Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” MT 7:1-5
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” By itself, this statement could be construed to mean that one may escape even God’s judgment simply by not judging the behavior of others. Of course, everyone is judged by God, so this cannot be a proper understanding. Jesus goes on to reformulate his statement in a positive way: “With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Jesus indeed expects his disciples to judge but he warns that they, too, will be judged in a like manner.
This is reminiscent of the line in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matt. 6:12). Much more than a simple warning that God will treat us as we treat others, this is an appeal to each of us to be as much as we can like God in the way that we treat others. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make ‘ours’ the same mind that was in Christ Jesus” (CCC 2842).
In the next two lines Jesus cautions against hypocrisy: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?” Judging hypocritically is not effective. A petty thief admonished by a bank robber only scoffs at his admonisher.
Jesus then explains how to judge rightly: “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Much to the point of this article, there can be no doubt that those final words—”take the speck out of your brother’s eye”—are, indeed, permission to judge so long as it is done rightly.
Author: Jim Blackburn, Catholic Answers.com
As Jesus continues to teach his disciples and us how to be a saint, judging others makes it on the list. Let’s start with ourselves. I criticize, judge, and put myself down often. I am very hard on myself. I have to fight negative thoughts often. Next, we naturally tend to judge others right away. When we watch TV we judge, when the news comes on we judge, when our neighbor paints their house a weird color we judge, when our parents do something we judge, when a friend makes a comment we judge, if someone looks nice and we are jealous we judge, if someone beats us we judge, and the list goes on. We judge constantly, it is part of our nature. Judging others stems from fear. We are naturally afraid of people we don’t know, so we make judgment to make ourselves feel secure. Security is a basic need. So, why did Jesus call us out on this and forbid us not to do it if we know we have inherited a fallen human nature? Judging ourselves and others hurts relationships and takes away our peace of mind, peace in our homes, and peace in our communities. When we really get to know someone, we find out that they are human just like us and they are suffering and fighting sin just like us. Padre Pio says, “We cannot criticize others, all of us have faults.” If we do not think we have as many faults as everyone else then we have the biggest fault, pride. The biggest key point Jesus is trying to teach us is that we are all in the same boat, a fallen human nature, walk hand in hand forgiving instead of judging, understanding instead of criticizing, and take time to get to know the truth about individuals instead of judging on the surface. Last, how many times have we sinned and God forgives us every time without judging. He just keeps on loving and forgiving because it is His nature. We are to conquer self (fallen human nature), die to self, and to put on Christ which means stop judging and forgive, build up instead of tear down, stop being so hard on yourself, love, and bring peace to your relationships. What a difficult task that I suck at! With God’s grace anything is possible! Keep fighting!
Today’s challenge: Work on your own faults so that you may judge rightly.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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