"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "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? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

Matthew 7:1-5

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Luke 6:37-38


You know, this relationship with Jesus is starting to cramp my style. First off, I’m told to deal with my own hurt and resentment and see if I’ve done anything to offend the other guy. Then I’m told to let go of anger and not hold on to it, particularly not act on it destructively. Then I’m told not to rage or let my emotions take control of me. Now this one is over the top, I’m not supposed to judge other people! Not judge? How can I not judge, seeing all the stuff people do and how they are?

This is a tough call – we all judge and, ironically, some of the most judgmental people I’ve ever met are Christians and gays. We judge other people’s looks, outfits, habits, friends, style, speech, mannerisms, age, body, neighborhood, partners, and the list goes on. It’s easy to justify since everybody does it. But Jesus is calling us to a higher standard and tells us not to do it. This message permeates the New Testament, we are not supposed to be like them – we’re called to see things and people the way God sees them and here’s what’s annoying: everybody is made in God’s image and God sees everybody from the vantage point of His love.

Sometimes it’s just fun to be catty and negative, to dish dirt on somebody else, to decide what’s wrong with them. Having to give it up seems pretty darn restrictive. Problem is, dissing somebody else never takes measure of all their qualities and it tells more about us than about the person. Quality people are just slow to judge, want to take more details into account, want to see the whole picture. Judgmental people are usually hurting, angry, insecure. Am I right? Check it out – who do you know that’s real judgmental? Do you see an honorable person or someone who’s reactive, vindictive?

The second thing is that judging is a convenient way to avoid looking at ourselves – Jesus says to check out the plank in your eye before you go for the speck in someone else’s eye. Great line – fault finders see everyone else’s faults but seem blind to their own. We see tons of this in the gay community, where you have to see things the same as they do or you’re seriously suspect, and equal tons in the Christian community where it’s just about the same, opposite issues.

The third thing, Jesus is saying that our judgments are bogus about who is and who is not going to heaven – that’s the other meaning of judgment, as in Judgment Day, only God gets to make that call because only God is fit to be Judge. So all of the times our community’s been told we’re going to hell are bogus, anti-scriptural rants from closed-minded bigot. Let’s just make real sure that we are not subtly doing the same thing, deciding that we don’t want to spend eternity with someone that we don’t like or find attractive.

One important point of balance here, gang. Jesus is not telling us not to be discerning. He said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We have every right to evaluate people’s actions and speech toward us, to choose to be close to people or to stay away from them. But we don’t have the right to make a complete moral evaluation, we don’t ever know the whole story. We sure don’t know who God’s chosen to be our roommates in heaven. Now what’s nice about that is that it takes a lot of responsibility off of us to morally determine who’s out and who’s in. What a relief! And the good news is that once we’ve all come face to face with the loving Abba-Father, as we come to see things through the lens of God’s love-perspective, that roommate will be as enjoyable to us and we will be to him or her. God calls on us to stop dissing judgment and keep on dishing out grace. It feels good.