And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. 41 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.
This passage continues Jesus’ teaching about mercy, judgment, forgiveness, and generosity in the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus now asks whether a person who cannot see clearly can safely guide someone else. His image of one blind person leading another is deliberately vivid: without clear sight, both are in danger of falling into the pit. Before a disciple attempts to guide another, he must first allow Jesus to guide and form him.
Jesus therefore reminds His listeners, “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher” (v. 40). A disciple is not merely someone who listens to Jesus but someone who is being formed by Him. The disciple learns to see people and their actions according to Jesus’ teaching, especially the mercy He has just commanded: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Only by learning from the Teacher can the disciple become capable of guiding others rightly.
Jesus then turns from blindness in a guide to blindness within oneself. The contrast between a tiny splinter in another person’s eye and a wooden beam in one’s own is intentionally exaggerated. It exposes how easily we can recognize another person’s faults while remaining unaware of faults within ourselves that may be much greater. Before pointing to another person’s need for correction, the disciple must honestly recognize his own need for conversion and God’s mercy.
Jesus is not saying that we must never recognize wrongdoing or help another person correct a fault. His final words make that clear: “Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye” (v. 42). The problem is not fraternal correction itself, but correction offered from a position of hypocrisy, self-righteousness, or spiritual blindness. We may judge whether an action is good or wrong according to the teaching of Christ, but we should not presume to judge the inner moral condition of another person before God.
The order Jesus gives is therefore important: first become His disciple, first examine and correct oneself, and then help another with clearer sight and greater humility. Someone who recognizes his own need for mercy is better prepared to extend mercy to another. True Christian correction does not arise from a desire to condemn, but from love and a sincere desire to help another person follow Christ.
Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart to see my own faults clearly. Form me according to Your teaching, give me humility in dealing with others, and help me to guide others only with truth, mercy, and love. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Luke 6:39–42 and notes.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. 119.
- Casciaro, Jose Maria, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. 273–274.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. 695, para. 92.
- Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018. 135–136.
- Aguilar Chiu, Jose Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. 1055.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, OP, and Donald Senior, CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully rev. ed. London: T&T Clark, 2022. 1314.
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