THIS Sunday’s gospel (Luke 6:39-45) talks about the need for moral ascendancy among people who exercise leadership or influence on other people. In the words of Jesus, “Can a blind person guide another blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?”
He also said, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye, ‘when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”
Do we want to become leaders or teachers in the religious, political, civic, educational, economic and social arenas of our society who are worthy of our calling? Then let us do our best to live up to the challenge of Jesus to stand on high moral ground, not that we are perfect but that we strive to be the persons conformed to the Lord’s will.
To stand on high moral ground is to practice what we preach and to walk our talk. It means consistency in what we say and do. It is living a life of integrity – at the limelight and when nobody is looking. To do otherwise is to become the blind guides and the hypocritical judges that Jesus speaks of in the gospel.
But how can we know if our brand of leadership is living up to this gospel truth? Jesus cannot be any clearer, “By their fruits you shall know them.” He said, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. 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.”
Human experience tells us that to be morally ascendant is not easy all the time. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, our ups and down. We succeed and we fail. We hit the mark or miss it. One thing sure, we all make mistakes. The world and our society must have been better if our organizations – church, government, schools, businesses, and other institutions – were led from time immemorial by faultless human beings; however, we know that such was not the case. The good news is that we have a Teacher and Master who keeps everything under control, whose teachings we can follow and whose life we can emulate. This Teacher and Master is no other than Jesus who said, “No disciple is superior to the teacher, but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.”
Only Jesus has the supreme, perfect and unquestionable moral ascendancy to teach and guide. This, however, is not an excuse to ettle for moral rottenness. The Perfect Teacher is challenging us to take him as our model. In doing so, many will be the times when we will fall. Nevertheless, we should not wallow in our weakness but rise from every fall.
As always, everything is a grace from God. Will we open up ourselves to receive that grace and use it, that it may take root and bear much fruit?