Phineas Gage was a railroad worker in Vermont in 1848. He was part of the crew that was blasting rock so that the new tracks could be laid down on a straight and level path. They would pack blasting powder into a gap, tamp it down with an iron bar, and then light it with a fuse and hopefully nobody would get hurt. OSHA wouldn’t exist yet for more than a century. It was very dangerous work, and that certainly proved to be the case on September 13 of 1848 when the 25-year-old Phineas got distracted and accidentally sparked the tamping rod against the rock. The resulting explosion drove the bar right through his head. Everyone was sure he was done for, but after a few minutes he started speaking. He got up, with the metal bar still stuck through his head, and was able to ride in his oxcart back to the workers’ hotel. The doctor couldn’t believe it.
The case of Phineas Gage is still studied in the medical community today. The accident did affect him. His personality changed and he died eleven and a half years later from epileptic seizures. But before this no one knew it was possible for someone to function so well with such a terrible brain injury or impairment.
At least, not literally. But centuries earlier Jesus described our self-righteous judging of other people in this way. How often do we look at others for the speck of sawdust in their eye, while our faults and sins are like a whole beam stuck in our own? So Jesus points us to the example of our Father in heaven, and to his compassion, and says: Remove the beam from your eye.
This text comes from Luke 6. This might be the same occasion as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, starting in Matthew 5, or it could be a different occasion that has some similarities. Jesus certainly taught the same lessons many times.
What is important in understanding this text is to know that Jesus was speaking to his disciples, and not just to the Twelve, but in verse 17 Luke says that a large crowd of his disciples had gathered there.
What that means is that the people Jesus was talking to were people like us. They weren’t there to attack Jesus, but they came in faith to the Savior. Jesus’ words here are preached in that context. Through Jesus you know the Father. He’s your Father. Now what does that mean for you as you walk in your life of faith?
And here’s what Jesus says,
36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
“Do not judge” is probably the godless world’s favorite passage in all of Scripture. They’ll gladly ignore every other statement of God, but this one they won’t forget. “Hey, the Bible says, ‘Do not judge!’” But when Jesus says this he is certainly not forbidding all judgment of every kind. In fact, that would be nonsensical. We wouldn’t be able to function in life without making judgments. What the world means when it says, “Do not judge” is “You must tolerate or even approve of my actions, no matter how depraved or wicked or sinful you might want to say they are.”
What Jesus means though is explained by the preceding statement. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Does God judge? Certainly he does, and his judgment is absolute. God does not wink at sin. He doesn’t laugh about it, or shrug his shoulders. God is just. Sin must be punished.
But God is also your Father, who is merciful.
Each one of you knows this. You know it from your own life. How many of you have wandered about for years, spiritually lost, before your merciful Father brought you to himself? How many great sins have you committed, shameful things you wish you could forget about, and you have your merciful Father’s promise that for the sake of the blood of Jesus he has. “I will remember their sins no more.” God says in Jeremiah 31:34. You know that every time you come to church you will confess your sins and hear the pastor say by Jesus’ own command and authority, “I forgive you your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” that same name into which you were baptized.
Even the fact that Jesus tells us to think of God as our Father highlights this. Our earthly fathers all fail in many ways, and yet as Jesus says they know how to give good gifts to their children. On their good days they properly carry out justice and discipline, yes, but more than that they show mercy and compassion.
And so if this is how God deals with us, with such great mercy, the mercy of a perfect Father, then this is also how we ought to treat one another. Not with quick judgment. Not with cold condemnation. Not with grudges or vendettas. But with loving, compassionate mercy.
Jesus uses some pictures or mini-parables to explain what he is talking about. First, he uses a picture to illustrate how God rewards those who are generous with their mercy. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.”
Imagine someone going to a marketplace to buy grain, maybe wearing an apron to carry that grain home. A stingy salesman might scoop that grain so that the scoop isn’t really full, the way that it makes you feel when you open a bag of chips and it’s half empty from the store. An honest salesman might be one who is careful to show you that the scoop is full, right to the top, and you’re getting exactly what you’re paying for. But a generous one is the one who packs it in, heaps a little more over the top, and then dumps it into the apron in your lap.
This is the way you ought to measure out gifts of mercy to other people. And in the same way God will measure out mercy to you.
But this isn’t just a nice suggestion. It is also a serious command. You must be merciful. Otherwise you will only bring ruin on yourself, and on those around you.
Jesus says, “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Won’t they both fall into a pit? 40A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
“The blind leading the blind” has become a common saying. This almost sounds like comedy, and it could be, depending on the seriousness of that pit. If that pit is spiritual ruin then it’s not funny at all. It’s just sad. If someone claims to know God but has no mercy, is he not blind? Or if he claims to be a teacher but cannot show mercy, how will he teach his disciples to be merciful?
Finally Jesus gives the strangest and most striking illustration of them all:
41Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? 42Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.
Hypocrite! Jesus says, and the person he’s directing that word at is you and me. That’s usually a word directed at the Pharisees and the Chief Priests and all those people who thought so highly of themselves, that they were so righteous before God. But that’s not me. I would never be so arrogant. I would never be so self-righteous. I am much better than that. I am very humble!
What’s that? Is there something in my eye?
We are so quick to judge other people, without any mercy or compassion, but only to justify ourselves. We’re like if Phineas Gage went to the doctor with a tamping rod through his head and said, “No, doctor, I’m here to examine you.” What great sins we have that we overlook, like a wooden beam in our eye, all while self-righteously claiming to be about helping others. “Let me get that speck for you.”
Jesus’ words to his disciples are a strong warning. Do not consider showing mercy to be optional. If you cannot show compassion to others, how can you expect God to be compassionate towards you? The standard is no less than God himself. You’re a mess! Remove that beam from your eye. Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
But what Jesus tells us here also reveals the sweetness of the Gospel. In fact, it’s right there from the beginning. Your Father is merciful. And so for all the times you have been quick to judge and condemn, your Father is merciful. And for the times you have been slow to give and forgive, your Father is merciful. And for those times you have blindly led someone into a pit, or been a poor Christian teacher, or have walked around pointing fingers while a great beam sticks out of your eye, your Father is merciful.
Jesus is the leader who is not blind in any way. He’s the teacher who instructs us in perfect righteousness. He’s the only one who sees perfectly to remove every speck and every beam from our eyes. He’s the embodiment of the Father’s mercy. His death and resurrection has paid for your sin. His blood washes you clean.
“Remove the beam from your eye,” Jesus says. But how can I when I can’t see? Jesus takes it away. So go to Jesus with your sins big and small. Ask for his mercy. He will give you clear eyes to see how you can be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Amen.