Homily for the Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

We Are Known By Our Fruits

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, February 27, 2022

During his earthly life and ministry, Jesus used both lengthy and brief parables to teach and communicate deep spiritual truths because it wasn’t unusual in his culture. Jewish rabbis used stories because they were effective, engaged their listeners and moved them to think or ask questions or to act. Parables bring to mind forgotten or ignored spiritual truths; they confront us with eternal reality, provoke and challenge the lies we have accepted as truths, disturb our comfort zones and if we yield to its message, ultimately refine our lives. 

In our today’s Gospel passage, which is part of the Sermon on the Plain, we find an excellent example of a parable. Jesus is speaking about hypocrites and false teachers and then says, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit.” I have a vivid recollection of my mother telling me in my early teenage years that a tree is known by its fruits. At the time, I was trying to understand why I was not allowed to hang out with a certain boy in my hometown, who is of the same age with me. Rather than give me a straight answer, my mother spoke using a native aphorism, “When a goat that does not eat yam starts hanging out with another goat that eats yam, the goat that doesn’t eat yam will learn to eat yam.” Her words led me into deep thinking, and when I realized the meaning of what she said, I went back to her and asked, “Mama, but how do you know that he is a bad boy?” My mother replied, “A tree is known by its fruits.” With that I gave up trying to convince her. Years later, I discovered that my mother was right. That boy, who is now a grown man wasn’t able to graduate from the university due to his waywardness, and he has fallen into serious trouble with the law a few times and had been in jail a few times as well. His life is still pathetic even to date. My mother used simple truths from the natural world to teach me something profound about our nature as moral beings.

So, what’s our Lord teaching us today? The type of fruit you produce reveals the type of person you are. What precisely tell where you are in your spiritual life and journey is the kind of fruit you bear. And the kind of fruit you produce is ultimately what will determine your eternal destination and reward. What are those fruits? Jesus speaks of love, love of God and neighbor. He speaks of loving our enemies, doing good to them, blessing them even if they curse us, and also praying for the ones who persecute us. Jesus speaks about providing the essential needs of the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable among us. Jesus speaks about prayer and obeying his commands: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The Lord speaks about making God the deepest longing of our heart and soul. He speaks about letting God invade our lives and use us as God wills. Jesus speaks about becoming his mouthpiece in the world, and becoming counter-cultural people. And in the Galatians 5:22, St. Paul speaks about what he called the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and they are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Why is fruit bearing necessary and vitally important to our Lord Jesus? It is because that’s what marks and separates us. The night before he was crucified, that is at the Last Supper, Jesus says, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you love have love for one another” (John 13:35). Bearing the fruit of love is the most firm way we show we Jesus’ disciples. It is easy to fool people with false pretenses, soft talk, and pious appearance. Talk is cheap. Facial expressions can be deceptive. In reality, what eventually demonstrates the kind of person we are is the fruit we produce. Don’t get me wrong. It is good to be eloquent when speaking and defending the faith. It is good to give a smile to someone, even to a stranger. Your smile can brighten and lighten up someone’s mood. However, after all that, the Lord wants us to be disciples who produce good and spiritual fruits. Words or speeches can move the world, and sometimes can change the world, but the fruits we bear can have a lasting and transformative impact in the world. Look at the saints, especially, Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her fruits of love, compassion, generosity and patience really changed the Church and the world in a very significant way. You can surely tell who the serious Christian is by the fruit they produce.

If the parable of the tree and its fruit has evoked some kind of deeper thought within you, or a desire to reexamine your ways of acting, talking and thinking, then the parable is still making impacts in our life. Remember, just as fruit bearing is the whole point of agriculture, so it is with Christianity.