Lent Midweek 5 [3/6/08] “Judge Not”

Several years ago, I inherited the extensive genealogical files of a distant cousin. In this material there was a letter from a highly respected professional genealogist who had been doing some work for my relative. She had located some information about one particular ancestor—rather juicy information that involved his being hung for treason during the Revolutionary War. She went on and on, reciting the facts of the case, and then, apparently feeling she had taken a bit too much glee in detailing this scandal, added, almost as an afterthought: “I don’t judge, I only report.”

I’ve often thought that comment could be put into the mouths of many people who like to quote Jesus’ words in this first verse of Matthew 7, insisting that of course they don’t judge anyone else—when in fact, that’s exactly what they do! “There is hardly any commandment of Jesus,” wrote William Barclay, “which is more consistently broken and neglected” than this opening verse of Matthew 7. Certainly one stereotype that non-Christians have of Christians is that we are judgmental. Sometimes that stereotype is ill-founded. More often it is probably justified. We do tend to be judgmental, much more than we realize. Ian Maclaren, the great Scottish preacher, acknowledged this when we began a sermon on this text by simply asking this question: “How can we help ‘judging,’ and why should we not ‘judge’?” If we are honest, I suspect those are questions that arise in our hearts. Jesus says, “Judge not,” and we say, “But how can I help it? And why not, anyway?” It is those two questions that I wish to consider this evening, though not in that order.

First perhaps we should ask what exactly Jesus means by “judging.” Is he saying we shouldn’t be discerning about others? Does he mean that we should adopt an attitude of complete laxity, that we should just “live and let live” and not be concerned about others? I don’t think so. There is plenty in the Scriptures to suggest that we, as Christians, have a responsibility to speak and live the truth, and to oppose what is wrong. Rather Jesus here once again addresses our attitudes. As we deal with others, how do we approach them? How do we regard them? As terrible transgressors, or as beloved children of God? That is the key issue here.

Why should we not judge? The first reason is that all human judgment is contaminated with egoism. It is part of our human condition that when we judge another person, we set ourselves over against that person and believe, in the secret places of our heart, that they have transgressed in ways that we have not. But the Bible teaches us that we all have sinned and fallen short of what God intends for us. Judgment misses the mark because it tries to make that person’s sin worse than my own. Maclaren pointedly remarks that “we look at our neighbor’s errors with a microscope, and at our own through the wrong end of a telescope.” And Jesus tells us that this is not just a tendency or a possibility, it is nearly inevitable. If we judge others, we inevitably deny our own sin and therefore stand accused before God.

A second reason we ought not judge is that we are human, and we don’t have all the facts. We don’t know what is in another’s heart, or another’s mind. We don’t know why they behave as they do—indeed, we often don’t know why we ourselves do what we do! In a human courtroom, we try to find out all the facts. We would think very little of a judge who made his decision without considering everything that is pertinent. With human beings, only God knows everything. It is God who is qualified to judge, no one else.

A third reason we are told not to judge is that judging doesn’t help anything. “Judgment can never right the wrong,” says Helmut Thielicke, “but only increases it.” Why is that? Because when we judge another, we begin a cycle of retaliation. When we judge someone, our judgment does not correct or modify his behavior. Rather, says Thielicke, it “only embitters and hardens him.” Think for a moment about a time when you felt someone was judging you. What was the result? Did you say, “Oh, of course, she’s right, I must mend my ways?” Or did you become angry, wondering what gave her the right to judge you? Did you begin to number in your own mind the various offenses she had committed, and convince yourself that your life really stacked up pretty well against hers? You see, that is what judging does! It compounds the wrong, and makes things worse.

But what can we do about it? If we can admit to ourselves that judging is a problem we all have, something we do almost instinctively and thoughtlessly, does Jesus offer any answers as to how to change? I think we can give some suggestions, at least!

The first is to be continually sure that we do not misunderstand what Christianity is all about. Sometimes I get a little nervous when I hear people talk about “Christian values.” There is certainly a sense in which the gospel gives us a way of looking at life. But the gospel is not a set of “do’s and don’t’s,” a checklist of right and wrong behavior. Christianity is not following Christian values; Christianity is following Jesus Christ. Jesus did not condemn sinners, but ate with them, talked with them, loved them. Bonhoeffer put it this way: “Discipleship does not afford us a point of vantage from which to attack others; [rather] we come to them with . . . the single-mindedness of the love of Jesus.” Viewing our neighbor with a checklist in hand—have you obeyed this commandment? Have you lived the way I think you should?—that is not the way of Jesus Christ.

A second suggestion: We cannot avoid the thoughts we have about people. Perhaps I notice that my neighbor is an adulterer, or a drunkard, or an arrogant jerk. Jesus’ commandment here does not forbid me those thoughts and observations—but Jesus tells me a way to use those thoughts! I am to use them, not to judge, but to love. Those observations, you see, give me the opportunity to love unconditionally, and to forgive! And if I can use those thoughts as an occasion for love . . . if I can observe my neighbor’s sin, and let it move me to pity and understanding and forgiveness . . . then I will, in fact, be following Jesus. For that is, I trust, I know, how he deals with my sin. He does not condemn me, but loves me all the more.

And isn’t that what Luther means when, in the Catechism, he asks us to “fear and love God, so that we do not betray, slander, or lie about our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain his actions in the kindest way?” That last part is a hard one! Yet it is what he asks, in place of judgment. It’s what he does, and it’s what he asks of us, if we would follow him.

The third suggestion, or rather observation, is this: Jesus does not ask us to stop judging by our own power! He offers help. And that help will come most easily when we learn to see people with Jesus’ eyes. When we see a young person whose life is getting off track, rather than judging let us remember that Christ grieves for that person. If we know someone, Thielicke writes, “who keeps deviling us because he grudges us our position and success, and we are tempted to become cynical, we ought to stop right there and ask ourselves what dark thoughts would rise in our minds if we were in this situation, the black impulses of jealousy and hate that we know are in our own hearts, and that Jesus nevertheless has called us to himself and bestowed his mercy upon us. Then quite of itself . . . it turns out that I do not even need to fight my urge to judge; for it is conquered by a higher hand.” When we see people, not as sinners to be condemned but as sinners for whom Christ died, then our judging begins to take a back seat.

And when we look at others this way, it is remarkable what happens. To quote Thielicke again: “A Christian is a person who sets out to discover children of God, and then finds them everywhere . . . Jesus Christ makes all things new, not only our hearts but also our eyes. The world quite literally looks different for those who see it in this light. And it not only looks different, it becomes different.” “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged”—these words, so difficult, are words of grace, for they promise us and point us to a wealth of mercy and love.