Day 5 - Do not judge

Jesus made this point often. Specifically in John 7:24 and Matthew 7: 1-5, but also generally throughout His ministry.

There is much to think about in this. He says that those who do judge are hypocrites, but that seems to be a judgement in itself. Let’s consider how that affects us.

Jesus teaches that we are wrong to go about telling others how sinful they are unless we have dealt with our own badness first. A Spanish translation of this said that we should avoid just looking at the superficial and look instead for faith. That helps.

Churches, all sorts of them, have a terrible reputation for being judgmental. Human nature makes us expert at being superficial and estimating the worth of others by, for example, their marital status, or by how successful they seem in material ways. Jesus shocked His immediate disciples by disdaining those things, John 4:4-42 for example.

Jesus became quite irritated by religious hypocrisy, see Matthew 23 for a challenging example.

It’s clear then what He means. We are to see the faults in ourselves first, and in not doing so we risk His disdain, or even His anger.

Hypocrisy seems to be a special source of that disdain and anger, we should then beware of it.

Experience tells us two relevant things here. Churches contain many who are quick to think-up rules to check the shortcomings of others against, and people outside of Churches frequently believe that Christianity is all about such rules. Churches might be skillful at inventing rules; Christ is not so much. Hence the risk of hypocrisy.

It is doubtful that the much-maligned Pharisees were badly intentioned any more than Church based lawyers are today. We all know what the road to hell is paved with though. Myself, I would like to avoid being part of a ‘brood of vipers’ [Matthew 23:33] and so trying to understand and apply what Jesus means by ‘do not judge’ is crucial in every sense.

Have another look at John 7:24. A single verse that makes it very clear. “Stop judging by superficial appearances, make a right judgement”.

We are here, in this generation and this place, to be God’s examples to the world. More than eight billion people are loved by God and need to know the reality of that love. They need to be able to see what “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others” actually looks like.

By what standard do Christians appeal to be able to know what judgement to apply when dealing with others? How about using Christ?

What is a ‘right judgement’ about yourself and others? It’s faith. If you have the faith to believe Jesus’ teaching, then you are doing God’s will. If you meet someone who wants to find God then it’s time to fulfil your purpose, whatever else you think it is that you know about the other person.

John Cartwright