Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: The Carpenter's Paradox

Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV) Jesus said, “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, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

I've read this verse many times and pondered how to apply it to my own life. But this time, I realized, Jesus has pulled a masterful trick on us with a paradox.

I'm sure, as a carpenter, Jesus was used to dealing with planks and sawdust, so he thought of this metaphor. The words sound simple: Take the plank out of your own eye so you can see clearly to remove the speck of sawdust from someone else's eye.

OK, Jesus, so after I remove the plank, I can remove someone else's sawdust? Once I deal with my errors and sinful ways, I have license to judge?

Except I'll never fully remove the plank from my own eye and achieve perfect holiness. That's the trick. That's the paradox. I'll never earn the right to judge another.

It's just like in John 8, the story of the Pharisees and the adulteress, when Jesus proclaims, "The one among you without sin may cast the first stone." One by one, each person realizes their own sin and drops their stones of judgment.

All right, all right, Jesus. But don't you care about holiness? Don't you care whether people are following your ways?

Of course, Jesus does. But he tells us it all starts with us. It starts with knowing our own sin, our own wounds, our own lived experience, that cause us to behave as we do. And then, instead of assuming no one else has any wounds and are therefore ripe for our judgment, we should assume that everyone else has a background, a hidden story we don't see but God sees. This is why Jesus is perfectly positioned to judge, and we are not.

As Episcopal priest Joseph Yoo said in a social media reel, "Judgment belongs to God; the work of love belongs to us." Jesus said the greatest commandment includes loving your neighbor as yourself.

What I'm also realizing on this reading of the plank and sawdust story is a speck in the eye must hurt. I know this because my plank hurts, though I've become numb to it. When I look to my neighbor, I need to look for the hurt. Instead of acting as a judge, I become a nurse - or a therapist - or just a good friend who is interested in your pain.

So, I'm going to try hard to make a hard pivot and do hard work: speaking truth while relaxing my grip on judgment. Developing a consistent attitude of love and pain relief. I am overwhelmed because I know it won't be easy, but Jesus never promises us easy work. The carpenter knows hard work. Will you join me in doing hard work?

Have you ever visited my website? You'll find not only free resources like podcasts and blogs, but a wide offering of products for sale to help you and/or your small group of Christian friends build your daily faith structure. Books, study guides, video studies - it's all there under the Instant Content Products tab. Please take a detour to CecilTaylorMinistries. com (please type it into your browser; FB hates external links).