Allies of Truth; Followers of Jesus

HOMILY: Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 6:39-45 

27 February 2022

Fr. Ricky C. Montanez, AA 

Twitter has elevated the scale of opinion. Yung mga mahilig mag-comment at magbigay ng opinyon sa anumang bagay ay namamayagpag sa Twitter. Opinion is a statement of a person’s feelings towards something. Ideally, everyone should respect everyone else’s opinion because we cannot be judged for how we feel. Yet twitter erupts in a lot of heated arguments and fierce word wars that it can make the platform really toxic. Nakakasama lang ng araw. It happens when people try to change each other’s minds and then start attacking each other’s person/character. Yun ang masaklap. People are so focused on proving the other wrong that they fail to gauge whether they are the one in error or that they need to stop themselves from digressing from character assassinating another. 

This Sunday’s gospel passage picks up from where we have left off in the past two Sunday gospel readings on Jesus’ teaching about the blessed life. This time Jesus points out our all too human tendency of judging the actions of others. If we are honest enough with ourselves, we will realise that we are indeed very quick to point out the failings of those around us. We seem to have a special set of eyes and ears for other people’s faults while we are quite blind and oblivious to our own. Pero kung gaano katalas ang ating paningin o pandinig sa pagkakamali ng iba, ganun naman tayo ka-bulag at bingi sa sarili nating kakulangan at kamalian. Ang mas malala, ay kapag ipinagtatanggol pa natin ito kahit ito’y naturingang baluktot na pag-iisip at pananaw sa buhay. We become defensive and are quick to hide our own failings by calling even greater attention to the faults of others… “eh bakit si ganito hinahayaang maging ganyan? … eh si ganyan mas masahol pa nga sakin…” etc. Tila gusto nating iba muna ang magbago kaysa sa tayo ang magbago. Maaaring dahil alam nating mahirap, o di kaya’y hindi tayo kumbinsido na tayo ang nagkakamali. 

There are three things I wish to propose that I hope you will consider — first, although we should not judge other people’s opinions, an opinion does not change the truth about something. What is wrong will always be wrong. Hindi porke’t sa aking pananaw honest ang aking kandidatong ipinaglalaban, eh matataguriang katotohanan na iyon para sa lahat. Maaaring may ebidensyang nagpapatunay sya ay sangkot sa katiwalian. Yun na ang katotohanan at di yun mababago o mabubura ng paghanga ko sa kanya.  It is to Jesus whom we look for guidance of everything that is good, of what is righteous and of what is authentic. If we are too liberal and too accepting of everything, we end up muddling and diminishing the truth.  Secondly, we should accept that our differing perceptions are formed because each and everyone of us is unique. Yes, we are people of different backgrounds, circumstances and life experiences. Maaaring ang platorma ng isang kandidato ay mas naaayon sa paniniwala at pagpapahalaga ng isang pamilya kaya sinusuportahan nila, samatalang ang pamilyang may ibang pinahahalagahan ay susuporta sa kandidatong mas nababagay sa kanilang ideolohiya. We are all different, and all equally flawed. No one is perfect. Even if we differ in opinion, we have to be understanding of each other’s idiosyncrasies. Iba iba ang ating pinanggagalingan at pinagdadaanan. Thirdly, Jesus asks each of us to stand up for the truth. We are not to judge people but rather advocate truth. In this light, it is perfectly acceptable to call someone out when they are being inappropriate, hasty or naive about certain situations.   Kailangan pa rin nating panindigan kung ano ang tama at ano ang mali. What is wrong will always be wrong. As followers of Jesus, we cannot find ourselves allied with what is evil and dishonest. 

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel passage truly hit home. “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s (sister’s) eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” Jesus challenges us to stop faulting others. Instead, we are encouraged to try to do some self-examination and recognise our own shortcomings. From a practical perspective, we can only control how we think and act. We can’t always force our perception of propriety on others. We have a better chance of improving our own ways of behaving and treating others rather than bossing people around, getting them to comply with our idea of righteousness and basically telling them what they should do with their lives. Jesus wants us to honestly look at ourselves first.  Moreover, we should strive to do as we say. Twitter can give the speaker a sense of anonymity. So, they can say whatever they want without feeling pressured to manifest this in their life. They can hide behind their alias or Twitter handle and not put their personal reputations at stake. Taking after the model of Jesus, we Catholics should have integrity of speech. These days we struggle to take people at their word. In Hebrew they have the word DĀBĀR, which means both “word” and “deed”. It acknowledges that our words should match our actions. Syempre ayaw nating matawag na hipokrito kung saan iba ang sinasabi natin sa ginagawa natin. If we must call people out on what they are doing wrong, we can use constructive criticism, or points for improvement. This is usually done to help the other person improve on oneself. It is spoken in a kind, honest, and objective manner. Whereas, rash judgments of other people are usually spoken in their absence and are not meant to help them but rather to tear them down and discredit them in society. 

Remember, my three propositions to you — 1. opinion does not change truth. 2.  We have to respect people despite the differences in opinion. 3. We must always uphold the truth if we are true followers of Jesus. We pray therefore for God’s grace that we may discern what is true, that we will achieve a certain sense of our selves — an understanding of our individual brokenness — and how, as a people of faith, we can help each other heal and come into wholeness through Jesus. In so doing, we will not be rash at making judgements of other people and of their actions. We pray for the grace to be honest with ourselves, to recognise our failings, and to learn from the path of Jesus how we can be more like our one true Teacher.