Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
This time of year, I like to get outdoors and go hiking - I grew up hiking and I want to give that same sense of love of the outdoors and care of the environment to my kids.
We hiked a lot of difficult trails when I was growing up in Colorado. It's home to 57 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet, plus a number of other rugged trails. Given the weather and other variables, sometimes you just never knew what could be around a bend - a washed out trail, a flood, a rattlesnake. Sometimes my parents would ask us to stay put while they went ahead a little to see what was what. They'd return several minutes later having tried out several potential paths and found the one that was the most free of harm and potential pitfalls and then we'd all move on together.
That's what I think about when I read today's Gospel (Luke 6:39-42) about how the blind cannot lead the blind or they'd both fall into a pit. Somebody with knowhow needed to go ahead and scout out the trail, just as much as disciples of Christ need to scout out the places and times when we're most likely to be blinded.
Most of us want to think we're the most right, at least some of the time - and so we are especially prone to thinking we aren't blind. "Who me? I can see just fine" even as the sun is in our eyes or our peripheral vision is obscured. But Jesus cautions those of us who might try to be above it all: be sure to take out the wooden beam from your own eyes so that you can see clearly.
In saying all this Jesus raises a puzzle: how is it that someone who has a wooden beam in his own eyes, but doesn't know it, supposed to get to the point of knowing that the wooden beam is there? He gives us an answer of sorts in describing how a teacher's disciples are supposed to be: they're supposed to be like the teacher.
In a way, if everyone is well-formed you're not supposed to be able to see a difference between teacher and disciple. Another way to say it is, we're all meant to be teachers, and all meant to be disciples of one another. If I've got a wooden beam in my eye, the best thing is for me to be humble enough to accept the advice even of the littlest, newest Christian who can tell me about it - even if I've been a disciple for years and years and think I might know best. (And, after all, didn't Jesus say to be welcoming of the children because the Kingdom of God belongs to them?)
What a beautiful picture it is, indeed, to think that each one of us is both teacher and disciple helping each other not to be blind. We can only move forward on the path to God together, keeping watch together for obstacles and pitfalls.
Today, let us pray for the humility and grace to see all Christians as both teachers and disciples, people who can each help us seek God.
- Jana M. Bennett