Stop judging, that you may not be judged. 2 For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. 3 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.
After the Sunday Gospel, we return to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus continues teaching his disciples how to live as children of the Father. Jesus warns his disciples against judging others with arrogance. His words are direct: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged” (v. 1). Jesus teaches that God sees the spirit in which we judge and measure others. A harsh and condemning spirit places us under the same measure we have used toward another person (v. 2).
Jesus’ teaching still allows the disciple to recognize real faults with humility. Jesus himself speaks in this passage about a real “splinter” in the brother’s eye (v. 3). A splinter is small, but it is still something that should be removed. The desire to help another person see clearly must be purified by humility. Jesus warns against the proud and condemning spirit that sees another person’s fault while remaining blind to one’s own.
Jesus’ image is deliberately strong. A person notices a splinter in his brother’s eye but does not perceive the wooden beam in his own eye (v. 3). The contrast is almost startling. The one who wants to correct another must first recover clear sight. His own fault is larger, heavier, and more dangerous than the fault he is eager to point out. Jesus is showing how easily zeal for correction can become hypocrisy when it is separated from humility and self-examination.
The word “brother” reminds us that Jesus is speaking about life among those who belong to the community of disciples. Correction may sometimes be necessary. Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives instruction about correcting a brother who sins (Matthew 18:15-20). But correction must begin with truth before God. The disciple must first allow God’s light to expose his own sins, motives, and blindness. Only then can he help another person as a brother who also lives before God’s mercy.
Jesus calls the hypocrite to “remove the wooden beam” from his own eye first (v. 5). A hypocrite is someone whose outward action hides or contradicts the truth of his own heart. In this passage, the hypocrite is the disciple who is preoccupied with another person’s fault while ignoring his own more serious offense. Such a person needs clearer sight before he can correct another with charity and truth.
Removing the beam prepares the disciple to help his brother with clearer sight and greater charity. Jesus says, “then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (v. 5). The order matters. First comes repentance, humility, and honest self-knowledge. Then comes the possibility of helping another. Christian correction should come from charity, from concern for the other person’s good, and from awareness that each of us also stands in need of God’s mercy.
This teaching is especially important for those who care deeply about truth. A strong commitment to what is right needs the guidance of humility, so that zeal for truth becomes patient, merciful, and clear-sighted. Jesus teaches his disciples to reject arrogant condemnation and to seek the clear sight that comes from repentance.
Before noticing another person’s splinter, the disciple should ask God for the grace to see his own beam. This makes us more truthful, more merciful, and more careful with the souls of others. The Lord who knows every heart will judge with perfect justice. We are called to walk humbly before him and to treat others with the mercy we ourselves hope to receive.
Lord Jesus, give me the humility and grace to see my own sins before I judge the faults of others. Cleanse my heart, correct my vision, and teach me to speak the truth with mercy and charity. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Matthew 7:1-5 and notes on Matthew 7:1 and 7:5.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Pages 18-19, notes on Matthew 7:1-6 and 7:2.
- Casciaro, José María, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. Pages 68-69, note on Matthew 7:1-12.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. Page 646, paragraph 46.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, Eileen M. Schuller, Thomas D. Stegman, and Ronald D. Witherup, eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. Page 923.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022. Pages 1185-1186.
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