By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted February 28, 2025

(See the readings for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

The Gospel passage for this Sunday’s liturgy is part of the “Sermon on the Plain” in the Gospel According to Luke. This passage follows last week’s passage in which Jesus says, “Stop judging and you will not be judged” (Luke 6:37).

This verse is helpful in understanding the passage for this Sunday. Ultimately the only judge is God himself. We should not take that role to ourselves but practically, doing so is very easy to fall into. The outcome of judging others is not very good.

Most of the time it leaves a “bad mark” on the person judged either in our thoughts or in the minds of others if we speak about it. Not much good is accomplished. It is not good for ourselves either as we place ourselves in a position that is not ours to take.

Jesus starts off this Sunday’s passage continuing with this theme. He says: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, when you do not see the beam in your own eye?” He is urging us to look inward – not outward at the faults, imperfections or sins of others but rather with humility, at ourselves. The action of self-reflection is one that opens a door to purification, conversion of heart and mind toward growth in integrity and charity.

Jesus uses the tree-bearing fruit to illustrate his teaching. Poor fruit points to something in the tree that is inadequate or damaged. Perhaps there is a disease in the tree. Perhaps it is not getting enough nutrients or water. Something is affecting the tree that inhibits it from producing good fruit. Trying to fix the fruit doesn’t really get to the heart of the matter; addressing the tree will.

So Jesus tells us: “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.”

In another episode, when correcting some Pharisees and scribes who are judging Jesus’ disciples for eating without washing their hands, Jesus gives a similar teaching, saying: “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile” (Mark 7:20-23; for a shorter list cf. Matthew 15:19).

These are some of the things that can cause the tree to bear bad fruit. The more that these, and the lesser evils that flow from them, are eliminated, the more the tree will bear good fruit.

In the midst of this teaching Jesus also says: “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” At first glance the saying might seem out of place in this context. On its own we might apply it to the disciples and Jesus (the teacher). This would apply to the disciples to whom Jesus is speaking then but also now.

Standing alone as a general statement that makes sense. But in this context, Jesus seems to be pointing again to the activity of judging others. Jesus is teaching on behalf of the Father. He reveals the Father to us. Certainly, God is revealed in the covenant with Israel, but the fullness comes through Jesus.

Here the emphasis is on mercy. God’s judgment on the world is forgiveness. Jesus pours forth this mercy and forgiveness in his passion and death. His resurrection witnesses to the victory of mercy over sin, life over death. In the public ministry we see, over and over again, Jesus forgiving rather than condemning.

Some specific examples include the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus’ association with “tax-collectors and prostitutes,” the interaction with Zaccheaus, the call of Matthew, and Jesus’ interaction with the thief crucified with him.

We as disciples of Jesus are taught by him how to live and how to love. In him, we see the good fruits that God brings forth from within man.

On Wednesday we will begin the penitential season of Lent. The weeks ahead provide us with a dedicated period of time to allow God’s purifying grace to work on us. The communal practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving help us with that interior transformation of which Jesus urges us today for, “A good person, from the store of goodness in his heart produces good.”

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.