Mt 7:1-5
1[Jesus said to his disciples,] “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. 2For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. 3Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
STOP JUDGING: “Judging” here refers to negative judging, that is, condemning. In the society where Jesus lived, which gave paramount importance to honor and shame, negative judging was often done largely as stereotyping. People placed labels on other people: sinners, tax collectors, son of a carpenter, women of the city, etc.
Jesus uses an image close to his trade (carpentry) to warn his disciples about passing judgment on others. A splinter is a minute piece of wood that can lodge in one’s eye, causing pain or discomfort. A wooden beam is so huge that it can support the roof of a house. How can it lodge in a human eye? This is a grotesque comparison to emphasize the ridiculous.
And indeed it is ridiculous for a person to find fault and judge others harshly. Such one often fails to see—or becomes complacent about—his or her own glaring faults. Some try to project a pious image at the expense of other people. They speak about other people’s failure to obey certain precepts while making sure that everyone sees them keeping these. They are “hypocrites”—a word that Jesus applied to the scribes and the Pharisees.
Now the whole metaphor is transformed by Matthew into a parable for the disciples—a warning to the believing community that if they persist in judging others, they are no better than the Pharisees against whom Jesus directed severe words. How can one make oneself judge of the righteousness of others, when he himself is guilty of grave spiritual transgressions?