Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:39-45 – NRSV).
Introductory notes
General
Luke’s “sermon on the plain” begins in a prophetic tone with the beatitudes and the woes – see 6:2-26. This is followed immediately with the challenging call to love of enemies and all those who hurt you – see 6:27-35. This section of the sermon is rounded out by the summary statement, “be compassionate as your Father is compassionate” – see 6:36-38. The sermon is then concluded with the wisdom sayings – 6:39-49.
This latter wisdom section would resonate very strong with the Greek audience: “Indeed, if this section were excerpted, it would not seem—with the exceptions to be noted—out of place in the writings of many Hellenistic moralists, at least in its major concerns. We find here typical stylistic elements: the alternating of negative and positive commands; the use of apostrophe and rhetorical questions; the employment of examples. And we see the typical concerns for actions flowing from a certain character or ‘heart’, of action not speech defining convictions, of teaching and learning as a matter of guidance and mutual correction” (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991, 115). However, there is one profound difference between Luke’s wisdom writings and that of his Greek contemporaries: “The ethics of the kingdom is not defined simply by reason or character; it is based in a covenantal relationship with the living God” (Ibid).
Specific
a parable: Although the Greek word is parabolē and it is in the singular, the obvious intent it to put before the listeners/readers a series of proverb-like sayings. We find Luke using the word parabolē in a similar way in 4:23 and 5:36.
Can a blind person guide a blind person?: St Paul reminds us that one of the functions of the teacher is to be a “guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness” (Romans 2:19). Joseph Fitzmyer writes: “The disciples are to be leaders of people, but they cannot be blinded guides; they must see the way first. In the context of ‘not judging,’ the saying about blindness might seem to refer to one’s own faults. If a person has not learned self-criticism, he/she cannot lead others. But the collocation of this verse with the following, and the connection between ‘the blind’ and ‘leaders’ with ‘pupils’ and ‘teachers’ seems to suggest that more is involved, i.e. a reference to false teachers. ‘Leading’ (hodēgein) is used here as in Acts 8:31. This emerges from the following context” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke I–IX: introduction, translation, and notes, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008, 641-642).
When Matthew uses the same metaphor of the blind guides, it is clearly a polemic against the Pharisees – see Matthew 15:14.
The common ground within
In today’s Gospel – Luke 6:39-45 – Jesus continues his teaching concerning the way we relate to each other. The teaching began earlier with the Beatitudes – 6:20-23 – was expanded in the call to love our enemies – 6:27-35 – and concretized in the call not to judge – 6:36-38. In today’s text, Jesus draws a link between how we relate to ourselves and how we relate to others: “How can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye?” There is a very practical insight here that can aid our self-awareness and personal growth.
Oscar Wilde once quipped that our judgments of others are autobiographical. Carl Rogers, in the first chapter of his Becoming a Person, said that one of the lessons he had learned as a psychotherapist was that what is most personal is most general. Both Wilde and Rogers remind us that we have a lot more in common than we realize. Discovering and embracing this common ground is surely one of the great privileges and tasks of the human journey. We all have an immediate recognition that love is preferable to hate, communion is preferable to conflict, peace is preferable to violence, conversation is preferable to diatribe and working together is preferable to polarization.
There are connections between us that come from our shared humanity, all of us being creatures made in the image and likeness of God. The stories from Genesis – Adam and Eve (3:1-24), Cain and Abel (4:1-16) and the tower of Babel (11:1-9) – are stories of broken connections with various expressions of hate, conflict, violence, diatribe and polarization. This is not part of the creation stories. We are creations of the One and bear that unity in our very beings, even if our experience is so often one of disunity and broken connections. We have lost touch with that God-given unity and those connections – especially in the Western, affluent world, where individualism is so common.
One of the major effects of the Incarnation is the possible restoration of that unity and connectedness: “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). Do we really want that unity?
The unity that is possible is put before us as both gift and task. Unity ultimately comes from God. It is a gift of the Spirit. The choice to receive that gift comes from us. It is a task. It is a work of commitment. This calls for a response that is based on listening. That response will be facilitative rather than mastering, participative rather than competitive, relational rather than ideological, God-centred rather than me-centred.