Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Judging Not

Friends, Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel is one of the most psychologically and spiritually insightful remarks in the New Testament. Let’s face it: a favorite pastime of most human beings is criticism of others.

We delight in pointing out the shortcomings, moral failings, and annoying tendencies of our neighbors. This is, of course, a function of pride and egotism: the more I put someone else down, the more elevated I feel.

But it is also, oddly, a magnificent means of turning a mirror on ourselves, to see what usually remains unseen. Why, we ought to ask, do we find precisely this sin of others particularly annoying? Why does that trait or sin of a confrere especially gall us?

Undoubtedly, Jesus implies, because it reminds us of a similar failing in ourselves. I remember a retreat director asking each of us to call to mind a person that we found hard to take and then to recount in detail the characteristics that made the person so obnoxious to us. Then he recommended that we go back to our room and ask God to forgive those same faults in ourselves. His words were as unnerving and as illuminating as these words of Jesus.

Mt 7:1-5
+++ Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.
For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure
will be measured out to you.
Why do you notice the splinter in your
brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in
your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove that splinter from your
eye,’
while the wooden beam is in your eye?
You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from
your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter from your brother’s
eye.”+++

.

The kind of judging that we are not supposed to do is what Jonah did towards Ninevah. Ninevah was evil and everyone knew it. God called Jonah to go preach God’s grace to Ninevah. And Jonah didn’t want to do it. After a little encouragement involving a bizarre fish incident. Jonah does go and preach. Ninevah repents and in Chapter 4 Jonah is clearly angry about it. And God rebukes Jonah for his attitude and failure to love. Jonah is a short read 4 chapters.

Deuteronomy encourages us to rebuke our neighbor so that we do not share in his sin.

God told one of the profits, if I say an evil man will die in his sins, and you don’t open your mouth to warn him, then I will hold you accountable.

Clearly we are to “discern the spirits”. We are to know right from wrong. We are to be a guiding light to others, both through example, through encouragement, and sometimes through frank confrontation. But it must be done in love, while recognizing that we are all sinners. And that but for the grace of God we would all face judgement and the second death.

We can judge whether something is a sin or not. But we are not to judge whether someone deserves to hear about the grace of God or have the chance to repent.

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