Dear Friends,
When you take away the plank from your eye
trust someone else to remove the splinter…
Matthew 7: 1-5
If you have ever removed a speck of something from someone’s eye you will know how careful and gentle you need to be. You will be trusted to hold the eyelid up and look inside to identify where the problem is so that you can gently brush it out with a finger.
It’s something you are invited to do when someone admits to having something in their eye, but you won’t trust someone with a plank in their eye to do it because they won’t be able to see! Even if you have a tiny speck in your eye find someone you can trust to take it out before accusing anyone of being blind because of a plank in their own eye.
Careful and gentle were not gifts displayed by Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the week and a pause in their debate — if that was what it was — to remove the planks from their eyes would have been time well invested. The plank might have left a splinter which they couldn’t remove for themselves so I imagine Donald saying to Joe: “Can you get this speck out of my eye, please?”
Another problem they had seemed to be wax in their ears because they obviously couldn’t hear when the other was speaking, but I don’t think Jesus made any comment on that. Or did he? We all have ears so did he mean: “Those who have no wax in their ears, let them hear!” (Matthew 11: 15) Maybe the devil can be in the wax: “The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God!” (John 8: 47)
If we take the plank out of our eye and then trust someone to remove the splinter that is still there we will see more clearly what we can do to make the future better for everyone.
Then, of course, the wax! Remove that and your ears will hear what needs to be heard when someone is speaking. Wait until they finish then say what you need to say and everyone else will get the message you want to deliver as well.
Jesus presents another simple message to the politicians — and the rest of us — not to judge everyone by what THEY plan to do, or have done, but be judged by what YOU promise to do! I tire of people tearing each other’s plans, visions, efforts, hopes and personality apart to hide their own weaknesses. I want to know YOU, not what you think of everyone else!
Lord, help me remove the plank that makes me blind and let me trust you to gently remove the splinter that is left behind. Amen.