Whack-a-mole, a Conundrum, and a Siren Song

Part 1

The Deceiver stood toe-to-toe with God in his jealousy of the Father’s dominion and God’s choice to elevate man above the angels. The Deceiver rendered his judgment of our worth and pronounced us value-less. He sentenced us to sin, robbed us of our innocence, and smashed our free will to smithereens so that he could become our accuser and bask in his defiance of the Creator. Yet, the Deceiver lost— Christ is risen. Though deceived by himself, he refuses to give up the fight.  All the Deceiver has left to do is to play whack-a-mole with our judgment. His aim is diabolically accurate and word-twisting is one of his favorite hammers.

An evil second only to the Deceiver’s deconstruction of love, his word-twisting, ever-so-slowly, over decades, has obfuscated ‘Judgment,’ ‘to judge,’ ‘judging,’ ‘justice,’ and ‘judgment’ into a morass. We, mere mortals, have lost the understanding of how to separate and how to blend these facets into wisdom.

Almost every living, breathing human being on the planet, no matter our belief system, credit Jesus Christ as correct when He says, “Judge not…”¹ Yet,we are so over familiar with these words from Matthew’s Gospel that we have let His teaching become a catch-phrase and handed the Deceiver Jesus’ own words to accuse us! Ever-obedient to the catch-phrase, we have disciplined ourselves to be tolerant of the most shocking of behaviors; to blithely endure the most undisciplined of responses; to indulge the most intractable selfishness in our effort to be non-judgmental. The Deceiver revels in the perversion of Christ’s teaching into a diluted gruel that neither nourishes nor sustains us.

We have let Christ’s instructions become a weapon on the tongue of the Deceiver and the lips of the deceived. We have accepted lens upon lens through which to view all situations and all people—enough lenses to make a kaleidoscope of ever-changing hues and hyper-specific shades. We have willingly perched them at the end of our noses, gazing downward, believing that we “judge not” all the while creating enemies of our neighbors.

The Deceiver’s cunning refrain: Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love…sounds as a gentle ‘come hither’ tune melting our hearts or as deep gravelly bass reverberating in the depths of our soul. Either way, all too often we never notice the hidden accusations pointing straight at our faith.

Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love…

It should sound so lovely, so good, yet if we listen carefully enough, the sound of a seething, boiling cauldron pierces through the refrain’s tune. Because a refrain is all that it is…the rest of the song is never sung…because…it doesn’t exist.

Jesus teaches about justice, judging, and judgment. These teachings are full-bodied and succinct. Their Truth is unassailable whether you believe He is the Savior of the world or not. The siren song, on the other hand, taunts us into conflating all three into one. We have lost the understanding of what judgment is.

Uhmmm…doesn’t that just prove ‘judge not’ is the way to go?

Ehh…no.

The Deceiver doesn’t want us making judgments! He is quite happy with us value-less humans (his judgment of us) never questioning what is right and good in the light of day. His siren song helps trick us into embracing the ‘grey area.’ It used to be thorny issues like capital punishment that were relegated to the grey area. Yet as each new step away from the Truth is taken, the grey area expands. That way, we can continue doing as we please as if we have license to forego making a judgment.

But, God does not have a ‘grey area.’ It is a human construct to give us cover while sinning. And, it’s about as useful as Adam and Eve hiding their nakedness among the trees in the Garden.² As we allow ourselves to be told what is right and what is wrong, we’re pulled deeper into the ether of that emotion-filled grey hole.

But, be very careful here—be awake and ready.³ Jesus’ teachings about justice, judging, and judgment warn us. Our judgments can be the breeding ground for the black mold of sin: pride, self-righteousness, wrath, covetousness. That is why we must make our judgments at the foot of the Cross.

Wait a minute…how does this not simply make ‘judge not’ the foolproof way to go? How can one possibly be held accountable for doing nothing?  Accepting others as they are is Jesus’ way. Aren’t we to love our neighbors as we love ourselves?

Jesus doesn’t instruct us about how to make judgments if He isn’t expecting us to make them. Perhaps “Judge not” has deeper, more eternal significance than the catch-phrase allows us to grasp.

We are accountable for ‘doing nothing.’

Accepting people as they are isn’t quite Jesus’ way. Jesus’ way is to meet people where they are−not to leave them there.

How exactly do you love yourself?

To be continued.

1. Matthew 7:1

2. Genesis 3:10 3. Luke 21:36