Luke 6:39-42 ³⁹He pictured it to them in this way: “Can a blind man lead another blind man? Won’t they both fall into a ditch? ⁴⁰A pupil is not above his teacher. But anyone who is well trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and don’t notice the log in your own eye? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ as long as you don’t see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first throw the log out of your own eye. Then you’ll see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

In this sermon on the plain it may seem at times Jesus is jumbling things together but I do think these things continue with the theme of “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” in verse 36. What does the blind leading the blind and a pupil not being above his teacher have to do with that? We see it fulfilled in Jesus. We were blind to the things of God. We did not understand the things of heaven. Our Father has been merciful to us so we could quit leading one another blindly about with our own thoughts and philosophies. He has been merciful to us by sending his son Jesus with his word to teach and lead us. Having Jesus’ word is like having a guide-dog. Now we don’t lead one another blindly. We have Jesus’ word to lead us and we can invite our fellow blind sojourners to hold on to us while we hold on to the dog i.e. God’s Word.

God has been merciful to us that being Jesus’ disciples we can be like him as we become well trained by him. The Holy Spirit trains us well with the Word and Sacraments. Of course we will never be equal to Jesus. But we can bear his image and likeness as we learn from him. As we bear his image and likeness we can lead others in the same. And the main way we can bear his image and likeness is being merciful to others as he has been merciful to us.

Looking at the speck in your brother’s eye is a bit like Jesus’ earlier statement to not judge. It is not that we should not help others to remove their specks but as Jesus said, “remove the log in your own eye first.” What does this mean? Fairly simple it means first to consider your own sins as worse than others. That is what “don’t judge” when Jesus tells us to not do that means. It is value judgment rather than a “don’t correct people when they sin.” We should recognize our own sinfulness and sins first and foremost of all. We should recognize how greatly we have sinned against God by our sins and think of ourselves as the chief of sinners (as Paul did). We should consider our sins and sinfulness worse than the person we are trying to help. Only when we can see the enormity of our sins can we see clearly enough and come in a spirit of humility and grace to another person about their sins.

Jesus does want us to help our brothers with their specks. He does want us to judge. He just wants us to do it in a spirit of humility, grace, and love. In chapter 17 he tells us to rebuke our brother who sins against us. Paul tells us in his letters to reprove, rebuke and exhort people with the Word of God. But when we do so, it is one sinner speaking with another sinner in love, with grace and mercy.

Heavenly Father, grant us your grace and mercy that we may properly see our own sins and recognize your great mercy to us so when necessary, we may in the same Spirit help our fellow Christians confess their sins and experience your grace and mercy. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.