The Log in Your Eye

Today’s Gospel is a big favorite of non-Christians — or Christians who don’t like being told what to do.

That trusty ol’ remove the wooden beam from your own eye line is a classic. Mind your business, Christians! You’re not perfect either.

And that’s entirely true. None of us are perfect. We’ve all got logs in our eyes. We can’t approach life acting like we have the answers simply because we follow Jesus.

Jesus has the answers, and we have Jesus.

The real problem with having someone remove a splinter from my eye, if he himself has a log in his eye, is not that he has no business removing the splinter from my eye. It’s that he can’t see clearly to do it. His own eyesight is occluded.

If we see a splinter in another person’s eye, or a problem in the world that needs to be fixed, or a scandal in the community that should be addressed, what Jesus is saying is not that we should ignore it and move on. He’s merely saying that, when we see these things, we must take them first as a challenge to examine ourselves. To address the problem as it exists within our own souls, so that we ensure we are seeing clearly. Then, if we reach out to pluck the splinter, we will do so with clear eyesight.

He wants us to worry as much about our own souls as we do about other people’s.

We tend to look at the world and feel anxious — so much evil! So much hate! So much sin! We pray, God, when will you change it?

And He whispers back: I will change it here. Now. In your own heart. You just have to ask.

©LPi