Lesson 29: Judging Others, Part II: Blinding Hypocrisy (Luke 6:39-42)

(Part II) While we have from Jesus in this text an amusing set of word pictures, the application of the truth He was illustrating is all but laughable. The first is of two blind men out on a stroll with a pit in their path. The second is of one man trying to relieve another of his tiny eye irritant while harboring a piece of lumber in his own eye. Pastor Daniel helps to flesh out for us the idea that “until we are convinced of the depth of our own failures and sins, not only are we unable to help, we are certain to harm. We are blinded by hypocrisy.” So not only do we need to recognize that we are a potential spiritual danger to others as we would judge them for their sins while ignoring our own, we need to follow that up with the action of moving our focus from external to internal, doing the difficult but necessary work of dealing with our own hearts. The challenge is given to ask ourselves two things: 1) What have I been using as a smokescreen to avoid asking myself the hard questions, and 2) How has my conduct negatively impacted the spiritual maturity of others?

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff