These words from the Psalms: they are important to me; they have mattered to me a very long time; sometimes they convict me. Not the words from the ninety-second Psalm, which are assigned today, but rather these words from the sixty-ninth Psalm; they read thus:
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.[1]
Words stuck in my brain, these words about integrity: they are seared into me; sometimes they still burn, convicting me at times when I fear I have not stood witness or spoken truth as I should, as I promised I would, as I am called and ordained to do.
“Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me.” I pray those words often; those words hurt whenever I feel I’ve not told you the truth, the full truth of the Gospel; I don’t know, maybe in those moments I wanted you to like me more than hear me, those moments I needed your money for the parish or for the poor and didn’t dare want to upset you or remind you too pointedly of the coming judgment; or more, those more frequent moments when I just didn’t live up to the Gospel myself, and in sinning like that gave you no good reason to believe what I preach in the first place. “[L]et not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me.” I pray those words a lot—to keep myself honest and to convict myself when I need to be convicted. Perhaps you wanted a perfect priest, worthy of idolatry. But you shouldn’t want that; you should never want that; such priests do not exist.
I’m talking about integrity and leadership, spiritual integrity and spiritual leadership. Of course, I’m thinking from the perspective of my life as a priest, but these are matters relating to everyone. Integrity in a leader matters; it matters to all people, of course, but those in leadership are given more opportunity for either evil or good.
If you haven’t yet picked up on it, I am talking about the words of Jesus, what he said in today’s passage from Luke. “Can a blind man lead a blind man?” Jesus asks. “Will they not both fall into the pit?” He is talking about the leaders—spiritual and otherwise—of his day. He’s talking about the danger of following bad leaders, immoral leaders, corrupt leaders. The problem, Jesus is saying, is that when followers follow bad leaders, those followers can become bad themselves, that when a disciple learns from a bad or foolish teacher, the disciple can become bad and foolish too. “A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher,” Jesus says.[2] That’s the danger, Jesus is saying: that in following the wicked we risk becoming wicked ourselves. Which just isn’t what’s meant for those who want to be children of the Most High.[3]
So, what does that mean? Now you know why I keep praying those words from the sixty-ninth Psalm, that those who hope in God will not be put to shame through me. Now you know why I turn repeatedly to self-examination. Because whatever needs fixing, I need fixing first; I need to look at myself first. But so do you. I mean, what’s the very next thing Jesus says? “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”[4] I think it’s clear what Jesus means here, where he thinks we should begin—me with me and you with you.
This morning, we baptize a little one—a beautiful babe and a beautiful family. We’re baptizing a lot of kids in the parish this weekend; there’s grace everywhere. But what do you think’s going to happen if mom and dad don’t take up the genuinely hard work of the Christian vocation of fatherhood and motherhood? What do you think is going to happen if the parents making their promises to God today for the eternal sake of their children, if after today they do not take up the daily life, the Sunday-by-Sunday life, of a truly Catholic family? What do think is going to happen if they do not struggle to be Catholic parents not of perfection (not even God is asking for that) but at least of genuine integrity? “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into the pit?” What will happen? The answer is the kid will see through his parents by about ten-years-old, and then it will be so much harder for the Gospel and its grace to take root in the soul of that child; and the world will suffer from the sins born of yet more spiritual disappointment. “Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me;” priests and parents really should pray this prayer together, because it seems that for both of them the same eternal things are at stake.
And, of course, I’m talking to everyone, not just to myself and not just to parents. Think of the influence you have on the people around you, the importance of your faithful integrity, the importance of the integrity of your Christian and Catholic witness—where you work and where you play and where you live and where you shop. Take care how people learn either truth or lies from you, good or evil from you, beauty or ugliness from you—learning from what you say and what you do or fail to do. All of it matters: even in those little moments when no one is watching or when it’s just that one person you’ll never see again who needs you to be a genuine Christian in that one passing moment. It all matters; our integrity matters. Because of all the people in the world, we Christians shouldn’t be the blind ones; we should not lead others into blindness. We shouldn’t be the reason we all fall into the pit.
But now, one last thing. Not only must we Christians take care to be ourselves leaders of integrity, we Christians must also take care what leaders we choose to follow. When Jesus was preaching here, offering blessings and woes, warning about the blind leading the blind, everyone knew who he was talking about. He was talking about that “fox” Herod, about the Pharisees and others.[5] They knew who he was talking about; it’s what got him trouble. Now I don’t want to say much more than that; I don’t honestly know what to say here. But I take these words of the Lord to heart. I pray to look at myself honestly; I pray to be a person of integrity; I pray to God that I do not go blind. And, I don’t know, I just hope you do too. I hope we all pray like that. I hope we see what we need to see. Amen.
[1] Psalm 69:6
[2] Luke 6:39-40
[3] Luke 6:35
[4] Luke 6:41
[5] Luke 13:32
© 2025 Rev. Joshua J. Whitfield
