have any power over you. Jesus sees the hypocrisy in people and uses plants and trees to illustrate hypocrisy.
I teach theology in a Catholic high school and I have to admit, this gospel reading is very hard to explain to students. Often, they don’t get past the example of the blind leading the blind. They don’t recognize Jesus’ use of metaphors. I told them, ‘If you need help with your studies you can go into the tutoring lab. If the tutor assigned to you is also struggling with their learning, you would want a smarter learner, right?’ We must decide to choose good teachers to follow.
Jesus uses another metaphor to explain the hypocrisy of the Jews. He says “why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own (Lk 6:41)? The figures of a speck and a plank are real figures used humorously.” Jesus shows that we are generally far more tolerant to our own sin than we are to the sin of others. Though there might be a literal speck in one’s eye, there obviously would not be a literal plank or board in an eye. Jesus used these exaggerated,
humorous pictures to make His message easier to understand and more memorable.
An example of looking for a speck in the eye of another while ignoring the plank in one’s own is when the religious leaders brought the woman taken in adultery to Jesus. She was definitely a sinner. But their sin was much worse and Jesus exposed it as such with the statement, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7).
In the Gospel reading Jesus starts out teaching this lesson about judging others, but then he switches gears and start a lesson titled in Luke’s gospel as “A Tree Known by Its Fruit”. He explains that only good trees produce good fruit. He also says “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good”. We can only follow Jesus this way if we have been radically changed by Him. If Jesus has touched
us, it will show in our lives.