The gospel this weekend warns us of three dangers and pitfalls in spiritual life: danger of following false prophets, danger of self-righteousness and hypocrisy, and danger of a deceived heart.
" Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.”
Jesus makes an important case that only someone who is steeped and grounded in the faith will make a good teacher of the faith. As an old adage says, “You cannot give what you do not have.” This doesn’t mean that one has to have a degree in theology or religious education in order to pass on the faith effectively. But, rather, someone has to have an ongoing personal relationship with God. This personal relationship is not just formed out of one’s own personal opinion or searches through the help of Google, but developed and nurtured in prayer, study of the Scriptures, active participation in the liturgy, and doing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, to name a few. Whom do you consider as your primary guide in your faith? Whose voice do you heed? Who are those people who look up to you as their models of Christian living? Are we good and faithful guides for them? Do we bring and usher them to springs of living water?
“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?”
The second pitfall that the gospel warns is the danger of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. They go hand in hand. Self-righteousness is a false projection of oneself to other people in order to receive their admiration and praise. It’s basically putting on a mask in order to play a role. It’s not only deceitful, but also aims to make others inferior in their spiritual life. It capitalizes on the weaknesses of others in order to raise oneself or feel superior. This is one of the biggest problems of Jesus with the scribes and Pharisees. Self-righteousness leaves no room for God’s mercy because one doesn’t see anything to be forgiven or to be changed. Am I conscious of the need for God’s mercy? Do I see other people as co-journeyers in faith, walking side by side with others towards heaven?
“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.”
The third pitfall that the gospel mentions is the danger of the deceived heart. The heart is not just the center of emotions, but it is also connected to the act of the will — thus we hear “from the fullness of heart the mouth speaks.” The heart manifests the truth, what lies underneath. God doesn’t seek lip service; he demands our hearts. If the heart is in the right place, then everything else falls in the right place as it directs everything according to its end. If God scrutinizes my heart, what will he find in there? Does it beat for him? Does it seek the treasures of God’s kingdom? – Fr. Cary