Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel is quite simple: “Stop it!” He knows that religious people, be they Jewish or Christian, tend to be self-righteous and judgmental. His teaching is simple and direct: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” He does not say, “do not judge” but “stop judging.”
Jesus also calls us to be self-critical but not critical of others. Instead of looking at the faults of others look at your own: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” In today’s Gospel Jesus warns Christians and especially religious leaders against self-righteousness and hypocrisy:
“How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘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.”
We cannot see clearly with this “wooden bean” in our eye therefore Jesus instructs us to avoid judging others and leave judging to God alone since he alone sees clearly.
In the Eucharistic Prayer we remember and pray for those who have died but we leave judgement to God alone:
“Remember also those who have died in the peace of your Christ and all the dead, whose faith you alone have known.” (Eucharistic Prayer IV).
We should not judge anyone because there are people whose faith is known to God alone. They may not be professed Christians or Catholics, i.e., “those who died in the peace of your Christ,” but they show they faith by what they do to the least of God’s children. Jesus tells us in the great judgment scene in Matthew 25 that this is the criterion of judgment:
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty…, I was a stranger…, I was naked…, I was sick…, I was in prison…, Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when…’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:34-40)
Let us strive to follow Jesus’ teaching in our daily life but trying to see the good in the other and to stop judging.
Image: “Sermon On The Mount” by roberthuffstutter is licensed under CC BY 2.0.