Avoid Hypocritical Judging

As Jesus continues in His discussion about judging He uses hyperbole to make a point.  He talks about a person who has a plank or board sticking out of his eye, asking to remove a speck or a splinter from the eye of someone else.  The idea here is that the person is not trying to be “nice” or even helpful.  Rather, he is trying to serve as a judge of someone’s attitude or behavior when his attitude or behavior is much, much worse.   That’s the idea that Jesus has in mind.  That is why He uses the word “hypocrite” to summarize the person with this kind of motivation.

Since most of us don’t deal with the logging industry, we need to apply this in other areas of our lives.  None of us is required to be perfect in order to judge in the right manner.  If that was the case, then none of us could ever judge.  However, when we judge someone, we need to be sure that we are not struggling in that very same area; especially in a way that is much, much worse than the one we are judging.  We see this at times in politics.  I remember some politicians voting to impeach President Clinton for his sexual indiscretions and lying about it; while they themselves were involved in adulterous relationships.  That’s hypocritical judging.

The hyperbole Jesus is using isn’t meant for us to avoid judging all together.  It is simply meant for us to examine our own lives before we enter into that kind of a relationship.   Pretty sobering words but important words as well.