Have you ever wondered if Jesus had a sense of humor? Today’s gospel makes it very clear that he did. Just pay attention to the humorous comments that our Lord makes about the blind leading the blind and removing a wooden beam from our eyes. We all know how silly it is to think that a blind person could successfully lead another blind person. And why would a blind person ask another blind person to lead him in the first place? At the same time, why would a blind person presume to be able to lead someone else, especially another blind person? And, Jesus was a carpenter by trade. He – and everyone to whom he first made this comment – knew that a wooden beam wouldn’t fit in their eyes. He used these two rather humorous examples to get his audience – and that includes us – to laugh at themselves and be open to some important lessons.
So, what are the lessons? First, we need to recognize our own blindness – that is, our own shortcomings and failures – before we presume to correct the shortcomings and failures of other. We all have our faults and, fortunately, our God loves us despite them. A very important aspect of our faith is the belief – and relief – in a God who is all forgiving. And, as we heard Jesus teach us so clearly last week, we should be merciful as God, our heavenly Father, is merciful. We cannot be blind to that very important truth about our God as we strive to be our Lord’s disciple in our everyday lives. Until we are able to overcome all of our faults, we shouldn’t judge others for their faults. After all, as Jesus reminded us last week, the measure with which we measure will in return be measured out to us.
The second lesson is that we need to produce good fruit and today’s first reading helps us to focus on a particular kind of good fruit: the use of our speech. Today’s first reading call us to reflect on how we develop our faith. In our first reading from the Book of Sirach we read that just as the quality of a potter’s mold and the care of a tree will determine the quality of the piece of pottery when it is put in the kiln or the quality of the fruit that is taken from a tree, what we have to say – both to God and to our neighbor – will be the result of how well we have learned about and accepted God and his love for us.
We hear our Lord repeat this same wisdom in today’s Gospel when he tells us that “a good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.” It is because, as we hear Jesus explain, “A good person, out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person, out of the store of evil produces evil.”
In today’s second reading, we hear St. Paul encourage us to “be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Learning about God and his call to holiness is an arduous, lifelong task. And, as we learn about God, each of us can either lead others away from God to fall into the pit of lies, gossip and slander or to God through our well-learned task of showing God’s love and forgiveness in our daily lives.
As we prepare to begin, once again, the Lenten Season – this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday – let us be ever more conscious of our own blindness to our sins and our need to continue to learn about God and his goodness to us. Then, our words and actions will better reflect God’s will for us: to love one another as he loves us. And then, we will be able to share in the victory that God gave his Son on Easter Sunday: the promise of eternal life in heaven, where we will all join in the loving embrace of God for all eternity! Once there, we will all experience God’s great sense of humor as he lets us in!