This parable offers worthy advice even when taken literally. Of course, most of us would have no trouble following this advice in a literal situation.Thinking literally we identify the parable's "surprise" easily. Someone moving through their day with a plank extending from their eye defies our concepts of normal pain tolerance, physics, and even social safety. A basketball player with a small cut over the eye has to leave the court until the bleeding stops. We certainly wouldn't allow a player on the court with a plank swinging around them every time they turned their head.
But Jesus prioritizes the individual's responsibility to improve themselves over their desire to improve their neighbor. He discourages us from raising an army of one-eyed speck removal agents. Rather, he encourages us to examine and improve our own selves for the benefit of the community. We neither judge nor condemn. Instead we give liberally. And, we train under our Master Teacher in order to become a leader by example.
Lenten self-examination opens the door to personal healing and preparation for leading. The remaining universal question: "Why do we find it so easy to ignore the planks in our own eyes?"
