Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity – evening
Sunday 16th September 2018
Proper 19 – 16th Sunday after Trinity – evening
Exodus 18. 13-26
Matthew 7. 1-14
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
When did you last find something to laugh at?
Tonight’s OT lesson gave me a wry smile when I saw what it was.
Having spent much of the last week trying to sort out the cover for services for the months of October and November, a pointed lesson on the need to delegate and that none of us is indispensable, was very timely!
And then in our NT lesson we have a master-class from Jesus in observational comedy! You think I am joking? No, it was Jesus who was, I think, quite good at telling amusing stories. The kind that got the whole crowd chuckling but then falling silent as they began to realise that they might be the butt of the joke!
Picture the scene as Jesus tells this story for the first time…
“Once upon a time,” – he begins, “there was a very proud man. He thought he was better than everyone else and he was forever criticising others and telling them what to do. If the people he met had faults (and which of us hasn’t?), this man took it upon himself to tell them. Understandably, he was not popular… perhaps he makes you think of someone you know?
So one day, he is walking along, looking for someone to pick on, and wondering why everybody’s laughing and shaking their head at him. Among the laughter he catches the words “stuck in his eye – stuck in his eye.” So he decides it must be one of his neighbours, and he determines to do something about it.
The next person he comes across is a harmless old man. Our proud critic marches up to him and says loudly, “You silly little man, I think you’ve got something stuck in your eye.” The crowd gasp at this, and the little man stands stock still, flabbergasted. Taking control of the situation, our man takes out his hankie and begins poking in the other man’s left eye. “Yes, here it is,” he proclaims, “You’ve got a little speck of dust just in the corner. But I can’t quite see it clearly because something’s getting in my way.”
“Then there’s a great whoop of laughter,” Jesus continued. “It’s you!” they are all hooting. “You’re the one with something in your eye. You can’t see our friend’s eye clearly because there’s a great log of wood sticking out of your own eye!”
Now that’s where the story leaves the real world and becomes totally incredible. You couldn’t really fail to notice a great log of wood – and it wouldn’t go into your eye anyway – not without doing really serious damage; the sort you couldn’t fail to notice, no matter how dense you were! But reality doesn’t always matter when you are telling a funny story – a little exaggeration just adds to the fun!
The joke is that the absurd story tells us something about human nature. The proud man was shown to have been critical of other people’s minor failings, but completely blind to his own, much more serious faults. The crowd who heard Jesus may well have screamed with laughter. What a stupid idiot!
But then would come the awkward silence. Why had Jesus told the story? He probably just looked at them, challenging them to draw their own conclusions. Now the laughter was uneasy – more of an embarrassed giggle. One by one, they would realize that they were laughing at themselves. They were the stupid idiots who were critical of others, but blind to their own shortcomings.
It is probably still true of us today. The more critical we are of others, the harder it is to see ourselves objectively. And so we go on, judging others far more harshly than we want and expect to be judged ourselves. Adopting double standards… being hypocritical.
Jesus was harder on this sin of hypocrisy than anything else. The tax-collectors who fleeced their own people while working for the Roman authorities, – he could forgive them. Those whom respectable people called “sinners” had simply given up the struggle to keep the nit-picking rules of their religion. Jesus preferred going to parties with people like that, because at least they were honest and genuine; admitting to their failures. No, the real sinners were the respectable folk; judging other people is the most serious sin of all, because it cuts you off from God and from his Mercy.
If anyone ever criticises you for wrongdoing, don’t try to defend yourself. Just answer, “O, I’ve done far worse than that. I’ve several times criticised other people, and Jesus declared that judging others is the worst sin of all!”
Then watch their faces, to see whether they have the grace to laugh at themselves…
Can we laugh at our own mistakes?