The measures we use . . .

The Big Muddy - Southern Saskatchewan

Matthew 7: 1-5

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.

I remember being a guest-presenter at a men’s breakfast some years ago. It happened to be during the lead-up to a provincial election and comments like, “what’s the point of voting; politicians are all corrupt and on the take,” were common. I decided to base my talk on the passage beginning with “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” in Matthew 7. If I recall correctly, my main point was that if we judge a whole category of people holus-bolus, we’re bound to do an injustice to individuals in the group who are not “corrupt or on the take,” and the term for that is actually prejudice, a word that simply means to “pre-judge.” A simple prejudiced statement would be, for instance, “Conservatism is just fascism in disguise; that man votes Conservative; he’s obviously a fascist." That’s the logic of a prejudicial mindset.

Jesus calls the yardsticks by which we judge others, “measures,” and warns—or promises—that we will be judged by the same yardstick by which we routinely condemn, exonerate or forgive others. So if we use the prejudicial measurement on others, say, then that’s the yardstick that will be used on us by the “judgment.” (It echoes the prayer Jesus taught: “Forgive us our trespasses, as [like] we forgive those who trespass against us.”) He goes on to say that the chastising of a brother for having dirt in his eye should only be undertaken after having recognized and dealt with the dirt in one’s own eye. And for those of us Christians who say that our eyes are clean because we've been forgiven by Christ, we need to think again. Jesus was talking to his followers!

I remember a challenge from someone during the Q & A that followed the breakfast. “But we have to make a judgment about what is right and what’s wrong, don’t we?” The best I could come up with is that that’s a different definition of judge; “what you’re actually talking about is discernment, which is, of course, a laudable and necessary form of judgment. What Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7 is condemnation, not discernment. So in other words, be very careful about condemning others while you remain vulnerable to condemnation yourself; such condemnation will come back to bite you in the rear end."

I can’t remember a time when the condemnation of others, even by Christians, was as blatant, loud and aggressive as it has been in the lead up to the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the USA. Civil discussion and debate about policies (immigration levels, trade agreements, health insurance, etc.) has been buried under a mighty avalanche of condemnation. It’s as if the world reached a joint decision to slam one another about “the speck [in] your eye, when all the time there is a plank in [their] own eye?”  

There’s a big difference morally in saying, “I disagree with what you’re proposing for these reasons, brother,” and, “You, my brother, are a lying, useless ignoramus!” The measures by which we decide to support/disagree/condemn/judge define our morality in relation to Matthew 7. Jesus set a higher bar than ever existed before and as Christians, we're urged to resist the temptation to judge before we deal with the splintery planks in our own eyes.

That, at least, would help us see more clearly, provide us with the vision for building the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the shape that He intended. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

You are salt to the earth, but salt that’s lost its saltiness is good for nothing, except [maybe, to de-ice sidewalks in Canada in January.] Our role as followers of Christ is way bigger than, and way different from, de-icing sidewalks.

I think if men’s breakfast invites me again, I’ll be much better prepared.