Judgment Belongs to God Alone
Today we are celebrating the first day back in Ordinary Time after the Easter Season. Before I look at the Gospel, I want to talk about the season of the year. Ordinary Time makes it sound like this time of the Church year is ho-hum, usual, or nothing special. Nothing could be further from the truth. The word ordinary actually comes from the Latin root for “rule.” You could think of ordinary things as almost like rules in your life.
In this season of the church year, Ordinary Time, we learn the teachings of Jesus. If we use the analogy of a meal, this is the meat, vegetables, and potatoes of what Jesus is asking from us. We are not having the dessert of Christmas or Easter or even the Appetizers of Advent and Lent. We are into the heart of the feast, the substance of the meal. Ordinary Time in the Church year is where we find the heart of what Jesus is calling us to, as his followers.
Today’s reading (MT 7:1-5) is a perfect example. Jesus is confronting His disciples about their tendency to cast judgment on others. He is calling them to a different heart condition and asking them to put on “new eyes” when they look at others.
In Jesus’ time, the Jewish community was ruled by many laws and instructions about what made one worthy and unworthy, clean and unclean, acceptable, and unacceptable. It was a society that judged freely and cast out those who did not meet the standard. Jesus, in the reading today, is calling His disciples beyond the way they have always seen others to a new way of seeing.
In the reading, He says, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” In the society of the time, people were judged based on specific criteria. It mattered, who their parents were, what country they came from, what beliefs they held, whether they were lepers or clean, whether they were wealthy or poor. Jesus was saying quite simply, “Stop doing that. That kind of judging is not of God.”
My question for us today is, “What has changed?” Don’t we still judge people based on similar criteria, the country they are from, the color of their skin, their level of education, and their physical and mental wellness? In much the same way as Jesus was calling His disciples to a new way of thinking, He is calling us to the same. That new way is simple. Stop judging! Be accepting and compassionate. Be understanding and tolerant. Be better than the law. We are all the same in God’s eyes. If we look at one another, through God’s eyes, the eyes of acceptance, love, and compassion, we will experience (not just in eternal life but now) God’s love and acceptance of us.
In my own life, I have a basic rule I follow. It is, “Never judge anyone, condemn anyone, blame anyone, or value anyone based on things they do not choose.” People do not choose poverty, where they were born, their sickness, mental wellness, sexual orientation, or many other things. No one would get up on a random Thursday and say, “Gee whiz, I think I will be indigent, or poor, or gay, or alcoholic, or have a mental illness.”
People don’t get to choose. All kinds of factors bring them to those places, and almost every single one is out of their control. I have learned it is best if I keep my judging from the picture and embrace the Gospel’s attitude. “Do not judge! Leave the judging to our God of compassion.”
Jesus, in this Gospel, is telling us to look with the eyes of God on others, pray for them, and place them before God. And, hope they are praying for us in the same way. Because in one way or another, we all have a plank in our eye.
May God bless us all today with open and loving hearts. May we remember to allow all judgment about others to remain where it rightly belongs in God’s hands.
In God’s unending love,
Gwen
