The reality is, judging other people is fun! I mean, I get it. We aren’t supposed to do that. But saying, oh my God, why did she wear that, is like, the bomb!
I like to judge what people wear, what people eat, what people drive, and especially the way they drive! And of all the types of people I like to judge the most are politicians and other Christians who are idiots.
I know, you are suddenly think, oh my, a complete pastoral failure, you Jeff just don’t measure up to what we expect in a Holy man of God!
Some amazingly good judging right there! Just saying!
So, why, oh why, did God give us such good brains, able to distinguish between wonderful people and my preferred group of social outcasts, if God didn’t want us to use them?
“I am no Pharisee”, I regularly say to myself, and then without a thought, turn, see another person and go, “Why, God do they even walk the planet”?
Which is why I just have to ask, why in heaven’s name did Jesus say “Don’t judge others!”
Was he just trying to ruin our fun, our haughty, self-righteous attitudes?
Was he trying to make us miserable? I mean, I already know I am as close to perfect as perfection gets, so what gives?
Is it possible, that Jesus thinks something more is at work here?
And just so we don’t get off track, this is not an attack on discernment, the spiritual gift my wife Sue says she most wants to have.
The reality is, we have to use the gift of discernment all the time.
We distinguish between water that is too hot and too cold and pick the one we need, or desire. It’s a very normal process, sometimes a safety issue, occasionally a choice between life and death.
While Noah was here, Sue had him help out by putting the mulch in the garden. Later on in life, he is going to sue her for breaking child labor laws.
But then once it was in the garden, she told him it was hot lava, and not to put his feet in it!
Why, because Noah would have happily walked all over the mulch, and he has learned that you don’t touch “hot”, one of his favorite words. You don’t touch a hot stove, a hot grill, a hot fireplace, hot water in the tub or sink, or Nana’s hot lava gardens!
If you are making tea, you want it hot. If you are making lemonade you want it cold. And if you are Noah and Loon Lake is 50 degrees, and therefore not hot, you go swimming, because Noah believes even tepid bathwater is too hot.
Yes, we have to see the difference between good and bad. Yes, we have to make decisions about politics and economics and people we want to listen to or not listen to.
But that is not what Jesus is talking about, discernment.
What Jesus is concerned about is the process of pushing people away because we have decided that we are somehow better than them, know more than them, are more righteous than they are, or conversely, that they are somehow worse than us, know less than us, or are less righteous than us.
Jesus is concerned that we are choosing to separate people from us on the basis of our determination as to whether they are worthy of our time, our compassion, and our love.
And that is just not the way God works, nor his kingdom!
And it is not to be the way the people of God work!
It’s interesting to come work at the Deacon’s Food Pantry, partly because it is really hard work, lots of fun, good fellowship, and also an eye-opening experience.
Because the need for food comes in all sizes, shapes, and as it turns out, all kinds of cars.
Just because someone drives up in a nice car, doesn’t mean that they are not unemployed and hungry. I often tell people who are not working to pay their rent and come to us for food. Because we can’t pay your rent, but we can feed you!
And just because they are wearing nice clothes doesn’t not mean that they are not fighting an eviction because they can’t pay their rent. Come get food!
Those who work the pantry have to set aside the desire and almost automatic tendency, to judge. It’s easy to think that some of these folks must be scamming the system! Not so easy to find out the truth, and for our clients, sometimes an embarrassing truth.
Are they scamming the system, maybe.
But as Father McHale said to me 35 years ago, do you want to stand before Jesus and be praised for feeding a family that looked rich but was hungry, or reminded that you didn’t feed them and they really needed you to help.
Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you!
Because in order to judge another, you need to deem yourself the judge! And in our world, most judges are elected, and nobody elected you!
And in God’s world, there is only one judge, and guess what, it is still not you!
Jesus goes on to illustrate the principle.
We distinguish between water that is too hot and too cold and pick the one we need, or desire. It’s a very normal process, sometimes a safety issue, occasionally a choice between life and death.
While Noah was here, Sue had him help out by putting the mulch in the garden. Later on in life, he is going to sue her for breaking child labor laws.
But then once it was in the garden, she told him it was hot lava, and not to put his feet in it!
Why, because Noah would have happily walked all over the mulch, and he has learned that you don’t touch “hot”, one of his favorite words. You don’t touch a hot stove, a hot grill, a hot fireplace, hot water in the tub or sink, or Nana’s hot lava gardens!
If you are making tea, you want it hot. If you are making lemonade you want it cold. And if you are Noah and Loon Lake is 50 degrees, and therefore not hot, you go swimming, because Noah believes even tepid bathwater is too hot.
Yes, we have to see the difference between good and bad. Yes, we have to make decisions about politics and economics and people we want to listen to or not listen to.
But that is not what Jesus is talking about, discernment.
What Jesus is concerned about is the process of pushing people away because we have decided that we are somehow better than them, know more than them, are more righteous than they are, or conversely, that they are somehow worse than us, know less than us, or are less righteous than us.
Jesus is concerned that we are choosing to separate people from us on the basis of our determination as to whether they are worthy of our time, our compassion, and our love.
And that is just not the way God works, nor his kingdom!
And it is not to be the way the people of God work!
It’s interesting to come work at the Deacon’s Food Pantry, partly because it is really hard work, lots of fun, good fellowship, and also an eye-opening experience.
Because the need for food comes in all sizes, shapes, and as it turns out, all kinds of cars.
Just because someone drives up in a nice car, doesn’t mean that they are not unemployed and hungry. I often tell people who are not working to pay their rent and come to us for food. Because we can’t pay your rent, but we can feed you!
And just because they are wearing nice clothes doesn’t not mean that they are not fighting an eviction because they can’t pay their rent. Come get food!
Those who work the pantry have to set aside the desire and almost automatic tendency, to judge. It’s easy to think that some of these folks must be scamming the system! Not so easy to find out the truth, and for our clients, sometimes an embarrassing truth.
Are they scamming the system, maybe.
But as Father McHale said to me 35 years ago, do you want to stand before Jesus and be praised for feeding a family that looked rich but was hungry, or reminded that you didn’t feed them and they really needed you to help.
Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you!
Because in order to judge another, you need to deem yourself the judge! And in our world, most judges are elected, and nobody elected you!
And in God’s world, there is only one judge, and guess what, it is still not you!
Jesus goes on to illustrate the principle.
He says, can a blind person – you - lead another blind person - me. What are your grounds for thinking that you can see better than someone else if we are both blind?
Are students better than their teacher? How can they judge that which they do not yet know? What kind of logic is required to get you to think that you know better than someone who has done this thing or studied it for a long time?
Can a person who has a log in their eye judge well how to remove a speck from another person’s eye? What kind of thinking is required to make yourself the better paramedic in this situation?
In order to be the judge of others behavior, you have to sit on the God’s throne, and you and I don’t. God does.
So, please, Jesus reminds his hearers, move over, get down, kneel at the feet of the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and turn your sight from other people’s behavior and instead, see your own for what it is, in the way God sees it.
Then rejoice, that God’s loves you as much as God loves your neighbor! To God be the glory!
Amen.
Are students better than their teacher? How can they judge that which they do not yet know? What kind of logic is required to get you to think that you know better than someone who has done this thing or studied it for a long time?
Can a person who has a log in their eye judge well how to remove a speck from another person’s eye? What kind of thinking is required to make yourself the better paramedic in this situation?
In order to be the judge of others behavior, you have to sit on the God’s throne, and you and I don’t. God does.
So, please, Jesus reminds his hearers, move over, get down, kneel at the feet of the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and turn your sight from other people’s behavior and instead, see your own for what it is, in the way God sees it.
Then rejoice, that God’s loves you as much as God loves your neighbor! To God be the glory!
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment