NOTES for Luk 6:39-42
Christ wants to lead us beyond our limitations and gives us a chance to see ourselves from the outside. Then we see that we are among other people and are like them in many ways, and our uniqueness is not at all in what we like about ourselves. Then comes the understanding that it is dishonest to judge those around us without judging ourselves for the same thing, or even for worse.
The saying about the speck and the log, which became proverbial even during the dominance of atheism, without any reference to its original source, reminded people of sobriety and sometimes helped them avoid being carried away by self-confident condemnation. And this is always hard; in reality we do not merely fail to see the log itself, but that invisible log keeps us from seeing much, first of all what we ourselves are like. And how frightening it can be to learn everything about ourselves!
Recently a psychologist said that if a person learned all the negative things hidden in his subconscious, he would die of a broken heart. Without Christ, perhaps that is possible. But we do not have to bring the hidden darkness to the surface; we can change without the painful mire of psychoanalysis. With God's help it is enough to see ourselves from the outside and courageously admit that I am not the person I want to appear to be to myself and to those around me, and then place myself at His disposal, turning away from my own impurity and trying not to sink into it. Then let us try, with His help, to begin bearing fruit.