Sunday the 2nd of March 2025 - The Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 27:4-7/ Ps 92(91)/ 1 Corinthians 15:54-58/ Luke 6:39-45

A saying ascribed to either Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain says, ‘Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt’. Sticking to this saying would remove all debate, conversation, and verbal interaction between us. One of the aspects that make us human is our ability to discuss issues, to understand right from wrong, to choose to do one thing or another. Through argument and debate we can influence and educate ourselves and others. It is far better to speak and be thought by some to be foolish, than to remain silent and keep people guessing. It is a requirement of our faith that we do speak out however foolish the world might consider us to be. Taking the example of the huge army of martyrs down the ages, we have people who spoke out in the face of being put to death for what they said and stood for. How foolish that might look to people of the world. In faith we look beyond this world, beyond being accepted in society here, beyond what is considered foolish here, to an eternal life where worldly foolishness will be seen to be the wisdom of God.

The brief four verses of the first reading give us the wisdom of not praising someone before hearing them speak. As in the case of a fruit tree, the cultivation of a person’s mind is disclosed by how they express the thoughts that they hold. We have a society today that is quick to condemn people for how they express their beliefs. If we do not follow the thinking of the day, we can be outcast or silenced. The teaching and spreading of our faith requires an environment where there is freedom to express our beliefs and thoughts. Such an environment will mean that we may be exposed to thoughts and expressions that we do not agree with or offend us. This is the cost of having the freedom to debate and express ourselves and rather than closing down debate through silencing it there should be room for open and honest debate on matters of faith and conscience. Jesus was never averse to taking on his critics.

The gospel calls us to speak and teach but from a position of faith and knowledge. Jesus warns of the blind leading the blind, the ill-informed leading the uninformed. Jesus is our teacher, through the authority he gave to the church he founded on Peter, Jesus continues to teach and train us. We are called to imitate Jesus by following his teaching becoming ‘fully trained’ increasingly informed and able to teach as he did. Jesus gave us a strong warning about hypocrisy not picking fault in others without seeing the fault in ourselves using the exaggerated image of having a log in the eye while trying to remove a speck from someone else’s. We remove the log in our own eye by following Jesus, listening to, and acting on his teachings. When we do this, we can then see clearly enough to remove the impediments to our sight so that we can help others do the same.  

Through baptism we are called to go out and bear fruit, to spread the message of the gospel to an unbelieving world. A good tree will not bear bad fruit just as a bad tree will not produce good fruit. We need to become the good people described in the gospel producing good fruit from the treasure built up in our hearts. What we preach comes from what we have built up in our hearts. We need to ensure that our hearts are full of the good fruits that come from Jesus and his continued teaching brought to us through his church.

Our words and actions are a window into our soul, we are known for what we say and do. It is vital that, as people who profess a Christian faith, we say and do everything in accordance with that faith. Failure to do so would render us hypocrites in the eyes of the world. We become known for what we do and say, it is how people, for right or wrong, will judge us. Our words and actions reflect what our true inner beliefs and feelings are, defining what we stand for. Words are the most powerful tools for good or evil. Think of some of the greatest orators of history, good or bad, they had the ability to use words to influence and drive people in one direction or another. Our words can elevate the human spirit towards God but can also lead people astray. The use of words holds a great responsibility for us.

It was through words that God created everything, speaking all into existence, and then God’s word became human in the person of Jesus, who taught in words, words that were then written and passed down to us. The scriptures are the written word of God, Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, a word that is active and lives among us, a word that remains with us today and has the power to transform everything.

The teachings of Jesus often turn conventional teaching upside down. With that in mind let us look again at the quote I began with. Instead of remaining quiet we should always be ready to courageously speak out about what it is we believe. Better to speak out and be thought of as foolish by the world than remain silent and drift along seeking the acceptance of the crowd.

God Bless Brendan