Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 6:39-40

A disciple of Jesus cannot afford to be blind. He must have the wisdom to lead wisely; otherwise, he risks causing damage to the people who are entrusted to him. Pastors, public authorities, legislators, teachers, and parents – must have the openness to learn. Evils of prejudices and hypocrisy could easily blind them. Today’s Gospel raises this question: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (v. 41). Jesus’ warning is not for the crowd who were nothing more than onlookers, but for his disciples themselves. In the early Church, the baptised members were called as ‘the enlightened ones’ because the light of Christ had opened their eyes. Hence, people expected Christians to know what is right and wrong and how to choose the correct values in life. But in reality, that was not the case always. Therefore, Jesus warns his disciples of the danger of losing the light of the Gospel and becoming blinded by false reasoning dictated by the world’s logic. They create false images of a god who conforms to their desires and likings. The problem worsens when these blind are convinced that they could see and begin to guide others. The disciples can never become guides because the only guide is Christ and his Gospel. The teacher is one; the guide is Christ, and he leads from the front, and the disciples follow his footsteps. “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 eye?” Our eyes instinctively rest on what is not good, or on a defect because it bothers us. But Luke teaches his community a fundamental principle for community living: “Before you become interested in your brother’s problem, first, you must check if you can see well; first, remove the beam in your own eye.” In our church communities, we debate over the worthiness of receiving the Holy Communion on the tongue, but using the same tongue, engage in gossips and foul language. We ignore the plight of the migrants and the poor but argue for the cause of the unborn. We neglect our elderly parents at home or in elderly homes, but complain about the Church’s failure to care for the poor – the beam and the splinter! Jesus does not say that we should not help our brother cleanse his eye, but he who watches out for the speck in the neighbour’s eye is a hypocrite. We are to be recognised as Children of God by what we do and what we speak; Let our lips speak only words of love and our hearts be full of mercy, like that of Our Father in heaven.