Judging Others – Part II

Luke 6:39

Occasionally it seems as if we hit an incongruous spot in the Scriptures, as if the editors messed something up. If context didn’t matter, we wouldn’t miss a beat. We’d just highlight our favorite verses or carve them on a plaque and ignore the odd-fitting passages. Such is the case with this verse.

Right in the middle of talking about not judging others, Jesus throws in this one sentence parable. It comes in the form of questions: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” Sounds like a rhetorical question, because the answer is obvious. No. And yes. No, a blind man can’t very well lead a blind man and, yes, they are both likely to fall into a pit.

Living as we do in a more sensible world where society continues to improve pedestrian walkways and technology advances to assist the blind, it is conceivable that one blind person could lead another. But in pre-technology days and before modern sensibilities toward the disabled, there was no way one blind person could lead another without the very real danger of falling into an open pit or cistern.

So what is the point of this parable when it comes to judging others? The point becomes clearer as we hear what Jesus says a couple verses later, that we are blinded by our own faults and until we do something about those faults, we cannot possible see to help our neighbor or our brother with theirs. A person who is not dealing with his or her own faults is like a blind man and to follow him is to suffer the same fate as he.

Who are we to judge when we have faults of our own that need dealing with? The story of the woman caught in adultery comes to mind. It is in this story, found in John’s gospel, where Jesus says the famous line about he who is without sin casting the first stone (to kill her according to the dictates of the Law).

Funny how much easier it is to see someone else’s faults than our own. Which is why Jesus is so quick to caution us about jumping in to straighten out someone else when we need to be sorting out our own issues. Sin does blind us. Helen Keller was asked one time what could be worse than being blind and deaf, to which she is said to have replied, someone who can see but has no vision.

We think we can truly see ourselves and others because we have physical eyesight, but we walk around blinded by our own faults and unable to see others or ourselves objectively. So, Jesus says pure and simply, don’t rush to judge others.