Lk 6:39-42
Christian influence: In order to make his point about the influence that Christians have on others, Luke uses two parables.
The first parable (vv 39-40) deals with metaphorical blindness. One blind person cannot lead another blind person; one person who is not fully trained in the ways of Jesus cannot train another in the ways of discipleship. The teacher, therefore, must not be blind. Furthermore, in order to help another person improve his or her life, the teacher must be always willing to improve himself or herself.
The second parable (vv 41-42) employs hyperbolic language in order to make a similar point about taking stock of oneself first before making an effort to help others improve themselves. Those who fail to examine critically their own quality of discipleship walk around with a wooden beam in their eye, while those whom they are attempting to help have only a splinter in their eye.
Such persons are hypocrites concerned with the faults of others but not with their own. Christians are instructed by Jesus in this passage to “remove the wooden beam” from their own eye first; then they will be capable of assisting the conversion of another person.