First Reading: Sirach 27:4-7
Reflection:
This Sunday’s readings have to do with bearing fruit. Are we people who bear good fruit or bad fruit? The first reading comes from the book of Sirach, which is in the category of wisdom literature. A sage and scribe from Jerusalem named Ben Sira wrote this book of wisdom in the second century B.C. While it is not as well known as other wisdom literature in the Bible, such as Proverbs, this book, which is in Catholic Bibles but not in Protestant Bibles, is full of wisdom sayings that should be taken to heart and applied to our lives today. Ben Sira uses agricultural imagery in this Sunday’s reading to illustrate the power of our speech. In fact, our true character and faults can be revealed through our speech. In essence, he is saying that even if we appear to have it all together on the outside, our speech often reveals the flaws we have on the inside, for “one’s speech disclose[s] the bent of one’s mind” and when one speaks “it is then that people are tested.” The author of the Letter of James in the New Testament draws upon similar ideas when articulating more bluntly that “If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also” and “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:2, 8). The point both in Sirach and in James seems to be that what comes out of our mouths is the fruit of what is in our hearts. If we want to have pure, righteous speech, we much work on, with the help of the grace of God, having pure hearts. We must strive to be just, recognizing that “As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just.” When you are put to the test, what fruit will you bear?
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Reflection:
St. Paul here speaks of the power of Jesus over sin and death. Sin causes corruption and death (spiritually and physically), yet we were made for incorruptibility and immortality. Thankfully, even though we sin and deserve death, Jesus has come and brought victory over sin and death though his death and resurrection. St. Paul illustrates this by paraphrasing Hosea 13:14 when he writes, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Because Jesus has conquered sin and death, we can be brought to new life in Christ and have eternal life with Him in heaven. Jesus’ work is done. He has accomplished salvation for us. But we still have work to do. We must “be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.” Our “labor is not in vain.” We must, as St. Paul says elsewhere, “work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12). In other words, we must cooperate with God’s grace. Jesus has conquered sin and death and offers us salvation, but we must allow His work to bear fruit in our lives and transform us from sinners into saints, from corruptibility into incorruptibility, and from mortality into immortality. Will you allow Jesus to have victory over sin and death in your life?
Gospel Reading: Luke 6:39-45
Reflection:
This Sunday’s gospel reading picks up on the same theme as the first reading: fruit. As in the first reading, we hear from Jesus’ teachings in Luke’s gospel that good fruit comes from a good source. “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” Once again, what comes out of our mouths is the fruit of what is in our hearts. Are our hearts set on things of God, or on things of this world? To use the agricultural imagery, is God at the very root of who we are? Or are we just going through the outward motions of faith, acting like we have it all together, when really our hearts are in the wrong place? We will eventually bear fruit, whether for good or evil. This is illustrated by the first half of the gospel reading. If our hearts are not centered on God, then we are spiritually blind. We are blinded by the “wooden beam” of sin in our eyes. To take the illustration further, we often don’t even recognize or acknowledge the sin (i.e. “wooden beam”) in our lives while we try to act like we have it all together and point out others’ sins (i.e. “splinters). In order to see clearly and, thus, bear good fruit, we must humbly admit our sins, ask forgiveness, and “remove the wooden beam from [our] eye.” Then, and only then, can we assist others in getting out of sin (i.e. to “remove the splinter in your brother’s eye”).
Application:
• Reflect on your speech. Would you consider what regularly comes out of your mouth to be good or bad fruit? What are some examples of recent “good fruit” in your speech (e.g. encouraging or affirming someone else, praising God, expressing words of gratitude, etc.)? What are some examples of recent “bad fruit” in your speech (e.g. cursing, cutting someone down, lying, etc.)? What do those examples tell you about where your heart is at?
• Have you ever tried to call someone out on their sins, when you know that you have a similar or bigger issue with sin in your life? How did you feel? What sins (i.e. “wooden beams”) need to be removed from your life? What action will you take to remove those?
