Matthew 7:1 - 5

"'Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye."

This is a difficult passage in that it can be used, at first sight, as a justification for a totally uncritical approach to life and to disable any questioning of someone else's course of action. As such, of course, it would be Jesus's own undoing because,at various points, he himself does question the courses of action and decisions of others and has some harsh things to say in some cases. So, presumably, he didn't mean it to be taken as a denial of making assessments and being able to declare that some things are wrong. Of course he had a sinless standpoint and so we too would need to be rather more reticent about emulating his actions in criticising some 'scribes and pharisees'.



Anyway, to me it seems rather more helpful, in view of the way that the passage develops the theme, to think about 'judge/ment' in terms of being slow to relate to other persons on the basis of assumptions to their detriment. In other words don't assume people are badly motivated, malevolent, out to get get you etc. This is one of those areas where the human tendency to imitate means that it is literally true that you are likely to get back what you dish out [the measure you give is the measure you get]: grumpiness begets grumpy responses, hostility begets hostile and so on. On the other hand there is a tendency for benevolent, empathic and good assumptions to help create or maintain good relationships, even to the point of making it possible to utter criticisms once the other person is secure in your good regard. Of course there are exceptions but exceptions make bad law, so let's not make life-strategies on the basis of exceptions.



It is the negative assumptions that is the point: prejudgements -prejudices. This is not the same as being wary because of past experience with a particular person -though even there love [see 1Cor.13.7-11] requires us to leave open the possibility of change [even if we want to manage how that is expressed for the safety of others and the person themselves, tough love style]. Prejudicial approaches are the main difficulty being highlighted here and the remedy is to have enough self knowledge to know that we are still 'under construction' and to grant to others a similar lee-way that we would want for ourselves. This passage should be understood as a working out of the whole thing about 'doing to others as you'd have them do to you' which comes a few verses on and seems act as a summary statement for these and the next few verses.



Ssimple integrity demands that we live by our own standards and this passage seems to suggest that this is part of God's will, in fact I would personally go further and say that for us individually it is part of what it means to be made in the image of God: to have a drive towards integrity and a sense that lack of integrity is wrong. God is integral, self-consistent and even though plural that plurality is harmonious and One.



Counsellors often tell us that we find ourselves despising in others things that are, in fact, found in our own personalities or habits. So it is no surprise then that this passage encourages us to examine oursleves when faced by something about another person that has us wanting to 'cure' them of whatever it is. It might be a signal to be self-aware; it may be that we are the same in some aspect of our life. One way to develop a greater humility is to develop an awareness of how we are often guilty of just the same sorts of things that we find difficult in others.



Next time you find yourself 'going off on one' about someone in the news or the office or whatever, ask yourself; "When do I do the same kind of thing? What raw nerve has this touched in me?"



Crosswalk.com - Matthew 7:1 - 5: