#16 Top 40 New Testament Passages: Don't Judge (Matthew 7:1-5)
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
Derek Deblieux of the Rochester, New York rock band, Startisan, wrote the song Someone To Blame,which speaks about self-judgment. The song says we all have a skeleton or two in our proverbial closets. We pull those skeletons out when we look for someone to blame when things go wrong. We generally blame ourselves, sort of a survivor's guilt, when something bad happens or someone leaves us in a relationship. The message is "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault."
It is interesting that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he acknowledges our own self-judgment as being inherently tied to how we judge others. If you are harsh toward others, it is likely you are harsh to yourself. Jesus invites us not to be harsh judges, neither of ourselves or others. Instead pursue God's righteousness and practice peace.
Sometimes, in reaction to difficulties, we search for someone or something to blame. And we don't always point the finger at ourselves. We blame the indiscriminate "them". Or we blame the government. Or we i the finger in derision at people in general. We blame those other people in that political party. We blame those other people in that minority demographic. We draw the lines and circle the wagons into our little camps of like-minded people and blame all the rest.
Jesus knows our tendencies to blame others, to distance our hearts from those different from us with judgmental attitudes. Remember how the elder brother in the Parable of The Prodigal Son distanced himself from his own brother because of his younger brother's poor choices? He wouldn't even speak of him as his brother, but instead as "this son of yours", as he blamed his father for celebrating the younger son's return. (Luke 15:30) Yes, Jesus was quite aware of our tendency to blame and judge others. It's as old as humanity itself.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Even were seduced by the crafty serpent to disobey God's warning not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When God exposed their disobedience God first spoke to Adam, who immediately blamed Eve and God!
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12)
Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent. (Genesis 3:13), but the serpent had no one else to blame. He was just doing what crafty serpents do.
Blame-shifting is a deflection, a defensive maneuver to protect ourselves from carrying the blame. To shift the blame to another keeps us from owning up to our own responsibility. Again Jesus is quite aware of our tendency to shift blame and not accept our responsibility for our own thoughts, words and actions.
As so Jesus tells his disciples that the new morality for the people of the new covenant (The Church) is not to act as moral law enforcers, but to practice self-examination. Instead of looking for wrong in your neighbor's life, attend to your own shortcomings. That is something you can actually do something about! It's fruitless to assign blame to others, even if it's true. Blame does nothing to help a bad situation. It only adds more pain and division. The blessed peacemakers of the new covenant community in Christ will practice peaceful means to improve lives, not burden lives with guilt. In order to practice peace, we must be at peace with God and ourselves. When we have peace within we will be in the best place to offer peace to others, and to work for peace in the world.
Peace with God is a gift which God has already won for us in Jesus Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you (Gentile Christians) who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups (both Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:13-14, 17-18)
Yes, peace with God is pure grace, a gift we did not earn nor deserve. God, who is rich in mercy, chose to love us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Peace must be practiced inwardly. Trust in the benevolence of God and prayer are the basic means by which we might experience inner peace.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Instead of fearing God's judgment for something sinful you may have done, embrace God's mercy and know you stand unblemished before God because of Christ. (Jude 1:24) Fear of God is a holy and reverent posture, but fear of punishment has no placed among the saved. So there's no need to shift blame onto someone or something. Instead embrace your failures and learn from them. Look first to your log in your own eye, before you start looking at a speck in the eye of another. (Matthew 7:3-5)
Notice how Jesus cleverly uses a log, a hug piece of wood, to describe personal sin, and only a speck, a tiny particle of wood dust, to describe the sin of others. That is not because you are a bigger sinner than your neighbor. It is because you can only see one small part of another person's wrongs, but you have a front row seat to inspect your own personal list of wrongs. As Derek Deblieux wrote in his song, we all have our own skeletons.
With self-examination, as a daily spiritual practice, we won't have time to worry about taking somebody else's moral inventory. Instead we will be humbled before God and before others. We will experience God's forgiveness and mercy in our contrition and offer the same mercy and forgiveness to our neighbors. We will hope for them to also experience peace with God and peace with themselves. We will not add to their guilt, but offer hope and help to lift it.
So the next time you think about judging others, or blaming the proverbial "them", hold your peace. Look to your own spiritual development. When God has prepared you with His peace, go and be a peacemaker!
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| Do Not Judge (Matthew 7:1) |
Derek Deblieux of the Rochester, New York rock band, Startisan, wrote the song Someone To Blame,which speaks about self-judgment. The song says we all have a skeleton or two in our proverbial closets. We pull those skeletons out when we look for someone to blame when things go wrong. We generally blame ourselves, sort of a survivor's guilt, when something bad happens or someone leaves us in a relationship. The message is "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault."
It is interesting that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he acknowledges our own self-judgment as being inherently tied to how we judge others. If you are harsh toward others, it is likely you are harsh to yourself. Jesus invites us not to be harsh judges, neither of ourselves or others. Instead pursue God's righteousness and practice peace.
Sometimes, in reaction to difficulties, we search for someone or something to blame. And we don't always point the finger at ourselves. We blame the indiscriminate "them". Or we blame the government. Or we i the finger in derision at people in general. We blame those other people in that political party. We blame those other people in that minority demographic. We draw the lines and circle the wagons into our little camps of like-minded people and blame all the rest.
Jesus knows our tendencies to blame others, to distance our hearts from those different from us with judgmental attitudes. Remember how the elder brother in the Parable of The Prodigal Son distanced himself from his own brother because of his younger brother's poor choices? He wouldn't even speak of him as his brother, but instead as "this son of yours", as he blamed his father for celebrating the younger son's return. (Luke 15:30) Yes, Jesus was quite aware of our tendency to blame and judge others. It's as old as humanity itself.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Even were seduced by the crafty serpent to disobey God's warning not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When God exposed their disobedience God first spoke to Adam, who immediately blamed Eve and God!
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12)
Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent. (Genesis 3:13), but the serpent had no one else to blame. He was just doing what crafty serpents do.
Blame-shifting is a deflection, a defensive maneuver to protect ourselves from carrying the blame. To shift the blame to another keeps us from owning up to our own responsibility. Again Jesus is quite aware of our tendency to shift blame and not accept our responsibility for our own thoughts, words and actions.
As so Jesus tells his disciples that the new morality for the people of the new covenant (The Church) is not to act as moral law enforcers, but to practice self-examination. Instead of looking for wrong in your neighbor's life, attend to your own shortcomings. That is something you can actually do something about! It's fruitless to assign blame to others, even if it's true. Blame does nothing to help a bad situation. It only adds more pain and division. The blessed peacemakers of the new covenant community in Christ will practice peaceful means to improve lives, not burden lives with guilt. In order to practice peace, we must be at peace with God and ourselves. When we have peace within we will be in the best place to offer peace to others, and to work for peace in the world.
Peace with God is a gift which God has already won for us in Jesus Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you (Gentile Christians) who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups (both Jews and Gentiles) into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:13-14, 17-18)
Yes, peace with God is pure grace, a gift we did not earn nor deserve. God, who is rich in mercy, chose to love us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Peace must be practiced inwardly. Trust in the benevolence of God and prayer are the basic means by which we might experience inner peace.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Instead of fearing God's judgment for something sinful you may have done, embrace God's mercy and know you stand unblemished before God because of Christ. (Jude 1:24) Fear of God is a holy and reverent posture, but fear of punishment has no placed among the saved. So there's no need to shift blame onto someone or something. Instead embrace your failures and learn from them. Look first to your log in your own eye, before you start looking at a speck in the eye of another. (Matthew 7:3-5)
Notice how Jesus cleverly uses a log, a hug piece of wood, to describe personal sin, and only a speck, a tiny particle of wood dust, to describe the sin of others. That is not because you are a bigger sinner than your neighbor. It is because you can only see one small part of another person's wrongs, but you have a front row seat to inspect your own personal list of wrongs. As Derek Deblieux wrote in his song, we all have our own skeletons.
With self-examination, as a daily spiritual practice, we won't have time to worry about taking somebody else's moral inventory. Instead we will be humbled before God and before others. We will experience God's forgiveness and mercy in our contrition and offer the same mercy and forgiveness to our neighbors. We will hope for them to also experience peace with God and peace with themselves. We will not add to their guilt, but offer hope and help to lift it.
So the next time you think about judging others, or blaming the proverbial "them", hold your peace. Look to your own spiritual development. When God has prepared you with His peace, go and be a peacemaker!
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