Matthew 7:1-6
The key word and idea of this section of the Sermon on the Mount is judging. Jesus uses a pretty ridiculous word picture to describe the absurdity of comparing ourselves to others: trying to pick a speck of sawdust out of someone's eye while we are blinded by a 2x4 in our own. He also uses two other word pictures: giving a dog a sacred object and showing pearls to pigs. I think what he is saying there is even when our motives are good, we must be careful who we hold accountable and who we confront because it might be wasted effort on our part. That person may ignore our good advice and loving confrontation and, because their pride is injured, turn on the confronter to destroy him or her.
Jesus does seem to take a bit of an abrupt turn here in his sermon. His two main points so far have been that in order to have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven must keep not just the letter of the Law but the spirit of the Law and must not do her acts of righteousness to receive praise from humans. I guess this still fits under the main point: to have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees, we must not judge on purely external matters and I must not compare myself against anyone else. My standard of righteousness is Christ.
There is an interesting phrase in this part of Christ's sermon: "you will be judged with the measure you use." When I look at my own heart, so much of my judging flows from my own insecurity, guilt and short coming. I am scared that someone might find out about x in my life and feel guilty for having x in my life so I quickly and forcefully focus everyone's attention on x in someone else's life. I've seen this over and over again: the preacher who speaks most loudly against adultery is caught in an affair. The preacher who focuses his wrath against the same gender attracted is found out to be hiring homosexual prostitutes. However, I can't condemn these men too much because I see the same tendency toward self-protectionist judgement in myself. I am holding others to a different standard than I am willing to meet. Jesus makes it clear that I will be held to at least the same standard.
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1 comment:
Great thoughts, it is totally true that we like to judge others to hide our own insecurities. We feel if we point the finger at someone else then the attention will be off of us. Instead imagine what it would be like if we decided to share our weaknesses with each other. Imagine the healing that could take place in both parties. Confess your sins to each other and then you will be healed, it is written in scriptures, can't remember the exact passage right now, but it is a good one.
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