27 June 2018
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Sorting out the truth from what someone says can be very tricky; words can be woven in such a way that we like what we hear, that it feels good and true, yet it isn’t true at all. Or, even more insidiously, it is mostly true. Jesus tells us today that the surest way to tell if someone is preaching the truth is to see how they live their lives.
A person who talks the Christian language but does not live a Christian life (or, as the case may be, is not at least trying diligently to do so), is a false prophet: they are clearly after something other than the glory of God and the help of souls. Jesus warns us against such people, who talk the talk but do not walk the walk; Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and we cannot choose one of those things—the truth—and forsake the way we must go and the life we must live: it is all or nothing, just as Jesus is not one or the other, but all. We must not only be cautious of these wool-dressed wolves, but we must avoid being one ourselves.
How do we do that? Look to the trees of nature: an apple tree bears apples, not oranges, not pears, but apples, according to the breed of tree. What kind of “tree” are you? A Christian; and the fruit proper to you? According to St. Paul, we ought to bear, by the Spirit within us, the fruits of “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” (Galatians 5:22-23) to which some translations add modesty and chastity. Did not Jesus say, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…?” (John 15:16) Just as we will know a false prophet by their fruits, so we will be known by ours (Matthew 25:31-46).
Not only should we endeavor to produce the fruit proper to the “tree” God calls us to be, but let it be good fruit! Recall in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (referred to above) the “goats” were not condemned for anything they did, but rather for what they did not do. They seemed to have lived life according to the Silver Rule, rather than the Golden, which is: “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” In other words, if you don’t do anything bad, you are doing great and, in a sense, you are. However, Jesus commands us to love one another, to “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” There is a positive and active direction here; we are meant to be fruitful! If for fear of producing bad fruit we produce no fruit at all, what is the point? Imagine a good tree that fears producing bad fruit, so it chooses to go barren for a season: what will the farmer do to that tree?
Rather, dare to love; dare to be fruitful for the glory of God. Walk the talk; live a life of Christian integrity, endeavoring to practice what you preach, so that everyone will see that there is a consistency between what you say and what you do. Even if all you can produce are the budding blossoms of fruit yet to ripen, praise God; let Him ripen it! For even these small signs will confirm in your life what Jesus said: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).