This week’s reflection will look at what has been
described by some as the most frequently quoted bible verse today. It appears
on chat TV shows, in academic argument as well as in the pages of newspapers.
Post-modernity has latched onto it and, it is possible, that this verse is used
as much if not more by non-Christians as it is by Christians.
Which verse am I reflecting on this week?
Matthew 7:1 ‘Do not judge, or you
too will be judged.’
Jesus utters these famous words at the end of a
long discourse in Matthew which we today call ‘the sermon on the mount’. This
section has many notable illuminations: The beatitudes, salt and light, eye for
eye and love for enemies narratives in Matthew 5; The Lord’s prayer and
treasures in heaven narratives of 6; and, the judgement (which we will be
looking at today), door, gate and building narratives that we get in chapter 7.
In short, Matthew 5-7 is one of the most dense and illuminating passages of teaching
anywhere in the bible.
There is however a vast difference from the way
Jesus uses ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged’ to
the way that some use it today. Many today read it as an argument against
making definitive moral decisions. You may have heard it in conversations about
other religions, human sexuality or family preferences. Certainly the view is
common on the street. ‘”I don't mind Jesus,’ we hear; ‘it's Christians I
can't stand. Christians run around self-righteously telling people how to live,
condemning other religions, sending missionaries off to meddle in other
cultures. Why don't they follow the instruction of the Jesus they claim to
serve? After all, he said, 'Do not judge, or you too will be judged’”. (Carson)
In other words many people today treat Jesus’
statement as a knock-down argument about making moral statements i.e. we cannot
say that anything or anybody is wrong because that inherently involves
judgement.
This however misunderstands Jesus completely. One
of the golden rules of biblical interpretation is ‘A
text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.’ I.e.,
without examining the context in which something (in this case, Scripture) was
said, one can easily (or even intentionally) misappropriate or misuse or misapply
or misrepresent a text to support a position that it in fact does not support.
This is in plain view here. It is clear that Jesus
is declaring something about judgement in this passage. However, even a cursory
look at the context of the passage (the Sermon on the Mount) reveals that Jesus
cannot be against moral judgement. For example chapter 5 could be fairly
accurately titled ‘kingdom morals’ as it has teaching on Law, Murder, Adultery,
divorce and promise-making. Add to this the frequent language describing
religious hypocrites (Matt 6:2, 5, 16; 7:5) and the description of non-Jews as
pagans and it’s clear that Jesus is making moral judgements. In fact, only a
few verses after in Matthew 7:6 Jesus invites us to categorise people as dogs
and pigs a categorisation which requires moral judgement. John records Jesus as commanding us to make judgments: “Stop
judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment” (John 7:24)
Thus if Jesus is not flat out rejecting moral
judgements as some miss-readings today would assume, what is Jesus
asserting?
I think in this passage Jesus is continuing from
the flow of the argument in the last chapter. I.e. Jesus is writing primarily
against hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the sin of living by false measure; hypocrisy
is when we apply judgement to others in a greater amount than we apply to
ourselves.
In the story of the brothers directly following
Jesus says: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your
brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Thus
in this discourse Jesus is encouraging us to not to make judgements over other
people that we do not make of ourselves. As people who pursue righteousness
(Matt 6:33), we are easily prone to self-righteousness; arrogance,
condescension toward others, an ugly holier-than-thou stance, hypocrisy. Not
all are like that, of course, but the sin of “judgmentalism” is common enough.
Jesus won’t have it. We are thus called to live with a degree of moral
generosity towards others.
Sinless Jesus was clear and called Sin Sin.
He made moral judgements questioning the woman who had multiple husbands,
confronting the Pharisees and correcting his disciples whilst also exhibiting
grace and love of neighbour to a greater extent than we know. Thus Jesus’
example leads Christians to have a moral spine, to work against injustice
whilst also acting in grace through the fruit of the spirit. More than this we have the joy-filled opportunity of sharing Jesus, who bear's God's judgement, with others:
"
Milton Vincent A Gospel Primer
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