WORDS OF WISDOM

VIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 6:39-45

In this Sunday’s gospel, Luke puts together a few sayings of Jesus, which became guidelines for the behaviour of his disciples. The first is self-evident: a blind man cannot guide another blind man, otherwise, both of them will end up falling into a pit. So we must pay attention to what kind of people we choose as role models. There is a Bemba proverb that conveys similar wisdom: “Uwenda na ngoshe, apyana no busungu” (the one who travels with the mamba, inherits the poison) or “Uwenda no ulwele pa mutima, alambukilwa” (Who travels with a sick person, catches the sickness). Nowadays, there are plenty of famous people who are followed and imitated in their behaviour and in their ideas, even in their likes and dislikes. Some become like gods who are worshipped and obeyed. However, many of them are blind leading the blind, and it will be too late when we realise that we were being misled. Jesus is the only true role model, he who told us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

The following saying is about seeing the splinter in the other’s eye while ignoring the plank that is in mine.  We are very quick at noticing even the small mistakes made by other people and we are ready to judge and to condemn them in the harshest way while presenting ourselves as upright and just. We must practice self-examination and become aware of our own failures. If we do that, we will become much more understanding to the others and we will be able to create a surrounding which will enable the others to improve and overcome their failures, while they will give the same kind of support to us. If we live in glass houses, we should not throw stones at the others’.

The third saying gives us the scales to weigh ourselves and others: a sound tree is known by its fruits. So we should examine ourselves and see what kind of fruits we produce. What comes out of our heart is it full of goodness or is it full of evil. If our hearts are full of evil, then the fruits that we produce are poisonous fruits. This is the rule we should use to choose our role models. If we do that, then the tree of our heart will be pollinated by trees full of goodness and we will produce delicious fruits. The first reading advises us to pay attention to the language used by the ones who speak to us since the words they use and the way they speak reveal what is in their hearts.

“The orchard where a tree grows is judged on the quality of its fruit,

similarly a man’s words betray what he feels.

Do not praise a man before he has spoken,

since this is the test of men.” (Sirach 27:6-7)