Splintery Eyes

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;' and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.

Matthew 7:3-5, World English Bible (a public domain translation.)

This passage came to my mind out of the blue recently. I had been thinking about how dismally Religious Right figures like James Dobson had failed to evangelize or even influence the culture around them, and this passage came up. It talks about how a Christian should approach correcting another Christian, but I think it also applies to how a Christian should approach witnessing to the world. Our problem in America has been that we've been running around trying to do eye surgery on others without checking our own vision first.

What rafters, beams, timbers and other large wooden objects might we have to remove from our own eyes? Many of our “splinters” can be characterized by a love of money, a greedy materialism, and the dishonesty that tries to twist Scripture in order to justify our greed. The world sees through this, and often cites this greed as a reason for not believing the message of Christianity. This is seen especially in those who view the Christian witness as simply another tool of American empire-building. Getting rid of our splinters might mean facing the real reasons for our “prosperity,” as well as renouncing the supposed right to excessive consumption. It might mean the divorce of Christianity from patriotism in this country. Then we would see clearly to remove the specks from the eyes of others, and they might actually begin to trust us.

Ah, but for every time I point a finger at the Religious Right, there are three fingers pointing back at me. For I have also been reading the Gospel of Luke recently. A few weeks ago I was reading Luke 3, where John the Baptist is calling his audience the offspring of vipers and telling them to “bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.” When they asked him what they should do to demonstrate their repentance, he gave them an answer that focused mainly on how they treated money and possessions. One big point was that those who have any surplus should share with those who have none. I have a few things – not a huge stash, but there are a few surplus items. Yet I find that I myself don't always share well.