Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Please, brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ yet cannot even see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
The late Frank Doyle, SJ, sums this passage up so well. He says:
The faults we so easily see in others are often trivial in comparison with our own shortcomings. Of course, much of the energy we exert in putting down others (the main staple of our gossiping sessions!) is sub-consciously to compensate for the shortcomings we are all too aware of in ourselves. Instead of lifting ourselves up by changing our ways, we try to drag others down.
And, so often our judgments are based purely on external behavior. We usually have no idea of the inner motives or intentions of other people or an awareness of their inability to behave otherwise than they do (Sacred Space).
It is so easy to pass judgment on others, but when we really think about it, we are guilty of at least as much. Maybe our guilt comes in the from of other kinds of wrongdoings than that of which we accuse others, but what Doyle says is true: We are compensating for our own shortcomings, even if it is subliminal. I pray that I avoid this type of bad behavior (of which I am guilty), and through Christ's words, I focus instead on being a better disciple as a person of faith, hope, and love in this world. Amen.
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