“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.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 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? 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.” - Matthew 7:1-5
I hear people all the time saying, “You shouldn’t judge.” “You shouldn’t judge - Jesus said, you shouldn’t judge!”
You know the funny thing about that statement? It is a judgement! When someone says, “You shouldn’t judge,” they are usually responding to some comment that they deem “judgy” and they judge that as being inappropriate, and so they judge it wrong and say, “You shouldn’t judge” – a judgement.
Our truth claims ought to stand up to themselves. This one doesn’t.
We’re going to judge. No doubt about it. And Jesus didn’t say, “Don’t judge.” What he said was, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” What this means is that, when we judge, we need to be aware that we too are judged and will be judged. I cannot count the times when I have told my children not to do something and then, minutes later (when they’re not around), I find myself doing the very same thing. And when I judge myself against the same criteria I used with them, I realize what a fool I am.
The thing about judging is to know that you are being judged in the same way that you judge. So if you’re highly critical of the conditions and arrangements and circumstances around you then you can expect highly critical judgements about you. If you find forgiveness to be a limited resource when you dole it out, you can expect that it will come back to you sparsely when you wrong others (and you will wrong others).
When we become knowledgeable of the ways in which we judge and when we realize that we stumble in the very same ways that we judge others for, we find our judgements softening. We find ourselves becoming more grace-filled toward others. We find ourselves and our characters closer to God’s self and God’s character. We find ourselves following in the ways of Jesus.
Be at peace,
Rev. Ken MacQuarrie
Ken MacQuarrie is the minister of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 24 Clairmont St. in Thorold. They worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Ken can be reached at 905-227-4844.
