Reflection for the Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time C or the Eighth Sunday after Epiphany
Roman Missal Readings: Sirach 27: 4-7; Psalm 92; 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58; Luke 6: 39-45.
Revised Common Lectionary for the Eighth Sunday after Epiphany: Sirach 27: 4-7 or Isaiah 55: 10-13; Psalm 92; 1 Corinthians 15: 51-58; Luke 6: 39-49.
Revised Common Lectionary for churches that mark the Transfiguration this Sunday: Exodus 34: 29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3: 12- 4:2; Luke 9: 28-36.
So help me, I can’t resist.
The overarching theme of our First Reading and Gospel for this Eighth Sunday has to do with maintaining consistency between our words and our deeds. Both of these texts give us what are undoubtedly intentionally outrageous comparisons to grab our attention and shock us into recognition. The very first of these, in the Book of Sirach, reads,
“When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears; so do one’s faults when one speaks.”
That’s a clear enough visual. Or is it?
(If you’re eating right now, put it down for a moment.)
The commentary on this reading by Stephen J. Lampe reads,
“The most complex (and amusing) is the first [image.] When an ox treads out the grain, its droppings contaminate the whole lot. Thus, a sieve is employed to separate the refuse (i.e. excrement) from the grain. Human speech functions in a similar manner by revealing the insight (grain), as well as the faults (filth) of the speaker.”1
Dianne Bergant’s commentary is much more discreet:
“When wheat is first cut, it contains the husk, some beard, and straw. Only with some kind of threshing does this refuse appear. So it is with people. First impressions are not always accurate.”2
So once we get past “Eeeuw,” what’s left? I would suggest that the sequence of metaphors, first in Sirach and then in the words of Jesus reported in Luke, could not be more apropos for the world we live in, right here and now.
The Gospel reading from Luke 6 and the corresponding passage in Matthew 7 were both patterned on early Wisdom literature. Our snippet from Sirach, who says that he wrote “for all who seek instruction,” conveys just one message: that the principal criterion for evaluating the character of a person is by their speech.
The advice we find in Luke takes a more carefully-constructed, complex form. Jesus addresses his circle of disciples first by pointing out the need for a disciple to be well trained by a teacher. Secondly, the image of a person with a speck in their eye presuming to aid someone with a “log” in theirs, uses over-the-top hyperbole to strongly advise that one pursue (to borrow a phrase from twelve-step programs) a “searching and fearless moral inventory” to seek self-knowledge before helping others. This is similar to the instructions given by flight attendants to “put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.”
We can draw a straight line from Sirach 27:6 to Jesus’ third point: that every tree bears its own fruit – good from the good, rotten from the rotten. And fourthly, Jesus’ words loop back to the overall message in the passage from Sirach: a good person produces goodness, an evil person evil, and you can tell the difference by their speech.
Today it seems like a constant challenge to tell the difference between truth and falsehood. It’s easy to say, well, “you can tell them by their fruits” – but fruit can take a while to ripen. We need to sort this out right now because every day, news reports tell of propaganda promulgated by would-be authoritarian rulers and the outrageously wealthy, to serve their own interests. The big values are at stake: democracy, justice, trust, the rule of law, and yes, inclusivity.
Let’s pray for an abundance of sieves. And for masses of honest, conscientious and courageous people to shake them vigourously and never, ever, let go.
© Susan K. Roll
Susan Roll retired from the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, in 2018, where she served as Director of the Sophia Research Centre. Her research and publications are centred in the fields of liturgy, sacraments, and feminist theology. She holds a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain), Belgium, and has been involved with international academic societies in liturgy and theology, as well as university chaplaincy, Indigenous ministry and church reform projects.
