If I were honest about my journey through the Sermon on the Mount (this Lent) I’d have to say that Jesus has struck more than his fair share of nerves. Calling someone a “fool” is akin to murder?! Just looking at woman lustfully is considered adultery?! If someone slaps me, turn the other cheek?! If someone sues me, give them the shirt off my back?! Love my enemies? pray for them? Be perfect like God is perfect? Folks…that’s just chapter five! (BTW, I’m using irony here. If this is all you’ve gotten so far from your reading you would do well to find resources out there that help you see the bigger picture that Jesus is painting).
From there he goes on to talk about our tendency to puff ourselves up when we give, and pray, and fast (just curious, how many times have you …do you…fast?). Think about: How messed up is it/are we that as we clear our hearts of any desire to do some good and noble thing – so that we act only from totally pure motives – there rises the danger to allow my desire to act altruistically to become a pitfall! Perhaps (and I need to you to hear a tone of sarcasm here) this is why Jesus bring these nerve-striking issues to the fore? Because they occur so naturally within us?
So here we have Matthew chapter seven, and Jesus leads off with the oft quoted (and usually misquoted) verse, “Do not judge.” How many times have you heard that said. How many times have you quoted this passage? Most of the time there’s a period after the word judge. But if you go back to your bibles (go on, I’ll wait), you’ll find a comma, not a period. Jesus goes on to say, “for you too will be judged.” And in case you didn’t notice, he’s still not done. He goes on to say, “For,” (at which point it’s important to point out that any time you have a For or Therefore, you should take note, for the author is expanding on a point they want you to more fully understand), “in the same way you choose to judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you have chosen to judge…it will be that measure which is used with you!” Jesus continues (note, he’s still not done…in fact he seems to be on a roll here), by whipping out a crazy metaphor dealing with splinters and logs, specks, and planks (go read it, it’s awesome). But what does Jesus mean?
To quote from this morning’s devotional, “One of the great lies of our time is to suppose that because Jesus brings forgiveness, and urges us to be forgiving people, meek and gentle, there is no sharp edge to his message. To hear some people, you’d think the whole of the Christian message was simply a call to accept one another, never to judge another person.” Indeed for many people, even, and sometimes especially, within the church, this has become the primary measuring tool of what makes a Christian a Christian, and the highest value that we are to strive for.
This is why it’s critical for us to allow the bible to speak to us (rather than the other way around). Note that in Jesus’ talk about specks and planks that he’s asking everyone to be very careful about the tendency to be judgmental. Did you catch what I just said? Jesus does not say that we are never to make judgments (reach decisions, verdicts, or conclusions). It’s clear that God intends the world to be ordered and has given humanity the ability, and by the way permission, to make decisions, rulings, and assessments (thank goodness, cause if my kids were ever bite down on this lie, it’d be nothing short of a mutiny at my house).
What Jesus is talking about here are the all-too-real moments that surface each day when we set ourselves up as moral guardians and critics of others. Jesus isn’t suggesting that we shouldn’t have high standards of behavior for ourselves and the world, but he is saying that to look down on others and their moral failures is, and can be, a temptation to play God. “Look first at your own heart and you will find that you’ve made plenty of mistakes just like those you’re judging…so be careful how you handle this situation,” is the sort of thing being said.
Remember the story of the woman caught in adultery? Jesus’ point was to expose the reality and existence of sin in each of the rock holder’s hearts. Here in Matthew 7, Jesus is saying something similar. Additionally, he says, “As you take the plank out of your eye you will be able then to see clearly enough to help remove what needs to be removing from your brother’s eye.” Jesus isn’t saying there’s no such thing as public morality. But he is warning that the very people who seem so eager to tell others what to do (or in most cases, what not to do) ought to take a long, hard, look in the mirror first.
As we Lent together, may we be a people who first look inwardly before condemning (and dispensing of) others outwardly. May we be a people who are slow to speak, and quick to comfort. And like Jesus, may we be grounded in God’s Word, in order that he might cleanse us, and that we might wisely make decisions.
Lent 2014 