39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
The Parables in Luke:39-45 come after Luke’s rendition of the Beatitudes, essentially an instruction manual in how to act as Jesus wants us to. The parables in todays readings are not simply a thematic edition as some commentators assume but are directly related. Jesus gives instruction on how the adherents of his New Covenant community are to act. Then with the use of parables proposed as questions, Jesus explains how if they don’t abide by the rules he has set out they will be of no use to those in need. They are to be lights of the world, they have to act like it in order to be it.
The first parable, can a blind man lead a blind man? In context, can people who reject God’s revelation lead others to God’s revelation? No. He uses physical senses, something we do understand, as a symbol of the invisible senses of faith. Those that do not abide by Jesus’ words cannot lead other people into it, they will both fall in the pit. What’s interesting in this particular line is the possible additional meaning of “pit”. This was a colloquial term for Sheol, the land of the dead.
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher.
We will be like Jesus if we abide in him, we will never outrank him because we will always be his students but if we fully take in his teachings we will be able to imitate him. We shouldn’t let the parable limit us to just the consumption of knowledge, that would be heretical, the parable of learning knowledge as a student from a teacher in order to be like the teacher is again a more understandable framework to our small minds. It is a sign pointing toward a greater divine truth beyond our regular senses.
41 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
If we fully understood sin as it is we would notice the glaringly more obvious sins of our own doing before we ever noticed others. It doesn’t mean we can’t help people despite ourselves being sinful but if we truly want to help people we must be more aware of our own sins than others. We cannot correct another of a lesser sin than we ourselves commit without being a hypocrite. If we are to make war with sin we must acknowledge it fully in ourselves first.
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;
44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
Using trees and their fruit, something his audience will definitely understand, Jesus applies it to the model of the human person. We all understand that good trees make good fruit. Bad trees make bad fruit or no fruit at all. We have to be good people in order to make other people good. Changing the label on a pine tree does not make it an apple tree, the tree itself must be good. We have to be good to bear good fruit.
45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
A good person produces only good things from his heart because his substance is in itself good. Like the one Saint Paul speaks of, one who abides by the Spirit lives in the Spirit. No bad works, mistakes sure, but nothing intentionally evil. Jesus uses a persons heart as symbolic store room of our intent. If we only have good intentions store there, only good actions can come from it.
All of this relies on our adherents to his instructions on the Sermon on the Mount/Plain. We have to be like God in our own capacity in this life. We can’t fall into our own broken inclinations.
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