On our vacation we got to tell Joe and Bella the story of the 18 wheeler that got stuck in a tunnel. You know, it was too tall and got wedged in? All of the architects and engineers couldn’t figure out how to get it out and then a little girl said, “why don’t they just let the air out of the tires?” I believe that falls under, “kids say the darndest things.” Maybe you could also file it under, “Don’t out think the room.”
I believe the same thing can be said for life. Sometimes we just make it harder than it needs to be. There is a very commonly quoted scripture verse in Matt 7, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” In a sermon recently, the Pastor went over all of the different ways people have commentated on it over the years. Some have said that it is a mandate to clean up our lives before we look at others. Others have said we need to love more and judge less. Others yet have theorized that Jesus was actually saying that since we are all going to face judgement that this was, in fact, license TO judge. Allow me to theorize and espouse a radical idea.
I think that it means…don’t errrrr, judge. Yeah, that’s it. Don’t judge. Where some folks say that to not judge is equal to permitting sin I couldn’t disagree more. Rather, it isn’t MY job to assess your sin. That is between you and the Holy Spirit…or if you so choose, your conscience, inner spirit, etc. For me to sit here and try to “judge you” does open me up to being examined and judged by you and others at the same if not a greater degree. Have you ever heard of a Christian being called a hypocrite? Where do you suppose a lot of that comes from? Judging? It does something else though. It forces me into the role of convictor of sin. I become the arbiter of your sin and the degree of impact it has on your life and the life of others. I am not called to do that.
Please note, I am not advocating sin. Not at all. I am not soft shoeing it, soft pedaling it, under selling it or anything of the sorts. I am simply saying that your sin is yours and something for you to work on. Unrepentant sin is something that is very serious and discussed in scripture. Yet, that is not necessarily what we are dealing with here. Further, even then, we are not to JUDGE the sinner. Address them? Yes. Love them? Yes. Judge them? No.
Yet, you say, “If I see you sinning in a terrible way, is it not my job as your brother in Christ to stop you or point out what you are doing wrong?” The obvious answer is yes, but is it the right answer? Take it a step further. If I am sinning in a horrible way, do you think that telling me that it’s a sin is news to me? Has it not crossed my mind? Wouldn’t something be going on in my life that has caused me to choose such a destructive path? Would you pointing it out to me remove that situation or make me feel strong enough to choose otherwise the moment you are not around? The answer is no, it won’t help. Ok then, should you look the other way and just figure I’ll work it out on my own? No, that is certainly not the case either. Rather, what if you sat down next to me, put your arm around me and just loved me? What if you were there when I was ready to talk, when I was sure you weren’t going to…judge me? What if you were the one that I felt wouldn’t judge me and I could open up to about what was going on in my life? I will tell you this, it is not the sin that is so readily visible but rather the hurt beneath that needs to be addressed.
I do believe that we sometimes make things harder than they need to be. I think we try to figure out D, E, and F while we haven’t really nailed down A, B, and C. Some of us are really excited about X,Y, and Z (or even RR, SS, and TT) and how deep we can go and how smart we can be. That’s fine I suppose, but don’t outhink the room,.
Imagine for one moment that you are Jesus. You have told people to not judge. They respond with, “Yes, but what does that mean?” I wonder how frustrating it must be when people add words to it or ignore it’s simplicity and delve “deeper.”
For me, for now, for this day…I will take his simple yet very direct words to mean exactly what they say…don’t judge. I won’t judge those who sin, I won’t judge those who over complicate things, I won’t even judge those who…judge. At least I’ll try not to.