Luke 6:41-42
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I’ve always had trouble visualizing this verse. Every one of us has had the experience of getting a speck of dust in our eye so that part I get, but the picture of somebody going around with a plank in their eye just always seemed ridiculous…. and maybe that was Jesus’ point to draw attention to how absurd it is to judge other people, but I want to share a similar story that speaks to the judgmental attitude that Jesus was warning about.
This is a true story from an old preacher I knew in my youth (I was 17 at the time I first heard this story). I admired him greatly. He had a way with words, that eclipsed most speakers I have heard and he was a leader in our denomination for many years, but for this story we will just refer to him as Howard.
Howard grew up in southeastern Kansas around 1910. For you who only know Kansas from the Wizard of Oz, that part of Kansas has two features -- rough, thick woods along the rivers, and beautiful, rocky, rolling hills dotted with grazing livestock. It is also known for the lack of one feature and that is any towns of significant size. (Think Walnut Grove of Little House on the Prairie and you’ll be close) Howard lived well out in the country in the thick woods.
He had an older brother and a baby sister. In those days gathering wood for cooking and heating was a never-ending task and as such fell on the whole family as a responsibility. In Howard’s case it was seen as a family activity. They would go as a group out into the woods, with a horse and wagon. His dad and older brother would chop, saw and split the wood into appropriate sized chunks and mama (and the kids if they were big enough) would help stack it into the wagon for transport back to the house.
On one such outing, Howard was fascinated by his father’s tools and when the adults were busy doing their tasks, decided to investigate the hatchet. At some point the inevitable happened and he sliced his fingers rather severely.
The cut was across the back of his fingers on his left hand and it was deep enough that the blood was pouring vigorously from the wound. Screams brought mama’s attention and she did the best she could in the middle of the woods with no doctor or hospital available. She tore off pieces of her dress and bandaged the hand and fingers tightly. The injury was severe enough that family expected that he would lose the use of the fingers in that hand if not an entire finger or two, but quick action and a hardy pioneer constitution managed to promote healing and, in the end, all that was left was a prominent scar.
As Howard grew up he felt the call to the ministry and began preaching in churches, school houses and about any place a group of people could be gathered. He married a fine resourceful woman and Howard and Bertha began to travel together throughout the area with him doing the preaching and she doing whatever was necessary to support him.
On one occasion he was preaching and, as was his custom, used his hands liberally to punctuate his points. There was a particular lady in the audience that day and after the service she sought out Bertha. The lady, who shall remain nameless, must have thought it was her mission to critique this young preacher and so explained to Bertha that his message had been adequate and delivered in an understandable fashion, but there was one thing that bothered her. Bertha, she said, should pay more attention to preparing her husband for public speaking and in particular she should see to it that he washed his hands before preaching. Bertha was a bit taken aback and had no immediate reply. The lady pressed the point that she had noticed a prominent smudge on the back of his fingers of his left hand that should have been dealt with.
What happened next I am not sure and probably isn’t important. What was important is how Howard wrapped up this frontier parable. His words stuck in my 17-year-old brain and I have tried to live by them ever since. “The lady noticed dirt where there really was none,” he said. “And the moral of the story is this. Be careful when you perceive dirt in someone else’s life, it might just be a scar from a battle they have fought and survived but in which you might have been vanquished and died.”
If we are to follow Jesus and live IN the world and not OF it we are bound to encounter people with ‘dirt’ in their lives. They have been through battles we don’t know about. They have encountered situations we can’t comprehend. They have lived nightmares we have not dreamed. And those battles, those situations, those nightmares will leave scars. Be very careful what you see as dirt in someone’s life, for it may be a scar from a battle you would have lost. They are survivors. God has brought them through the trial, and where God has sustained, let no man lose hope.
Let’s Pray
Jesus, Wash our eyes with your love and mercy, When we see dirt in the lives of others, let us see the blood of the cross that can make the foulest clean.
Teach us to value every person we meet with the value of one you have died for.
And let us always be prepared to give the reason for the hope that we have in us because of you, and to do it with gentleness and respect.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
I’ve always had trouble visualizing this verse. Every one of us has had the experience of getting a speck of dust in our eye so that part I get, but the picture of somebody going around with a plank in their eye just always seemed ridiculous…. and maybe that was Jesus’ point to draw attention to how absurd it is to judge other people, but I want to share a similar story that speaks to the judgmental attitude that Jesus was warning about.
This is a true story from an old preacher I knew in my youth (I was 17 at the time I first heard this story). I admired him greatly. He had a way with words, that eclipsed most speakers I have heard and he was a leader in our denomination for many years, but for this story we will just refer to him as Howard.
Howard grew up in southeastern Kansas around 1910. For you who only know Kansas from the Wizard of Oz, that part of Kansas has two features -- rough, thick woods along the rivers, and beautiful, rocky, rolling hills dotted with grazing livestock. It is also known for the lack of one feature and that is any towns of significant size. (Think Walnut Grove of Little House on the Prairie and you’ll be close) Howard lived well out in the country in the thick woods.
He had an older brother and a baby sister. In those days gathering wood for cooking and heating was a never-ending task and as such fell on the whole family as a responsibility. In Howard’s case it was seen as a family activity. They would go as a group out into the woods, with a horse and wagon. His dad and older brother would chop, saw and split the wood into appropriate sized chunks and mama (and the kids if they were big enough) would help stack it into the wagon for transport back to the house.
On one such outing, Howard was fascinated by his father’s tools and when the adults were busy doing their tasks, decided to investigate the hatchet. At some point the inevitable happened and he sliced his fingers rather severely.
The cut was across the back of his fingers on his left hand and it was deep enough that the blood was pouring vigorously from the wound. Screams brought mama’s attention and she did the best she could in the middle of the woods with no doctor or hospital available. She tore off pieces of her dress and bandaged the hand and fingers tightly. The injury was severe enough that family expected that he would lose the use of the fingers in that hand if not an entire finger or two, but quick action and a hardy pioneer constitution managed to promote healing and, in the end, all that was left was a prominent scar.
As Howard grew up he felt the call to the ministry and began preaching in churches, school houses and about any place a group of people could be gathered. He married a fine resourceful woman and Howard and Bertha began to travel together throughout the area with him doing the preaching and she doing whatever was necessary to support him.
On one occasion he was preaching and, as was his custom, used his hands liberally to punctuate his points. There was a particular lady in the audience that day and after the service she sought out Bertha. The lady, who shall remain nameless, must have thought it was her mission to critique this young preacher and so explained to Bertha that his message had been adequate and delivered in an understandable fashion, but there was one thing that bothered her. Bertha, she said, should pay more attention to preparing her husband for public speaking and in particular she should see to it that he washed his hands before preaching. Bertha was a bit taken aback and had no immediate reply. The lady pressed the point that she had noticed a prominent smudge on the back of his fingers of his left hand that should have been dealt with.
What happened next I am not sure and probably isn’t important. What was important is how Howard wrapped up this frontier parable. His words stuck in my 17-year-old brain and I have tried to live by them ever since. “The lady noticed dirt where there really was none,” he said. “And the moral of the story is this. Be careful when you perceive dirt in someone else’s life, it might just be a scar from a battle they have fought and survived but in which you might have been vanquished and died.”
If we are to follow Jesus and live IN the world and not OF it we are bound to encounter people with ‘dirt’ in their lives. They have been through battles we don’t know about. They have encountered situations we can’t comprehend. They have lived nightmares we have not dreamed. And those battles, those situations, those nightmares will leave scars. Be very careful what you see as dirt in someone’s life, for it may be a scar from a battle you would have lost. They are survivors. God has brought them through the trial, and where God has sustained, let no man lose hope.
Let’s Pray
Jesus, Wash our eyes with your love and mercy, When we see dirt in the lives of others, let us see the blood of the cross that can make the foulest clean.
Teach us to value every person we meet with the value of one you have died for.
And let us always be prepared to give the reason for the hope that we have in us because of you, and to do it with gentleness and respect.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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