A reflection on Luke 6:39–42 for Friday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time.
It is much easier for me to notice what is wrong with someone else than to recognize the same weakness in myself.
I can see when another person is impatient, but somehow my own impatience feels justified. I notice when someone speaks too quickly or too harshly, but when I do it, I have a reason. I may become frustrated when someone refuses to listen, while forgetting the times I have already decided what I think before the other person has even finished speaking.
Jesus knows this about us.
In today’s Gospel, He gives us the almost humorous image of someone trying to remove a splinter from another person’s eye while carrying a wooden beam in his own. It is easy to hear these words simply as a warning not to judge. But I also hear an invitation: Look at yourself clearly.
That can be uncomfortable.
I do not always want to see the beam.
Sometimes I would much rather pray, “Lord, please change this person.” Change the way he speaks. Change her attitude. Make him understand. Help her see what she is doing.
And perhaps that person really does need God’s grace. But there is another prayer that is much harder for me to say:
“Lord, change me.”
Show me where I am being proud. Show me where I have been impatient or stubborn. Show me where I have failed to listen. Show me the places where I am asking from others a generosity, patience, or forgiveness that I have not been willing to give myself.
This kind of self-knowledge could become discouraging if Jesus simply pointed out our faults and left us there. But that is not who He is.
Jesus does not reveal the truth about us in order to humiliate us. He reveals it because He loves us.
There is a great difference between seeing myself through the eyes of shame and seeing myself through the eyes of Christ. Shame says, “Look at everything that is wrong with you.” Jesus says, “Come, let Me heal this too.”
That is why self-awareness can actually be a grace.
When God allows me to recognize something in myself that needs to change, I do not have to defend it or hide it. I can bring it to Him. I can confess it. I can begin again. I can ask for the grace to respond differently the next time.
And often, something else happens too.
The more honestly I see my own need for mercy, the more merciful I become toward other people.
It becomes harder to look down on someone when I remember how patiently God has dealt with me. It becomes easier to forgive another person’s weakness when I recognize how many times the Lord has forgiven mine.
Perhaps that is part of what Jesus wants when He tells us to remove the beam from our own eye first. He is not asking us to ignore what is wrong in the world or pretend that another person’s actions do not matter. He is asking us to begin in the one place where, with His grace, we can truly make a difference: our own heart.
So before I ask God to change my husband, my children, a friend, a relative, a neighbor, or anyone else who is testing my patience, I want to learn to stop and ask:
Lord, is there something You want to change in me first?
Maybe the answer will be uncomfortable.
But it will also be an answer filled with mercy.
Because the One showing me the beam is also the Divine Physician who knows exactly how to remove it.
Jesus, give me the grace to see myself clearly—not with fear, not with excuses, and not with condemnation, but in the light of Your mercy. When I am tempted to concentrate on the faults of others, turn my eyes first toward my own heart. Give me humility to recognize what needs to change, courage to let You change it, and tenderness toward everyone who, like me, is still learning to become more like You.
Amen.
Leave a Reply