Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged
Sermon
Originally published in 2002.
For the past year, since September 11th, peace in our world has been at best, uneasy. The United Nations, led by America, declared war on terrorism and set out to hunt down those responsible for the appalling atrocity perpetrated on Americans in New York and Washington. There were some terrifying bombing raids, much of Afghanistan was razed, and many people were killed. But it's difficult to tell whether or not that action really succeeded in its intent, for terrorists hide away in small cells in many different countries and are difficult to identify. Hence our society has tended to become increasingly suspicious of anyone from the Middle East, and to judge all Muslims as evil suicide bombers.
But just lately there seems to have been a change in emphasis from the top. Now the enemy has once again become Iraq and Saddam Hussein. We hardly hear anything about Osama Bin Laden, for America is apparently focussed on Saddam Hussein and we're told that he's a terrible threat to the West. There are grim rumours of him stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, which President Bush seems convinced he means to use against America and the West. Saddam is also judged on his non-existent human rights record, and there are horrific stories of the brutality, torture and death doled out to those in his own country who fail to please Saddam.
At the same time, there are loud and vociferous protests against President Bush for his failure to be present at the Earth Summit. His representative, Colin Powell, was forced to abandon his speech extolling all that the USA is doing for the earth and poorer nations, because of the anger and frustration of many in the audience, who don't consider that America is doing anything like enough. President Bush is judged by them and found wanting on issues of world ecology and aid for poor countries.
There's a lot of judgement going on and it doesn't seem to be making for goodwill amongst human beings.
The trouble is, it's difficult not to leap into a position of judgment when you see things going on which are contrary to your own beliefs and practices, and especially when you consider those things to be evil or wrong. But this isn't a new problem. Jesus was well aware of the harm which can be caused by judgmentalism and told a funny story about trying to take a speck of dust out of someone's eye, while all the time there's a huge splinter in your own eye, clouding your vision. Perhaps all politicians should take that story to heart.
World issues affect all of us, but they tend to affect us remotely, at least in the beginning. It takes time for the full impact of world politics to filter down to more rural areas of different countries, even countries such as ours with global technology. We tend to be much more affected by things which go on around us, in our everyday lives at home, at work, or in church. These local issues are immediate and have an immediate effect upon us. But they are, perhaps, just a microcosm of world issues. What happens in our everyday lives is very similar to what happens on the world stage, except that on the world stage it's writ large, whereas in our backyard it's writ small - even though it usually feels very large indeed.
So it may be, that if things were perfect locally and we all loved as Christ would have us love, then things would change globally as well. It's worth struggling to get things right locally because they may have more impact than we can imagine on the global scheme of things.
One issue that prevents things being right locally, is judgmentalism. It's only too easy to look at other people and find them wanting, and this can so easily lead to dispute and strife and splits within the community. St Paul discovered exactly that, amongst the Roman Christians. The Roman congregation was a mix of Jews and Gentiles, sometimes an uneasy mix. They'd come from different backgrounds and different traditions, and were finding it difficult to accept each other or to accept the necessary religious changes in all their lives.
The Jews couldn't rid themselves of the old idea with which they'd grown up, that certain food was "unclean". The Gentiles had no such scruples and cheerfully ate anything without a second thought. This infuriated the Jews, who felt the Gentiles were being disrespectful in church and before God. The Jews observed the Sabbath Day and kept it holy, in accordance with the Ten Commandments. The Gentiles felt no such need. And so on.
The Gentiles judged the Jews as being far too bound up in the old Jewish ways and the old Jewish religion, whereas they, the Gentiles, were experiencing and exploring the new religion of Christianity. The Jews judged the Gentiles as being completely irreligious, with no feeling for tradition and no understanding of the long religious history which had actually brought them to this place. St Paul had to remind both factions that "..none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat..."
Holding fast to Christ is the only factor of any real importance in life. We need to make sure that we ourselves are holding fast to Christ in every possible way, and we have no possible reason to judge either whether other people are holding fast to Christ, or the way in which they're doing that. Indeed, if we do judge other people, we ought to remember that we too will die one day and find ourselves standing before God's judgment seat, when no doubt we'll all be looking for love and gentleness and clemency.
In "The Times" a week or so ago was a full page story about a vicar who had been stripped of his living by the Bishop because of complaints by some of his parishioners. He was in a church court, appealing against that decision. At the beginning of the article it sounded as though the vicar had been involved in all sorts of shocking practices, from sexual affairs to financial mismanagement. But it soon began to emerge that the case against him was far from proven, and that at least half his parishioners were strongly behind him. It then transpired that a strongly charismatic group within the congregation had tried to introduce all sorts of practices with which the vicar and many other parishioners were uncomfortable, and the vicar had resisted. The result was a hate campaign against the vicar, all sorts of wild accusations, a church which was completely split with a lot of hostility on both sides, and a church which could hardly be a worse witness to the love of Jesus Christ.
Such is the danger of judging each other - we bring the church of Christ into disrepute, we turn people off. As St Paul said, we need to consider each other's beliefs and suspend judgment about them. We need to support each other even when we disagree, and we all need to learn that much neglected Christian virtue of humility. It's only when our egos are no longer important to us that we can allow other people to worship in their way and believe in their way, without judging them.
"How many times shall I forgive my brother?" asked Peter in today's gospel reading. "Seven times?" That was a generous figure. People were only expected to forgive each other up to three times. But Jesus went far beyond that. "Not seven times, "he said, "but seventy times seven." We must always forgive, times without number. If we do that, we won't find ourselves judging other people and God's love will pour through us and into our community. And then, perhaps, every knee will bow before Christ; every tongue will confess to God.
For the past year, since September 11th, peace in our world has been at best, uneasy. The United Nations, led by America, declared war on terrorism and set out to hunt down those responsible for the appalling atrocity perpetrated on Americans in New York and Washington. There were some terrifying bombing raids, much of Afghanistan was razed, and many people were killed. But it's difficult to tell whether or not that action really succeeded in its intent, for terrorists hide away in small cells in many different countries and are difficult to identify. Hence our society has tended to become increasingly suspicious of anyone from the Middle East, and to judge all Muslims as evil suicide bombers.
But just lately there seems to have been a change in emphasis from the top. Now the enemy has once again become Iraq and Saddam Hussein. We hardly hear anything about Osama Bin Laden, for America is apparently focussed on Saddam Hussein and we're told that he's a terrible threat to the West. There are grim rumours of him stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, which President Bush seems convinced he means to use against America and the West. Saddam is also judged on his non-existent human rights record, and there are horrific stories of the brutality, torture and death doled out to those in his own country who fail to please Saddam.
At the same time, there are loud and vociferous protests against President Bush for his failure to be present at the Earth Summit. His representative, Colin Powell, was forced to abandon his speech extolling all that the USA is doing for the earth and poorer nations, because of the anger and frustration of many in the audience, who don't consider that America is doing anything like enough. President Bush is judged by them and found wanting on issues of world ecology and aid for poor countries.
There's a lot of judgement going on and it doesn't seem to be making for goodwill amongst human beings.
The trouble is, it's difficult not to leap into a position of judgment when you see things going on which are contrary to your own beliefs and practices, and especially when you consider those things to be evil or wrong. But this isn't a new problem. Jesus was well aware of the harm which can be caused by judgmentalism and told a funny story about trying to take a speck of dust out of someone's eye, while all the time there's a huge splinter in your own eye, clouding your vision. Perhaps all politicians should take that story to heart.
World issues affect all of us, but they tend to affect us remotely, at least in the beginning. It takes time for the full impact of world politics to filter down to more rural areas of different countries, even countries such as ours with global technology. We tend to be much more affected by things which go on around us, in our everyday lives at home, at work, or in church. These local issues are immediate and have an immediate effect upon us. But they are, perhaps, just a microcosm of world issues. What happens in our everyday lives is very similar to what happens on the world stage, except that on the world stage it's writ large, whereas in our backyard it's writ small - even though it usually feels very large indeed.
So it may be, that if things were perfect locally and we all loved as Christ would have us love, then things would change globally as well. It's worth struggling to get things right locally because they may have more impact than we can imagine on the global scheme of things.
One issue that prevents things being right locally, is judgmentalism. It's only too easy to look at other people and find them wanting, and this can so easily lead to dispute and strife and splits within the community. St Paul discovered exactly that, amongst the Roman Christians. The Roman congregation was a mix of Jews and Gentiles, sometimes an uneasy mix. They'd come from different backgrounds and different traditions, and were finding it difficult to accept each other or to accept the necessary religious changes in all their lives.
The Jews couldn't rid themselves of the old idea with which they'd grown up, that certain food was "unclean". The Gentiles had no such scruples and cheerfully ate anything without a second thought. This infuriated the Jews, who felt the Gentiles were being disrespectful in church and before God. The Jews observed the Sabbath Day and kept it holy, in accordance with the Ten Commandments. The Gentiles felt no such need. And so on.
The Gentiles judged the Jews as being far too bound up in the old Jewish ways and the old Jewish religion, whereas they, the Gentiles, were experiencing and exploring the new religion of Christianity. The Jews judged the Gentiles as being completely irreligious, with no feeling for tradition and no understanding of the long religious history which had actually brought them to this place. St Paul had to remind both factions that "..none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat..."
Holding fast to Christ is the only factor of any real importance in life. We need to make sure that we ourselves are holding fast to Christ in every possible way, and we have no possible reason to judge either whether other people are holding fast to Christ, or the way in which they're doing that. Indeed, if we do judge other people, we ought to remember that we too will die one day and find ourselves standing before God's judgment seat, when no doubt we'll all be looking for love and gentleness and clemency.
In "The Times" a week or so ago was a full page story about a vicar who had been stripped of his living by the Bishop because of complaints by some of his parishioners. He was in a church court, appealing against that decision. At the beginning of the article it sounded as though the vicar had been involved in all sorts of shocking practices, from sexual affairs to financial mismanagement. But it soon began to emerge that the case against him was far from proven, and that at least half his parishioners were strongly behind him. It then transpired that a strongly charismatic group within the congregation had tried to introduce all sorts of practices with which the vicar and many other parishioners were uncomfortable, and the vicar had resisted. The result was a hate campaign against the vicar, all sorts of wild accusations, a church which was completely split with a lot of hostility on both sides, and a church which could hardly be a worse witness to the love of Jesus Christ.
Such is the danger of judging each other - we bring the church of Christ into disrepute, we turn people off. As St Paul said, we need to consider each other's beliefs and suspend judgment about them. We need to support each other even when we disagree, and we all need to learn that much neglected Christian virtue of humility. It's only when our egos are no longer important to us that we can allow other people to worship in their way and believe in their way, without judging them.
"How many times shall I forgive my brother?" asked Peter in today's gospel reading. "Seven times?" That was a generous figure. People were only expected to forgive each other up to three times. But Jesus went far beyond that. "Not seven times, "he said, "but seventy times seven." We must always forgive, times without number. If we do that, we won't find ourselves judging other people and God's love will pour through us and into our community. And then, perhaps, every knee will bow before Christ; every tongue will confess to God.
