Don't Judge, But Do Remove the Speck from Your Brother's Eye

Fourth Sunday after Trinity

June 19, 2016

Luke 6:37-42

Don't Judge, But Do Remove the Speck from Your Brother's Eye

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. (Luke 6:37 NIV 1984)

To most people this is the only thing that Jesus ever said. Even to many Christians, this is the whole Bible in a nutshell. Ironically, this verse is beloved by those who enjoy judging and condemning faithful Christians who speak the truth in love.

Getting drunk, fornicating, lying, and gossiping are sinful and wicked. Murdering babies is evil. Claiming that Jesus approved of sin of Sodom is a wicked lie.

But Jesus insists that you call

wicked things, wicked,

evil things, evil,

and sins, sinful.

He told you to judge yourself, and then judge others. He insists on this, not hoping humans go down into hell, but to save people from themselves. And this goes for us, too, more than anyone else. He said:

“[First] take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42 NIV 1984)

Removing the speck from your brother's eye is judge them. How do you take a speck out of someone else's eye? Ever try it with a little kid or squeamish friend? Good luck. You rarely get past the telling them that they have a speck-in-their-eye part.

How apropos of telling someone they are sinning! But we take our chances anyway and tell them they shouldn't gossip or murder babies. We bring up these uncomfortable truths because we are their friends.

If you're in a car with a driver who's texting, should you say something? Yes, but why are there still so many accidents where texting is the cause. Often no one cared enough to say something and when someone did, the texting trespasser became angry: “How dare you judge me?!”

Ever hear this one: A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothes themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the weavers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor suspects the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

Raising kids to call a thing what it is out of care for others is good for saving lives. Raising people to call a sin a sin will save eternal souls, not because of the judgment, but calling someone to repent of sin brings them to Christ.

Think of how often Christ judged others. He judged not to condemn, but to save sinners from themselves. And unlike the texting driver who does what they want, Christ listened to the command and will of His holy Father and went to die on the cross for all our sins, including our sins of silence in the face of evil, especially evil in our own homes and familes and in our own mirrors.

But for all sin, He did die and paid the price to forgive all of it. And so now His forgiven people do not judge, but we do take the plank out of our own eye, and then we'll see clearly to remove the speck from the eye of fellow sinners, whom we love.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Alleluia! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21