Stop Judging and You Will Not Be Judged…Lk. 6-37

Our times seem to be full of ready, incendiary, and absolute judgments on the character, value, and worth of those who offend us in some way. We toss judgments and condemnations back and forth without restraint, especially in the realm of social media. It often feels like we are living in the midst of an out-of-control, live-fire exercise. Maybe we need to be challenged again by Jesus’ words taken from Luke’s Gospel account of the Sermon on the Mount.

This judgmentalism is a sin that Jesus challenges us to let go of by LISTENING humbly to his words and, then, LIVING in accord with those words. Only in letting go of the ego, with God’s graceful help, can we be liberated from the ego’s terrible, hellish weight on our minds and our souls. The ego has a way of becoming an addiction, a massive monkey on our backs that has to be fed and pampered constantly. What a liberation, then, can come to us when we let go of the ego’s narrow, angry, and sinful ways, by submitting humbly to God’s will.

If, as we believe, Jesus is the Word of God, why do we not listen to his word and put it into action? This is the challenge that Jesus puts before us every day. We must courageously and humbly ask ourselves: Is his word real? Is it true? Do we really believe that his truth sets us free? Why, then, are we so judgmental? Why do we so readily condemn others? Why is forgiveness so rare? Is it because we are obeying our own egos, rather than God’s will? When we pray the Lord’s prayer we see this: “Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us.” Can Jesus be more clear? Are we really listening?

In the end, the evidence that we believe in Jesus, the Word of God, is not in what we say, it is in what we do. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Forgive! This takes true and holy humility. Humility, that is, the willing submission to God’s will, is the only antidote for our ego/pride. It is humility that elevates us and brings us closer to God.