Luke 6:39-42 – Spiritual perception

Jesus made some parabolic statements after telling His disciples to be magnanimous.  He knew that the disciples’ mission would include imparting spiritual life to others. And if they are to do so effectively, they need to have the ability to navigate their own spiritual life first. If not, it would be impossible to lead others to find that life. Private leadership always precedes public leadership. So Jesus’ first statement is found in Luke 6:39. Here, He is stating the obvious. “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?” A blind guide leading another, who is also blind, spells disaster. They are both in danger of falling into a pit. The reason is obvious. Being blind, both cannot detect the presence of a lurking danger. This illustration points to a spiritual reality. One who is oblivious of God's working can never be of help to a similar kind, to discover God's truth. The fact remains that one can only assist another when he himself is connected to the source. 

In verse 40, Jesus added. “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” Every student can only attain what the teacher had taught and trained him to be, he cannot rise beyond his teacher. Jesus has in mind that a disciple must be a model of spirituality. People whom we are guiding as disciples, can never rise beyond our level of maturity. We can only take them to where we are. It is therefore imperative that we keep growing if we are to guide them into greater depth with God. To do that, we ourselves will need to have good spiritual sight. We must cultivate the ability to see if we are to be of help to others. We must take care of our spiritual perception and be connected to Jesus, our Master. This is what an ancient Persian poem has to say:

He who knows not and knows not he knows not, is a fool, shun him!

He who knows not and knows he knows not, is humble, teach him!

He who knows and knows not he knows, is asleep, wake him!

He who knows and knows he knows, is wise, follow him!

Concern for the quality of His disciples, Jesus now make another humorous statement. It is a call to examine one’s own life before we seek to correct others. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” This is a hyperbole. Like it or not we all do have blind spots in our life. If we are unaware of our big weakness, we should not try to highlight the smaller weakness of others. To do so would make us a hypocrite. To be helpful, we must first submit our life to the searchlight of God’s Word. We need to ensure that our spiritual vision is not marred by our sin. Only when we have confessed our sin and the dusts and logs removed, then only then, can we see the needs of our brothers clearly.   

The quality of our inner life is crucial to effective discipleship. We need to do regular introspection to identify and rectify our own weakness before we seek to help others in theirs. Do take Psalm 139:23-24 and make it our daily and personal cry, at the close of each day:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.