“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” Matthew 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 there is a wooden beam in your own 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 truth at the core of this passage makes us uncomfortable. We are pulled up short by the sudden sting of our consciences, by the recognition that we are guilty of judging people all the time. And who are we judging them against? Ourselves, of course. “They” are not like “us”. When we judge like this it is, more often than not, a matter of pride. We are attempting to separate ourselves from the other. We do this often, in an attempt to affirm ourselves as better than the other.

In the light of our Christian faith, we know that all of us are sinners, we all make mistakes out of ignorance, or out of sheer willfulness. Yes, even ourselves. But, as Jesus points out to us very sharply here, we often do so out of a false sense of self-righteousness when we judge others. When we judge it is often to put the other down. We see this behavior regularly in our politics and on social media. Such judgments are not done for the good of the other. Rather, we judge others consciously, or unconsciously to somehow see ourselves as better than them.

There is a divine moral logic in this passage from Matthew’s Gospel. It brings us up short if we have sufficient humility to hear it. What is this wisdom that makes us wince with self-recognition? We glimpse it in Jesus’ follow-up remark, “For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure (of judgment) with which you measure will be measured out to you.” There it is! “Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us.” Matthew 6:12

Think for a minute of the attitude we often have inside of ourselves when we are judging another. Do we not judge them because we perceive ourselves as better than them? Is this not the thinking of the world? When Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites, he did so not to condemn them, but to challenge them (as he does us) to see what they were doing and to turn away from their ways. That’s the difference. He challenged, but he did not judge in the manner that we do. Thank God! For if he judged in the manner that we judge, we would all be damned.

Jesus teaches us a new way here, “…remove the beam from your eye; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” In other words, look within yourself and address your own failings first, be humble enough to see that you have your own failings and weaknesses. Am I not guilty of sometimes lying or cheating a little, just to gain some immediate advantage over others? Do I sometimes go against my own moral compass, just to avoid a hassle, or to be acceptable to those I see as “important” around me? Do I take myself too seriously, am I prideful at times? If we are truthful with ourselves, the answer is often yes.

Jesus is teaching us that, rather than judging one another out of self-righteousness, we are to learn humility. Jesus challenges all of us here to thoroughly examine our own consciences. It is the virtue of humility that gives us the understanding and compassion that can truly change the unjust things in the world for the good. It is only in humility that we are able to “see” and to “remove the beams” in our own eyes. And only then are we able to help remove the “splinters” from the other’s eye” with true understanding and compassion.

Let us all pray on that for a while and let it sink into the depths of our souls. And know that God will give us the grace to succeed in our efforts to become humble like this.