,_c._1657.jpg)
Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
Rather than stop judging we Christians tend to redefine the concept more and more narrowly until almost nothing actually qualifies as judgment. Perhaps if we heard someone say, "You're definitely going to hell for that" we would recognize an instance of something problematic. But even then, if they just added, "Objectively speaking", because they don't know the state of the heart, they would probably get a pass. It is of course absolutely true that we don't know the state of anyone's soul before God and that we ought not act like we do. But this command to stop judging goes further and we know it.
On the one hand we need some form of judgment to assess the morality of actions, especially to ensure that we ourselves act well. To a lesser extent we need this ability for those under our care, and even to assist those in our sphere of influence. We need it to help us when we must make our best guess about the character of another, for example, during an election.
On the other hand, judgment quickly becomes weaponized in our hands. Warning signs of this happening include when it becomes a basis of comparison between ourselves and others. When we find ourselves feeling smug or superior because of our thoughts about others we can be sure that we have gone astray.
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.
We are meant to be able to help others with judgment that is truly sound. But the only way to do this is to first recognize all of the things in ourselves that are worthy of judgment, that we are in fact, like Paul, the chiefs of sinners (see First Timothy 1:15). When we realize the degree to which our own lives are utterly dependent on mercy we will be motivated to measure out the mercy we show to others lavishly. When we realize the generous way in which the Lord reads our own motives and actions, when we hear, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do", we will be more ready to imagine the motives of others as generously as possible. It is when we are able to show this sort of love to others that our own meager perceptions of right and wrong, our own finite and limited judgments, might have some value.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
If we want God to show mercy we must ourselves be willing to be merciful. We must really live as though we believe that mercy is the standard in which we believe, which we desire both for ourselves and others. We can do this, not because of a position of moral superiority, but because we ourselves have been shown mercy. It is a Gospel law that what we want for ourselves with must give away. What we desire to receive we must sow in the world.
Do we desire that others discover the mercy of God? Or do we take a secret delight when we judge them worthy of condemnation? If we have taken comfort in the faults we impute to others the Lord wants to help with that particular beam in our own eye. Until that is gone all we are likely to find in others are problems that are actually in fact our own and not theirs. Once the beam is removed we will be able to help others cautiously, as fellow sinners who know our own liabilities, with the delicacy and compassion necessary for our help to actually be beneficial.
We often try to insulate ourselves from the demands of the Gospel by comparing ourselves to others, imagining that we are not so bad, compared to the evil ways and idolatry of the world around us. But if we remain fixated on the faults of others we will not be listening when God has words to speak to us about the ways in which we ourselves need to change. The moral high tower is a place only of rot and decay. Finding out all the ways in which the world is wrong will not spare us if we ourselves are worthy of judgment.
they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,
who had not believed in the LORD, their God.
The beauty of the command of Jesus not to judge is that when we finally learn to obey it we do not discover ourselves standing in judged and condemned but that we have instead opened ourselves to receive the mercy that Jesus was waiting to show us, but in which, until that moment, we had no interest. Let's let these barriers of judgment collapse, because they are not actually doing anything to protect us. May Jesus himself reveal the heart of mercy which always wills our good, so that we can then show that same mercy to others.
Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
No comments:
Post a Comment