The Gospel for this coming Sunday is a practical admonition to incorporate your faith, faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, into the very root and being of your day – thoughts, words and actions. Begin with yourself: inspect the fruits of your lived-faith and then evangelize others to do the same.  Our faith should be like our bibles: well used with all the “new shine” worn away. With that in mind, a final thought from Culpepper (152):

Once there was a man who took great pride in his automobile. He performed all the routine maintenance on schedule and kept the car clean inside and out. When he could afford to do so, he began to trade cars every couple of years so that he always had a relatively new vehicle. He also traded up, getting a larger, more luxurious car each time. Then he began to trade every year so that he would always have the current model. Eventually, he got to the point where he would buy a new car, drive it home, and leave it in the garage. He refused to use it because he didn’t want to put any miles on it or run the risk of getting it scratched. So the new car just sat—pretty, but never used. This could be a parable of the way some people treat their faith, becoming less and less active in church while professing more and more strongly that they are committed Christians.

Jesus knew that it would not be easy for anyone to respond to the call to discipleship. The simple call, “Follow me,” meant such a radical change of life. Knowing how difficult it would be, Jesus concluded the sermon with sayings that warn about the urgency of putting discipleship into practice.

Image credit: A detail of The Parable of the Mote and the Beam | Domenico Fetti, 1619 | Metropolitan Museum of Art NYC | PD-US

Although not part of the gospel for the 8th Sunday, most commentators include the following verses as part of the same pericope. It addresses the need for a sure foundation from which to judge and assess one’s commitment to Jesus.

 ⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?⁴⁷ I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them.⁴⁸ That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.⁴⁹ But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.” 

Previously in the 8th Sunday gospel, Jesus admonishes his disciples to not be blind to their own faults and failing before they are too enthusiastic about pointing out the faults and failings of others. What follows is practical advice about discernment since the intentions and heart of a person are harder to discern:

⁴³ “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. ⁴⁵ 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.

Perhaps the famous portion of the 8th Sunday gospel is the simile of the splinter and the wooden beam.  ⁴¹ Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? ⁴² 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.

This expression did not originate with Jesus. Nor was Aristotle likely the first to give voice to the common expectation that those who reprove others ought not suffer from the same shortcoming. In one form or another, it seems every culture has a similar admonition.  In context it resonates with the caution not to judge others in the preceding section (vv. 37–38). Taken independently, the parable exposes the common human predilection to point out even the slightest faults in others while being blind to our own, even though they may be much greater (cf. Matt 7:3–5).

Our gospel for the 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time is situated at the end of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” It begins simply: “And he told them a parable…” (v.39) Interestingly, nothing that follows is actually considered a parable; all are better seen as wisdom sayings, proverbs or similes. Be that as it may, the purpose of this part of the sermon is clear. Luke signals a change of direction within Jesus’ discourse and draws Sermon to a close with a call to add obedience to the hearing of Jesus’ message. In verses 43-49 the word “(to) do” appears five times and becomes the catchword along with “doing good” that appeared earlier in the sermon. Herein appears a principal call of Luke-Acts: the practical demand of the gospel with emphasis on behavior – not a sole emphasis – but highlighted nonetheless. The issue is one of character and commitments becoming action in the life of the believer. To attempt to separate character – commitment – action is to succumb to hypocrisy (vv.41-42,46). A person’s heart will be revealed by the fruit of their actions (v.44).