Matthew 7:3-5 - Ramus in Oculis

I usually have blue eyes except recently: a blood vessel burst in one eye. The next time my wife saw me, she gasped, "What happened to YOU?" My daughter had the same response, "Why is your eye so RED!?" I had no idea that anything had "happened" or that my eye had turned red.

Before that point, imagine if I had approached someone and said, "I've been studying ophthalmology on Mayo Clinic's website and have become well-versed in eye conditions. You clearly have a case of subconjunctival hemorrhage in the conjuctiva. I know exactly what happened and how to clear that up immediately."

Merely because I can give a medical term for "burst blood vessel in the eye" doesn't commend me to diagnose or prescribe, especially when I'm completely unaware of my own condition and there's nothing I can do about it.

Jesus said, "3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:3–5, English Standard Version)

The hyperbole isn't that much of an exaggeration. People who go around magnifying other people's tiny shortcomings are blissfully unaware of their own, major deficiencies -- Logs in the eye make others gasp and turn the other way.

Father, It's impossible to pray for the log in our eye when we can't even see it. Use the mirror of Your word to be a true reflection of what needs correction in our lives. (James 1:23-25) Give us hearts willing to turn to You for "log-extraction." Deliver us from evil, the disease of ramus in oculis.* Amen.

* Latin: branch in the eye