“Fully trained... like his teacher”

Read Luke 6:39-42

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If those who are blind have a blind guide (e.g. the Pharisees) it can only end in disaster (39; Mt.15:14). So be careful who you follow! Jesus came to bring light to the blind (Lk.4:18; Jn.9:5-7), and his disciples too are to be lights to the world (Mt.5:14; Eph.5:8-9). But that’s only possible by reflecting him. The teacher’s purpose is to fully train his students to become like the teacher (40; Mt.10:24; Jn.13:16).

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So disciples must be free from hypocrisy, as this humorous illustration teaches (41-42; Mt.7:3-5). The idea of trying to carry out eye-surgery on others while we are blinded by a large plank in our own eye is amusing, but it makes a serious point – trying to correct minor faults in others without first addressing our own shortcomings means we are blind guides. And we’ve just been told what happens to blind guides – and their followers (39).

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Seeing and helping people with their specks is not wrong. In fact, what Jesus says here is so that we are enabled do that: “Then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (42). But if we don’t deal first with the plank in our own eye, we are hypocrites and our attempts to help will only make things worse.