Removing The "I"

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟏𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝟏:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟔:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟓, 𝟕-𝟖, 𝟏𝟏 “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐎, 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐤 𝟔:𝟑𝟗-𝟒𝟐

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “..𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆.” (𝒗.42)

         To forgive someone who has wronged you and caused you a lot of pain is hard enough. But there is one thing that people find doing that is more difficult than to forgive – and that is to cross over from being judgmental and critical of others to being more tolerant, patient and understanding. And more important than that is removing the “𝐈” from your eye.

         Today’s gospel reading may look like a very short passage but certainly this is one that is full of meaning and substance. There is a need for us to be discerning when going through this narrative because there may be a tendency for us to look elsewhere and miss the mark because this Gospel is all about us.

         The way the two parables in this Gospel today were weaved into one interconnected narrative shows the prolificacy of Luke as a writer. Of the four Gospel writers, Luke is the only one who is not a Jew and he is known to have traveled in many of the journeys with Paul and as he was a well-educated man being a doctor by profession, Luke was able to piece together the accounts in the life of Jesus and present the humanity and perfection of the Son of Man.

         Here in this Gospel Luke presents us with a looksee into the humorous side of Jesus’ persona as He leads the readers of this Gospel to examine their own worth without offending them. And at the end of this four-verse narrative for today, we must settle down and come to a decision to go to Jesus the great physician and allow Him to perform a surgery to remove the “𝐈” in our eye.

         To do this we will have to make that arduous decision to humble ourselves, which is not an easy thing to do especially when you grow up acquiring a culture that is different from the one that you grew up with. This is especially true for those who migrated to another country and are swept by the undercurrent of a social orientation that is different from their own.

         Removing the “𝐈” in our eye requires humility on our part and oftentimes this is most difficult to do because it challenges our pride and what this Gospel is telling us is that all disciples of Christ need to have a 20/20 Christian vision for three reasons: 1) 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰; 2) 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰, 𝘢𝘯𝘥; 3) 𝘛𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.        

           𝐇𝐞𝐛 𝟒:𝟏𝟐 says: “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆-𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅.” (𝑵𝑰𝑽) This is precisely what this Gospel is all about because of the duality of purpose behind this narrative. To also understand what Jesus is telling us, let us draw on the meaning of 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒗 29:18 “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉.” (𝑲𝑱𝑽)        

          This is not just a warning but this is a theological cause and effect principle which clearly shows the vision or for that matter the plans that every elder of the Church and or Community, Apostolate and Ministry heads or coordinators, Circle Shepherds, Class and Circle Shepherds have as the cause and the effect it will have in the event there is an absence of any clearly defined goals and objectives that will keep the Community and its ministries in limbo.

         In other words, Christian disciples who are leading others to Christ cannot move around like headless chickens not knowing where to go and or, being blind and oblivious to the fact that we cannot teach others that which we ourselves haven’t been taught. We charismatics always love to say, “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭.” To paraphrase this, we might as well also ask ourselves, how can we lead others to overcome their faults if we ourselves remain impervious to our own fault as it is easier to find fault in others than to look into our own.

         Certainly, a blind person cannot lead another one who is also blind because to do so would be tragic for both. Because if we are to lead others, we must have a clear vision of where we are going and we all need a plan to provide us with a roadmap. If our final goal is the Kingdom of Heaven, the only way to get there is through the Cross of Christ and there is no way we can get to heaven by avoiding the Cross.

         A very clear reality that Jesus is showing us in today’s Gospel reading is the fact that there are times we cannot see where we are going much less lead others because there is a tendency for most of us to look at the speck in the eye of our brother and yet totally ignoring the plank that mars our vision.

         In other words, we cannot teach the Word to others and point out the sin of others until we have corrected ourselves which means that we have to come to Our Lord and ask Him to purify us first before we can tell others of their own sin. In effect, what this Gospel is saying is that we should not judge, criticize or find fault in others unless we too have rid ourselves of our own sinfulness.

         Jesus spoke strong words in 𝐯.𝟒𝟐 but we should not be unsettled if Jesus calls us hypocrites that we at times withdraw from the mainstream of church and or community life because anyone of us who is trying to do what is right in God’s eyes and fails is not a hypocrite as it is also not hypocrisy to be weak in faith. What Jesus meant is that a hypocrite is someone who displays a religious demeanor for the purpose of gaining attention, approval or admiration from others.

         And this is what we must all be careful about because we may be living a hypocritical life without our knowing it. While it is easy to look at the faults of others, to be critical and judgmental of others, Jesus is telling us to look into our own brokenness first so that we can also lead others without the baggage that will weigh us down.

         The message behind this parable is that Jesus is inviting us to be more honest with ourselves and He offers us a way to rinse ourselves our own sinfulness by coming to Him in prayer. And when we do come to Jesus, surrender our lives to Him and, do His Will, we will all come out of it with a clearer vision of where we intend to go and, thus be able to also lead others to a destination that is illumined by the light of God. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 12, 2025)