Judging: Pigs and Planks

This morning I was reading about God’s forgiveness when I came upon a favorite verse we use in handling it. Matthew 7:3-5 "And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ’Let me remove the speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye."

As I read this I realized the emphasis was on the “plank’ and not the ‘speck’ in relation to sin. Correctly stated, the speck and the plank represent sin, hence it’s all sin. Jesus here uses the graphic example of a plank of wood and a speck of dust. Here’s one guy with a little piece of dust in his eye. There’s somebody else with a two-by-four coming out of his forehead, and he’s trying to get that speck out. Every time he turns around, the other guy has to duck. Sounds like a Laurel and Hardy or 3 stooges bit.

Jesus used the illustration of a plank and a speck because he was a carpenter; that was familiar to him and it was familiar to the people around him.

You ever watch a die-hard football fan watch football? He’ll criticize the quarterback for not throwing well, the receivers for not catching the easy passes, and the linemen for not blocking well. Especially if his team is losing! If he’s so good at knowing what to do, then why is he sitting in a chair watching the game instead of being out there coaching or playing? I’ve seen these armchair quarterbacks play in the filed or their backyards. Talk about 3 stooges!

Jesus says, "You’ve got no room to criticize others because of your own inadequacies!"

Yet, even though we are unqualified, we still judge. I don’t think that the plank in our eyes is necessarily a worse sin. I think he’s talking about the sin of self-righteousness, appointing us as the official speck of sawdust inspectors of the brotherhood. The only sins over which we have control our own, and those are the ones that should command our greatest attention.

So, if a brother or sister comes to you with a speck in their eye do we run away and wait till our planks are removed? Hopefully you don’t. Jesus was saying there is a place for some discernment in people’s lives. If you see brothers or sisters who have specks in their eyes, you need to help them take it out and in turn they will help you with your plank!

""Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness."  Galatians 6:1

Jesus says, "Don’t judge, don’t condemn." Then, in the same breath, he says, "Make certain judgments concerning people and behavior."

Did Jesus just contradict himself? Nope! In this second statement, Jesus acknowledges the need for making decisions concerning people and behavior that is detrimental to our Christian lives. The command not to judge others doesn’t mean that we can’t see the sinfulness of certain actions.

But be warned…

You can take a pig and put him in a bathtub. You wash him. You floss his teeth. You put mousse in his tail. You do whatever you want. Then you put him back outside, and you know where he’ll go…back to the mud. Jesus was saying there are people like that. These words are harsh, but his point is that we shouldn’t waste spiritual treasures on those who have no spiritual interest.

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent some disciples out and he said, "Look. When you go into a town, and they don’t have the time of day for you, shake the dust off your sandals and get out of there." Some people are spiritual pigs

We need to be careful not to become harshly judgmental, looking for faults, taking the opportunity to look down on others from our position of self-righteousness.

We need to be able to recognize sin for what it is. Any attempt to overlook or justify sin on any grounds is itself sinful.

But most of all, we must realize that God has forgiven us and we need to discern between pigs and people.