What if Jesus was serious when he said not to judge?
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” —Jesus (Matthew 7:1-2)
Jesus was speaking into a culture that was quite focused on helping people adhere to rules and rituals to earn or maintain right standing with God. People that seemed better at believing right things, teaching those things, and demonstrating that their behavior was in alignment with such things were elevated, respected, and paid more money. The system of moral superiority and religion was good for the people at the top.
And if you’re going to have people at a “top” you must have people below. So, who decides where people fall. Well, those religious leaders did, of course.
We compare, contrast, and condemn in Jr. High School and it seems we never stop.
But what if Jesus was serious when he said not to judge? What if he was reemphasizing what God said originally, “Trust Me with the knowledge of good and evil. It’s too much for you.” But we really like to pretend we’re gods, or at least that we sit at his right hand and our views and interpretations of thing are the right ones.
Our egos cause us amnesia and we forget that Jesus said that all of life can be viewed through the filter: “Love others as I have loved you.”
But sadly, when we judge others, we don’t even realize that most of those people couldn’t care less. They’ve already judge us as irrelevant, unfun, and unhelpful long ago. (“With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”)