Am I judging?

            I feel shameful when I talk about it, but I wonder if that is the right way to feel. We are constantly judging people on their appearance, their actions, their demeanor, their style of dress, the way they speak, the words they use, where they are from, what they believe, and on and on. My question is what does it look like to see inside someone, into their heart, not to judge them but to know and understand this element of shame. To what extent does an outward appearance, speech, etc.. we will call these things external traits, affect how we are to treat our neighbor? Jerram Barrs book on evangelism, called “Learning Evangelism from Jesus” exhorts the reader to love all people, no matter their level of sin, with respect and dignity, as image bearers of God. As a Christian I agree with Barrs, but the sad reality is that our hearts, believer and non-believer, are always judging even when we think we are not judging. To a certain extent we have to make judgments in order to function. For example, in order to have civil conversation person A must make judgments regarding what person B is saying. A conversation requires information from two parties that correlate to a specific theme. Therefore, in order to understand what person B is saying, person A must make judgments. Without judgments, man could not sit down in a chair, eat cereal, or function in society. Our capacity to judge helps us to be human. In fact, if it is true that we bear the image of God, who is judge, then to some extent we were created to be judges, to make decisions, to name the animals of the earth and have dominion over all creation (Genesis 1 & 2). We require judges in our society to settle disputes, and we judge to have order within society, to keep humanity form complete anarchy. Mankind requires judges, so what does Jesus mean when he tells the Christian not to judge?

                        “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log 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 brother's eye.

            ‘Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.’”

(Matthew 7:1-6 ESV)

            The context of this passage is directly after Jesus exhorts his disciples to not be anxious, and following this passage is an exhortation to ask, seek, and knock and it will be given. Jesus is teaching his disciples so the context is one of Jesus’ teaching and his message includes an interesting caveat at the end about throwing away valuable things to naught.

            There is an interesting tension here in Jesus’ teaching, because He begins with an exhortation not to judge, but follows with an exhortation to make wise decision with our wealth. So it would seem that Jesus is contradicting himself? No, of course He isn’t, but clearly there is some difference between judging and discerning. Ok, so lets define discerning: discernment is making a decision based on wisdom. So what is a judgment? First the reader can see that judgment is not simply a yes or no, but a degree of measurement. Judgment involves placing a certain degree, level, of specificity onto the verdict at hand. Judging is dynamic. Second, giving judgment is directly correlated with receiving judgment. Jesus here is not saying that God will judge us more harshly if we judge, because if that were the case then every God fearing believer of Christ would be immediately thrown in hell. Jesus is saying that a person judging another person is seen and treated as judgmental. What is “being seen as judgmental” other than a judgment? If you judge people, they will judge you. This is the point that Jesus is getting at. He further clarifies with an example about judging a brother. Jesus dives even deeper into the heart however, because He goes on to say it is not simply a judgment in return that will be received, but the reality of a “plank in your eye” meaning something is really wrong with the person making the judgment, and that person cannot even see what is wrong. Yet, isn’t this true of us all? Does not every man see himself dimly in a mirror or through a veil, an ancient ruin of what he once was? At the same time, is not every man on a journey to become a better man (sanctification)? So again, Jesus seems to be contradicting himself, because his next words are “take the log out of your own eye”… why? “So then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”. The word in Greek is Krino, generally used to talk about judgment in the sense of a court. Jesus is clearly getting at two different ideas in the same analogy. He finishes off this distinction with making the discernment about casting pearls to the swine.

            Clearly Jesus exhorts man to constantly be aware if there is a plank in his eye. There is the question of how to recognize planks, but this essay is not addressing such a question. This essay is addressing what a judgment is and the other thing that Jesus is talking about. Clearly Jesus leaves this other phenomenon unnamed and perhaps that is intentional. To not judge seems to mean to make an ultimate final decision about a person, a decision that will move a person into a different degree of thought. So how about the word discernment?

            As previously mentioned, “discernment is making a decision based on wisdom” (p.1), so discernment could also be defined as the decision made after the plank has been removed from the eye. So why doesn’t Jesus make the distinction? First, there is only so much room in the Bible and the Bible is not a step-by-step instruction book, but a book of the ages. Second, Jesus could be intentionally ambiguous to not encourage legalism, which he was constantly battling within the hearts of the Jewish people and the Pharisees. So what is Jesus getting at?

            Jesus is calling His disciples to be watching their hearts, for it is from the heart that comes all kinds of evil (Matthew 15:19). Jesus is not telling man to not think, to not make a decision, to not speak the truth in love, to not admonish, to not rebuke, to not defend, to not utter words, but to not judge. Context is key. The passage comes smack in between two passages where Jesus tells the disciples that it is God who takes care of His creation and it is God who writes the answers to prayer. Here, it is God who is judge and not man, it is God who makes our decisions right, and it is only true within the context of God. God gives the eyes to see, removes the planks, and gives us the words to speak truth and love to our brother. How do I remove the plank in my eye? This is the thought of the disciples as He tells the story, then right after this analogy of judgment comes the answer; ask, seek, knock. So it is with God’s sight that one must learn to see, and not with mans. Our plank is far bigger than we ever realized.

            So what about the original question; “To what extent does an outward appearance, speech, etc.. we will call these things external traits, affect how we are to treat our neighbor” (p.1)? Like all good answers there is not a simple yes or no. The Bible is full of information regarding our neighbor, from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6 to the Sermon on the Mount of Mathew 5. Paul exhorts his readers constantly towards love, truth, admonition, grace, and all the attributes of love (1Cor. 13). Simply put, as Barrs wrote throughout his book, we are to love them like Jesus loved them.(Barrs, “Learning Evangelism from Jesus”). Jesus spent time with the worst of society, and bled to death on a cross for each and everyone of them. Jesus calls us not to judge, but it is a small part of an overall teaching on how to treat our neighbor. Jesus’ addressing his disciples to not judge is more a rebuke of their hearts than anything else. So the question can be answered in a small way, only within middle class American culture.

            Middle class America tends to be cynical, unloving of the poor, and indifferent to our neighbors. Our hearts convict us, deep within, that there is something wrong when we write people off, putting labels on them without getting to know them. Jesus spent time getting to know prostitutes. Jesus knows them, he intimately knows them; this alone is enough to convict us of what little we know about the people we are judging in our hearts. Should we be wary of a man carrying a bloody axe down the street? Yes, this is called discernment. Are most people carrying bloody axes down the street? No. Most people are like you and I, messed up and wanting to be known. Jesus knows them. He calls us to get to know them. We are foremost creatures of God, made in his image, not sinners. For middle class America, I will speak the truth and love, and call us to treat each other as image bearers rather than the convicted murders we judge one another to be.