By Richard Clifford, SJ
The gospel today concludes Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-7:29). Luke’s version (6:20-49) is shorter, for Luke chooses to place much of Matthew’s material in Jesus’s final journey to Jerusalem in 9:51-19:14. Luke’s Sermon on the Plain is mostly concerned with Christians’ relationships to each other, perhaps assuming that unless the community is united, it cannot be a credible witness to God’s presence. St. Paul’s letter supports that assumption, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.”
Luke’s four beatitudes emphasizes that those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated will find God on their side. And an unhappy initial state does not disqualify anyone from divine favor (6:20-26). Jesus then urges his community to be generous toward each other, including loving their enemies (6:27-38). In today’s excerpt, he evaluates with humorous exaggeration a major obstacle to communal harmony and respect – judging others harshly.
Two centuries earlier, a revered sage in Jerusalem, Ben Sira, also gave attention to the power of speech and writings. He collected his teaching in a book of Sirach that modern scholars call Sirach; its teaching was intended for sons of prominent families. Its teaching anticipates much of Jesus’s wisdom on living in the beloved community. Ben Sira would probably host a podcast if he were alive today. How did he teach responsible and careful speech? Be conscious that you will be judged by what you say. Your actions reveal what kind of person you are. “The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so speech discloses the bent of a person’s heart; so too does one’s speech reveal the bent of one’ mind.” As a motive for restraining yourself from uncharitable and harsh judgment of others, he would advise us to remember that we will be judged harshly for hasty and nasty speech. Our speech reveals who we are.
To achieve the same goal, Jesus uses humor: “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” In a word, you would be guilty of the same fault you are accusing your neighbor of. Jesus’s motive is less self-centered than Ben Sira’s. But Jesus not far from Ben Sira when he says, “For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles.” Put in everyday language, do you want to avoid making yourself appear as nasty and mean? Then don’t badmouth others.
This Sunday’s word of God about living in a Christ-centered community is unusually down to earth, but it is important for the community’s health as well as our own reputation to attend to it.
Richard Clifford, S.J. former President of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and Founding Dean of the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry