Homily: 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Friends,
our readings today instruct us on the importance of following good leaders and
about how to discern a good leader from a bad one.
The
main instruction is in our gospel reading, where Jesus is concluding his sermon
from which we have been reading these last weeks. It is interesting, I think, that Jesus begins
not with an instruction about the leaders themselves, but about his
disciples. It seems, of course, that he’s
talking about leaders when he asks the question, “Can a blind person guide a
blind person?”, and makes the statement that “No disciple is superior to the
teacher”. With these, he is encouraging
his disciples to beware of those who wish to lead but seem to be without wisdom
themselves, and to look at one’s teacher to see how the disciple will turn
out. If the teacher is not wise, then it
is unlikely that the disciple—who is now seeking to teach—will be any wiser.
When
Jesus turns to talk about the “splinter in your brother’s eye” and “the wooden
beam in your own”, he turns these instructions to his own disciples. In other words, he is saying: “Be sure that
you do not become a ‘blind guide’, with vision distorted by your own sins and
prejudices. Rather, do the hard work of
clearing your own eyes so that you may see clearly and choose wisely.” This is a profound wisdom, isn’t it? How often do we criticize others before we’ve
done anything to address that which is worthy of criticism in ourselves? When we do, it is almost always true that we
miss an important fact that nullifies our criticism. Had we done the hard work of “removing the
wooden beam” of our sins and prejudices from our own eyes first, we would have
seen that important fact and would not have criticized at all. Therefore, to choose and follow a good
leader, we must first remove the blindness from our own eyes. ///
Having
done that, we can then turn to the proposed leader, and both Jesus and the author
of the book of Sirach gives us instruction on how to test him/her. The author of the book of Sirach instructs us
to look at the leader’s words: listen to how he/she speaks, especially when
under stress: for the true character of a person is often seen when he/she is
threatened or challenged in some way.
Are the leader’s words true? Are
they charitable? Or are they full of
pride and equivocation? If the former,
the leader is showing him/herself to be a person of good character and so
worthy of being followed. If the later,
the leader is showing him/herself to be a “blind guide”, likely to lead you
into a pit.
In
the gospel reading, Jesus instructs his disciples to test leaders by testing
the fruits of their actions. Using the
image of a fruit tree, he states quite simply: if the leader produces good (that
is, righteous) results from his/her actions, then the leader is good and may be
followed. If the leader produces bad
(that is, unrighteous) results from his/her actions, then the leader is bad and
should be avoided. “A good tree does not
bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.” Are the leader’s actions just or unjust? Does the leader seek to serve or to be
served? The good fruits of justice and
service are signs that a leader is worthy of being followed.
Jesus,
of course, is our model of the “worthy leader”.
Even under great distress, Jesus’ words were always true and charitable. For example, while hanging crucified on the
cross Jesus spoke words of forgiveness for those who accused him unjustly. Throughout his ministry on earth, Jesus’
actions were just and always oriented to serve others. For example, when he cured lepers, he
instructed them to show themselves to the priest because the law gave the
priest authority to declare lepers clean.
And when the synagogue official came to beg Jesus to cure his daughter,
Jesus interrupted his plans to perform this act of loving service. Jesus, therefore, is our benchmark by which we
should test every other leader. ///
The
tragic situation in Ukraine provides us with a glaring contrast to Jesus’ example. Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has declared
war on Ukraine and has invaded that country.
His words appear to be full of lies and to lack all charity. His actions seem to be both unjust and
self-serving. The fact that he is the
leader of a very powerful nation is a sign both of corruption in the system of
elections as well as a willful blindness on behalf of a good number of the
people of Russia. Because of this, the
people of Ukraine are suffering a great injustice. My guess is that many of you know what it’s
like to suffer great injustices because of bad leaders. Often, this happens because enough people remain
willfully blind by their own sins and prejudices. As Christians, we must take responsibility to
see clearly and so stand for leaders who, after the model of Jesus, are men and
women of good character who will speak truth and stand for justice. ///
Friends,
the great season of Lent begins this week and it is a great opportunity for us
to examine ourselves in order to identify the sins and prejudices that keep us
from seeing clearly. Let us commit today
to give ourselves to this good work over these forty days, so that we might
judge the world rightly and help manifest the kingdom of God: the kingdom of
true justice and peace for all.
Given in Spanish at Saint Paul Parish: Marion, IN –
February 26th, 2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish:
Monticello, IN – February 27th, 2022
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