In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned us: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2).

To dramatize this wisdom, Jesus talked about a topic familiar to his family of carpenters—specks of sawdust and planks. Indeed, I like to think that Jesus received this wisdom directly from his father, the carpenter Joseph:

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

Joseph would have been especially irritated by insults from hypocrites. I’m sure he grew tired and angry about gossip that Mary and Joseph “came together” when they were betrothed, but were not yet married.

Joseph knew the truth. What was conceived in Mary was from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20). Indeed, before Mary and Joseph “came together”, the Holy Spirit had come upon Mary and the power of the Most High had overshadowed her. (Luke 1:35).

And so, Joseph went ahead and married Mary, and became the father of Jesus. (Matthew 1:20,24-25; Luke 3:23).

I’m sure the hypocritical gossips with “planks” in their own eyes never stopped wagging their tongues about imaginary “specks” in the eyes of Mary and Joseph (Matthew 13:54-57; Mark 6:2-4; Luke 4:22-24; John 1:46; 6:41-42).

I’m sure that Mary, Joseph and Jesus (when he got older) grew tired of hearing so much hypocritical gossip. I’m sure they became sick of hypocrites and hypocrisy. I’m sure they “just wanted it all to end”.

For similar reasons, many people are sick of “politics”. They’re sick of hearing so many hypocrites spouting venomous hypocrisy. They “just want it all to end.”

Politics certainly has more than its fair share of hypocrites and hypocrisy.

But I think the revulsion at hypocrites spouting venomous hypocrisy goes far deeper than revulsion at the hypocrisy of politicians and political parties. It goes far deeper than the nasty things politicians and political parties say on social media.

Hypocrisy is running rampant in people’s lives, communities of wisdom, families, businesses, nations, and civilizations.

In other blogs, I’ll point out examples of hypocrites and hypocrisy. I’ll suggest ways to overcome hypocrites and hypocrisy.

But first, we each need to be reminded that in the same ways we judge other hypocrites and their hypocrisy, we will be judged.

With the measures we use for other hypocrites and their hypocrisy, we will be measured.

In the same ways that we judge other hypocrites and hypocrisy, we will be judged for our own hypocrisy.

In the same ways that we judge other hypocrites and their hypocrisy, we will be judged for the hypocrisy of ourselves, our communities of wisdom, our families, our businesses, our nations, and our civilizations.

In the same ways that we measure other hypocrites and their hypocrisy, we will be measured for our own hypocrisy.

In the same ways that we measure the hypocrisy of others and of their communities of wisdom, their families, their businesses, their nations, and their civilizations, we will be measured for the hypocrisy of ourselves and of our communities of wisdom, our families, our businesses, our nations, and our civilizations.

So, before we try to remove the specks of hypocrisy from the eyes of other people, we must first take the planks of hypocrisy from our own eyes.

Before we try to remove the specks of hypocrisy from the eyes of other communities of wisdom, other families, other businesses, other nations, and other civilizations, we must first remove the planks of hypocrisy from the eyes of our own communities of wisdom, our families, our businesses, our nations, and our civilizations.

Then we can see clearly to remove the specks of hypocrisy from the eyes of others, and from the eyes of their communities of wisdom, their families, their businesses, their nations, and their civilizations.

Then, by being merciful to other hypocrites, we shall be shown mercy for our own hypocrisies! (Matthew 5:7).

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For more of my thoughts about the Sermon on the Mount, please read my blogs “Building Houses on Rock: Mission Impossible?”, “Building Houses on Rock: Mercy and Forgiveness”, “Building Houses on Sand: Specks and Planks”, and “Building Houses on Rock: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”; and please read the chapter “After the Sermon on the Mount Jesus Touches a Leper” in my book Hoping in the LORD, at pages 119-122.

For more of my thoughts about why Jesus hates hypocrites and hypocrisy, please read the chapter “Joseph Marries Jesus”, in my book Hoping in the LORD, at pages 17-22.

For my thoughts about “equal protection of the laws” (a topic related to hypocrisy), please read my blogs “Embracing Peace: The Least of the Least” and “Embracing Peace: No One Is Above Wise Laws”.

For my thoughts about unconscious prejudices (a topic related to hypocrisy), please read my blog “Parking Cars”.

For my thoughts about ways that hypocrisy and prejudice are motivated by a desire to shift economic and social burdens away from ourselves and onto other people, and to shift economic and social benefits onto ourselves and away from other people, please read my blog “Bearing the Cost”.