Readings:

Sir. 27:4-7; Ps. 92; 1 Cor. 15:54-58; Lk. 6:39-45

“The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;” (Sir. 27:6a) “The just one shall flourish like the palm tree;” (Ps. 92:13a) “For every tree is known by its own fruit;” (Lk. 6:44a) “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Jesus talks of good fruit and bad. What kind of fruit do we produce?

Last year, I visited a parishioner’s home for dinner and they offered me figs from their fig tree in the back yard. They were delicious. But, most fig tree owners in New Jersey will tell you their trees take a certain degree of care. When I was a deacon at Our Lady of Sorrows—St. Anthony Parish in Hamilton, the pastor, Msgr. Gervasio, told me how his uncle used to grow fig trees in Chambersburg, Trenton. In those days, the people who lived there were mostly Italian, and they brought with them their culture, their cuisine, and even their trees. Msgr. told me that his uncle would wrap the trees for the winter to protect them from the harsh frost. By caring for the trees in this way, he would ensure they would continue to produce good fruit each year.

Jesus says, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.” What does he mean by this? Simply put, as the good tree has received good nourishment to bear good fruit, so too must we receive good teaching to live good lives. If we follow bad teaching, we will tend towards bad actions, or bear bad fruits. Therefore, Jesus says, “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” And when our teacher is Jesus, we will be like God.

Jesus asks, “Can the blind lead the blind?” It is a rhetorical question, but should be considered with respect to the truth. The “blind” represents anyone who considers himself an expert but has false teaching. These so-called “experts” are legion, even today. Consider how many philosophers, scientists, doctors, and politicians who are atheists and conceive of the world as a product of time and chance. They treat Darwinism as a fact, rather than the theory that it is. It is the Theory of Evolution. We are not here because atoms randomly bumped together, rather, we are here because God created us to be here.

When we are led by blind guides, we ourselves are blind, but when our guide is Christ, we see clearly. We see the world as it truly is, part of God’s creation. If our mind is blocked by false teaching, it is like having a wooden beam in our eye. But, for the one who removes the wooden beam, who embraces the wisdom of Christ, they are able to see clearly and guide others to the truth.

Another way to describe this gospel passage is to consider the reality of sin. St. Thomas Aquinas describes sin as a darkening of the intellect. The wooden beam blocks the light. Therefore, he says, “The perfect intellectual operation in man consists in an abstraction from sensible phantasms, wherefore the more a man’s intellect is freed from those phantasms, the more thoroughly will it be able to consider things intelligible, and to set in order all things sensible” (Aquinas II-II, Q 15, A 3, co). So, the more we perfect our mind, the better ordered our life will be. The more virtuous we are, the more holy we will become. Because, as St. Paul says, “The sting of death is sin…But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus gives us an analogy: The good man brings forth fruit that is good and can be eaten, while the evil man brings forth fruit that is poisonous and cannot be eaten. There are over 90 fruit-bearing trees that produce fruit that is bad-tasting or even poisonous. We have to have knowledge to be able to tell them apart. Which of these types of fruits do we consume regularly? Are we feeding on false teaching and errors, or are we being nourished by the source of Wisdom? Like trees “[p]lanted in the house of the LORD, they shall flourish in the courts of our God” (Ps. 92:14).