#7: The Pot calleth the Kettle Black
This is another old saying which goes back to the early 17th Century. Cooking was done over an open fire and cooking pots and kettles were made of cast iron and since both were put in the coals, subsequently both were blackened. Later as cooking moved into wood fueled stoves, the pot was still made of iron but the kettle would be made of brass or copper which was kept polished and shiny and when the pot would behold the kettle it would see its blackened reflection and think the kettle was black.
It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, this saying brings out two truths. Firstly, it is easier to see the blackness of another than it is to see the blackness in ourselves and secondly, when we look at others we see in them a reflection of ourselves. It is another one of those old sayings which calls out hypocrisy.
Of course there is nothing new about hypocrisy. Jesus in his sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew Chapter 7: v 4 & 5 says, 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (NIV).
How easy it is to look at others and name their faults and miss the faults in ourselves because our faults are so large they are literally blinding us. Truth is we are all a bit black.
Way leads onto Way 