We’ve all got something

What I love about the Gospel is that Jesus had to come and get all of us. The Gospel says that I can never look down on anyone, because we’ve all got something in us that’s not great. It may not be an identical something. One may battle with greed whilst another may battle with lust. One may wrestle with selfishness and another may battle with tearing people down with their words. One may battle with anger whilst another may wrestle with jealousy. The list goes on. We’ve all got something.

Jesus had to come and get us all. And as a result we can only look up at Jesus for rescuing us, or sideways at best. But never down. If we can catch hold of that, can you imagine going through life never looking down on anyone? Can you imagine if the world did that? But it doesn’t start out there. It starts in here, with perception. Not just with perception of others, with perception of self. Perhaps this is what Jesus is getting at when he says:

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your friend’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your friend’s eye.
– Matthew 7:3-5

Damien Whitington
Senior Chaplain