This Sunday's Gospel reading from Luke 6:27-38 has some difficult advice from Jesus to his followers.
‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.I once led a Bible study, and when this chapter of Luke came up one of my fellow students confessed that they could not love some of their enemies. I agreed that it was a challenge, but what about Jesus' words, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged"? I myself tested out as having an INTJ personality type just like my father. It seems that I was born with a judgmental mind, but aren't we all born judgmental? Research has shown that newborns quickly learn to judge their mother's face from others. We have to be discriminatory in order to know friend from foe, right from wrong, offensive from inoffensive, good from evil.
‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.* Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
How many times have you heard someone use this verse against you in the form of, "Who are you to judge?"
I am not the only one who noticed the problem with reading this verse with perhaps the wrong idea of what Jesus was taking aim at. Regis Nicoll at Crisis Magazine points out the problem with taking non-judgmentalism to its logical extreme,
" Despite its ever-so humble patina, non-judgmentalism has deep logical, practical, moral, and theological problems.
First, if “it’s not up to me to judge,” that applies to the wrongness of actions as well as their rightness. For which ever way we judge is a de facto judgment on the opposing view...
Second, non-judgmentalism is self-indicting. If judgment-making is wrong, so too is the judgment against judgment-making.
Third, fidelity to non-judgmentalism requires moral neutrality on all matters—an impossibility even for the entrenched non-judgmentalist.
Fourth, the person who refrains from judging truth from falsehood and good from evil quickly will find himself a victim of those adept at parading one for the other.
Lastly and most importantly for Christians, the “who-am-I-to-judge” ethic has no biblical warrant. Quite the opposite."Jesus judges people all the time, but that is His right as Lord and Savior.
As far as biblical warrant goes, we need look no further than Paul's letters, the other Epistles, and Revelation to find judgments galore.
I guess we are all doomed to be judged as we are all judgmental.
And that is why we need a Savior to spare us from the time of trial, a tine that is sure to come.
"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" - 1 John 2:1
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There is judgment and there is JUDGEMENT.
ReplyDeleteAs folks redeemed in Christ yet still sinful, we have to exercise judgment in order to survive but with humility, charity and whatever wisdom the Holy Spirit brings to bear.
On our journeys, God will exert JUDGEMENT upon our lives based upon our action and attitudes when we wander and that is because HE loves us.
At the Final Judgment, it will become apparent that ALL deserve to go to HELL and that it is only the Atonement of Jesus Christ on the Cross and His Resurrection that offer us any HOPE at all.
I'm an INTJ myself, Pewster, married to an ENTJ, which I think someone told me makes us incompatible. After nearly 48 years, I'm guessing they've got that wrong.
ReplyDeleteJudging in the Israelite community was done by judges, representing the community, and not by personal vendetta or tribal vendetta. I think that's what the Lord meant. There are standards, and there is judgment, but individuals are not the ones doing the judging. That's not the same as avoiding people whose unrepentant behavior appears to us to be below God's standards. He will be the final Judge; we won't.