Part 3
Let’s take a quick look at the gist of parts one and two:
1: The initial conjecture made is that we humans, Christians in particular, have been deceived. We have allowed Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount – Judge not lest ye be judged1 – to be pervertedinto 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. Ever-obedient to the catch-phrase, “judge not,” we sing along with the Deceiver’s cunning siren song: Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love… blinding us to the Deceiver’s need for us to not make judgments so that sin and chaos can reign. His scheme is to erase from our consciousness that Jesus requires us−and teaches us how−to make judgments; that God hates those things that wound and cripple His children; that sin broke our ability to love ourselves and others.
2: The Deceiver has hoodwinked us into believing that ‘judge not’ is an admonition to avoid all judgments rather than the eternal condemnation of others as the Deceiver condemned us—as value-less. His attack is a cosmic game of whack-a-mole. His aim is diabolically accurate and will be constant until we finally accept that all forms of the word ‘judge’ equal condemnation. The Deceiver wants our abilities to think, to extrapolate, to discern, and to resolve obliterated from our heads and hearts—ripped out of our souls (along with our innocence). Without judgment−justice, mercy, compassion, and redemption cannot exist. What then of our faith? This is the roiling cauldron of conundrum Christians face.
What’s the scariest thing you have ever prayed? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”2 should rank fairly near the top. There is an inherent need to preach the log versus the speck aspect of Matthew 7:1- 6. Yet without connecting that passage to the eternal ramifications in Matthew 6:9-15 and Matthew 5:17-20, we hollow out Jesus’ teachings about making the judgments required to live a life obedient to His Gospel.
His Gospel is filled with teachings about making those judgments. They’re called parables. Look to them and you will find a depth of truth in Jesus’ parables that touches our day-to-day lives. In the Parable of the Sower we meet the fool (rocky ground), the scoffer (the thorns) and the wise (good soil) of Proverbs. The do-nothing servant in the Parable of the Talents lays out the reasoning behind his judgment. Not acting on his judgment brings the wrath of his master. The Laborers in the Vineyard confronts emotions interfering with right judgment. Jesus directly confronts making judgments in other places too.
He specifically addresses making judgments on appearances in John 7:14-24. This not the oft taught log vs. speck variant based on looks or wealth or some other shallow characteristic. This is about whole cloth rather than parsed details. Society has always been quick, quick to pick apart and/or zero in on the bits and pieces of a situation. Jesus calls out our penchant for ‘gotcha’ and spinning—and how illogical this can become. It’s nothing new and it’s always been diametrically opposed to making right judgments.
Luke 12:54-59 touches on two points about making judgments. Jesus is speaking to ‘the crowds.’ He asks, why, if you can figure some things out, you don’t apply that same thought process to figuring out the ‘present time’? Figuring out the present time needs be done by all Christians, and every human being, throughout time until Christ comes on the clouds. He also asks, point blank, “And why do you not judge for yourself what is right?” What’s our answer?
Jesus tells us we have the intellectual capability of making judgments—that we know what is right. He expects us to make judgments about the place, time, and situation in which we exist day-to-day. He asks us why we don’t do so. In order to get us off the snide and do so that we may be obedient?
The cunning of the Deceiver is an evil masterpiece. Judge not; do not hate; love, love, love… His hammer of deceit has conned us into fearing both absolutes—right and wrong. The song-less refrain dupes us into injecting emotion where it should be verboten. We are so concussed by the relentless whacks we take. We don’t see them coming−delivered by talking-heads, entertainment, and money-grubbers to expunge our knowledge that justice cannot exist without absolutes. Our mish-mashed thoughts are so soaked in our own emotions that, though we can pamper ourselves, we do not love ourselves—much less our neighbors or our enemies.
Obfuscating Jesus’ directive by conflating judge, judging, justice, and judgment into condemnation produces our almost irrational fear of absolutes−of Law. We preface almost everything. ‘The way I see it, …’ ‘In my experience…’ ‘I don’t like broad brushes, but…’ What-about-ism is the same thing.
The Law (eternal, criminal/civil, science) is our reluctant acceptance that the Truth exists outside of ourselves and that it is greater than we are. Laws are our admission that we humans require them to co-exist. Our egos detest these things. Like the Deceiver (brought to us by the Deceiver), we want the Truth to emanate from within ourselves. We want to be the exception to every rule. We want to decide who must to follow which rules. There is nothing that constrains our egos more than the Truth. The Truth gives us no wiggle room. It simply is and nothing we can do, though we give it considerable time and effort, can change the Truth. The Truth will not—cannot—change based on how we feel about it.
Judgment is not an emotional activity. Which is exactly why, the Deceiver goes for the emotions. He knows that emotions desecrate impartiality. The Truth cannot be partial and be the Truth. Conclusions reached via emotions are not judgments; they are agendas. Truth may be immovable by human emotion, yet that very immutability makes it the sincerest love.
Judgment, in many ways, is a journey’s destination. Our footsteps of discernment, extrapolation, examination, and resolve unravel the facts, circumstances, and motives. This is true of all our judgments whether it’s about treatment after a diagnosis or to take a job or how to tweak the household budget or a court case. How did we get here? Where exactly, is here?
We are at ‘because.’ Because of these circumstances, because of these facts, because of these motives, here we are. Judgment is rendered because…therefore… ‘Therefore’ is where justice and judging dwell, where mercy and condemnation reside, where compassion and repentance live. Next door are the residences of redemption—eternal and earthly.
Jesus’ admonition not to play judge on an eternal scale is crucial to us as we make the judgments we need to live obediently. His prayer for us to forgive as we have been forgiven keeps us at the foot of His cross. His declaration (that He does not abolish the Law but fulfills it) is a promise that true justice will prevail.
Make no mistake, Jesus expects us to make judgments and act on them with the full knowledge of how to do so. Not only are we expected to make judgments, we are to protect each other from poor judgment (Ezekiel 3:16-21). Lest our jellied brains forget, there are six things God hates, seven He detests (conceit, lying, shedding innocent blood, devisors of evil, feet that run to evil, false witnesses, and family-breakers).3 God hates those things that wound and cripple His children. Note that lying makes the list twice.
Not making judgments and doing nothing are not options for Christians. In Truth, not making a judgment is a canard. Doing nothing judges Jesus as not worthy of the glory to which our obedience testifies. Doing nothing denies that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Doing nothing judges our neighbors as unworthy of saving and the victims of the wicked as value-less.
We are not called to be finger pointers or shamers. We are to be proclaim-ers, proclaim-ers of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our proclamations of repentance and forgiveness, the Good News of redemption and salvation, require us to meet others as they are, where they are, how they are, and provide for their needs. We aren’t invited to do the work of the Holy Spirit. We are asked to love our enemies and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
And, just exactly how are we to that?
To be continued.
1. How Verse 7:1 is in my memory. I don’t find it in any translation.
2. From the Lord’s Prayer
Scattered Verses 