Reading 1: Sirach 27:4-7
Reading 2: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
One piece of common advice for business professionals is to create a “personal brand.” The theory is that creating a specific, consistent image to present to the world will help you advance in your career. Our readings today show exactly why that’s such horrible advice.
In both the reading from the prophet Sirach and from our Gospel reading, we’re told that what we keep inside – what we hold in our hearts – can’t be hidden forever. We might be able to disguise it for a while, but the world will eventually be able to see our true nature through our words and actions, and through the impact we have on those around us.
Hold Goodness in Your Heart
Sirach uses imagery to explain how our words eventually reveal the truth. Just like shaking a sieve reveals the refuse, a person’s words shake off the polished appearances and reveal the faults underneath. And just like the fruit of the tree can tell you whether or not the tree was cultivated and well-tended, what people say can tell you an awful lot about what they hold in their hearts!
But Sirach wasn’t telling us to be polite and careful about what we say and how we say it. He was telling us that our words will eventually reveal the truth, no matter how carefully we try to disguise it. So instead of worrying about choosing the right words to present a certain image to others, let’s just give our words something good to reveal. And to do that, we need to hold goodness in our hearts!
Improve Ourselves First
In our Gospel reading, Jesus uses several analogies to teach us. First, he explains that if a blind person leads another blind person, then they’ll both end up falling into a pit. Next, he points out the hypocrisy of pointing out the speck in someone’s eye when you have a plank in your own eye. Finally, he talks about good trees bearing good fruit and bad trees bearing bad fruit.
These analogies may seem unrelated at first but, taken together, they provide a very important lesson for us.
As Christians, we’re called to evangelize – to lead others to Christ – but we can’t lead others if we’re blind. And what can blind us? The planks in our own eyes – the faults and failings we tend to overlook – but which others can usually see.
Because, much like a tree, when we hold bad things in our hearts, then we’ll bear bad fruit. What’s on the inside will always end up manifesting outwardly, and others will often figure it out first through the words we speak… and then by the actions we take.
So the first thing for a true disciple of Christ to do is improve ourselves first. Make sure we can see clearly. Remove the planks from our own eyes. Store good treasure in our hearts. Cultivate and care for ourselves, then we’ll bear good fruit.
We Can’t Fool God
Too many people try to hide what’s in their hearts by learning to say the right words. They quote scripture and say they’re praying for others. They pretend to care, even though they’re really concerned about protecting their comfortable lives.
They forget that even if they’re able to fool everyone else, they can’t fool God. Our Lord knows what’s in our hearts. So our job is to fill our hearts with good treasure – focus on doing the Lord’s work – and not focus on our own selfish desires. As Christians, we’re not called to create a façade – a “personal brand” – we’re called to improve ourselves and then simply let the world see us for who we really are!
Life Applications:
What do you do to improve yourself?
How can you remove the plank from your own eye?
What does it mean to hold “good treasure” in your heart?
Check out the REAL Word Podcast for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C):
Original article by Brandon Jubar, 2004-2022.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.