Post by M.R. Hagerty on Jul 23, 2023 23:33:04 GMT -7
40 "A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”
Likewise, a pupil must defer to his teacher. The teacher has been trained and he has yet to be trained. He must not consider himself above his teacher, but know his place.
This is not a justification for class discrimination – that some people are better than others. The question is not about superiority or inferiority of person, but about roles and places in society. Some people translate this into the same thing as discrimination about personal worth because if a person only gets menial jobs while others get the lucrative ones, they are less inclined to write it off as a matter of roles.
What complicates this is that capabilities can be tied to social prejudice. The person of social prejudice doesn’t get the best education, hence they are suited only for the more menial jobs. It is the vicious cycle that modern societies face today in poverty and discrimination.
But the fact remains that no matter how compassionate we are, some folks are not suited for certain roles because of things that have nothing to do with class designations. Some people can wish to be executives at large corporations, but they have to face the fact that they don’t have the acumen, experience and character to do what executives have to do.
The better example is teachers. There are some who have the gift and some who no matter how much they study and learn simply don’t. It’s not a commentary on their worth. It’s a commentary on the roles for which they are best suited.
41 "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?”
It is popular to interpret this from the perspective of the optometrist. A speck in someone else’s eye looks like a log in ours because it is immediately in front of the lens of our eye. This is possibly the meaning and the ancients certainly understood how our perspective is changed by the proximity of things.
But there is also merit in Jesus using this metaphor to observe that we often pick on relatively minor issues in others and overlook much larger issues in ourselves. A person can complain that so-and-so is a womanizer, but overlook the miserable way they treat their wife and kids.
Luke 6:42
42 “ . . 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.”
We are first to be without reproach ourselves if we are to point out the faults of others. Jesus exemplified this in the incident with the Magdalene - ”He who is without sin cast the first stone.” This is to say that if we spent time cleaning out our own logs we would have much less time available to look at other people’s faults. But note here – He does say, ”then you will see clearly to take out the speck . .” He is not saying we are never to presume to take out the speck. He is saying don’t be a hypocrite while doing it.
Taking out the speck in our brother’s eye is not a contradiction to our call to avoid judging. The taking out is to be a work of aid and help, not judging. It involves the idea of pointing out a defect, but it is in the interest of helping not discriminating. If we see our brother having trouble in personally managing his finances, we can point this out (point to the speck) in offering to help him get control of things. It isn’t a case of judging him, but it does involve the frankness to observe that he’s struggling. But it would do no good if we were terrible ourselves in personal finances, or in some other visible area like morals or personal responsibility.
Matthew 7:6
6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
These are not words we expect from someone as tender-hearted as our Lord. They seem harsh and extremely judgmental – that there are persons to be characterized as dogs or swine.
But this is a caution about giving our energies and time in spiritual matters to people who have no care for them and who show no evidence that they have any intention of taking things seriously.
This is subtle because all unbelievers in some sense do not care for the things of God, else they would be believers. But this is talking about that class of people who are bent on ridiculing God, making jokes of serious things and are ready to bait believers so that they can humiliate them.
In the excellent Sixties’s film Charly (ABC Pictures Corp., 1968), Charly is mentally handicapped and works at a bakery. His co-workers pose as “friends” but it is quickly apparent that they only do so to find opportunities to make fun of him and get the whole place laughing. Motives can often be other than they appear (that is the moral gained from Othello – that man is foolish to think things are always as they appear). Once this sort of thing is apparent, we are to move on to more productive efforts.
In a debate with evolutionists it soon became apparent to the creationist that the only real interest his opponents had was to entertain him long enough to find an opportunity to put down Christian faith. They were not interested in looking at evolution honestly, but more at spoofing religion.
Once that becomes known in any circumstance, continued efforts are a waste of time. They are a waste because there are others God has prepared for the gospel who are ready to receive it and if we are tied up in pointless conversations, we are unavailable for the wrong reasons. And if we should find ourselves unavailable (as will happen on occasion) it ought to be for the right reasons.
“tear you to pieces”
In the case of the evolutionists, they did in fact become vicious and it was later discovered that their viciousness was actually a sort of conspired objective, enjoyed on many previous occasions with prior victims.
The other key reason is the discredit it brings in the eyes of others respecting God. This is not completely avoidable and we are going to make mistakes. But our caution is not only to conserve our time and energies, but to be caring about the reputation of God and our Savior, that we not contribute unwittingly to a besmirching of His character before the world.
So we are to be careful. We may not have the ability to see the condition before getting into it, but once we do, we need to act accordingly.