12th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 23rd June 2023 – Genesis 12,1-9; Mt 7,1-5
Replacing God’s Judgement
One of the most important lessons from the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ admonition, “Stop Judging.” This may be the most often misused verse in the entire Bible. Modern culture distorts this comment into a command to never disapprove or correct the actions of another. Jesus’s words here are mishandled out of context for three reasons. First and foremost, Jesus does not say “never judge,” He warns that there is a consequence to judgement. Second, this statement is immediately followed by proper instructions to use judgment. Third, Jesus’ other teachings indicate that right judgement is necessary, while hypocritical or shallow judgment is wrong.
Jesus has been teaching within the context of Israel’s religious leaders and the way they practice their righteousness (Mt 5,20; 6,1). Their leadership paid attention to prove one’s worthiness to other people instead of humbly serving God. Following that example, the people of Israel performed religious duty for others’ approval and belittled others who did differently. In that context, Jesus says not to unfairly judge others in order not to be unfairly judged by God. He is talking about having an arrogant attitude of assuming authority over others by taking the place of God. This type of condemnation is clearly and repeatedly forbidden (Rom 14,10-13; Jam 4,11-12). In a crystal-clear statement, Jesus teaches in John 7,24 that His followers must be careful to make right judgments instead of judging others by external appearances. Also, God often gives Christians the responsibility to make judgments about truth and falsehood (Gal 1,8-9; Phil 3,2; 1 Jn 4,1) and to hold fellow Christians accountable for sin (1 Cor 5,5).
