12TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Stop judging. 

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives this simple command. But is he telling us never to recognize someone else’s faults? That would be impossible! And what about his instruction about beams in our eyes and splinters in our neighbor’s (Matthew 7:5)? Jesus isn’t telling us to ignore people’s faults. He’s telling us to stop passing judgment on them for their failings while ignoring our own.

This doesn’t come easily. We might encounter someone with an annoying habit or a different approach to parenting, and instantly, we make a judgment! Sometimes, we don’t even realize what we are doing.

But why is it so important to stop judging? Perhaps one reason is that Jesus knows that our judgments can quickly lead to division—and his greatest desire is that we love one another (John 13:34).

When we make a judgment about someone, it’s as if we are building a wall between them and ourselves. With our first judgment, “I would never do that,” our wall of separation is low, but with each added judgment, it grows higher and higher. We may soon think so negatively about that person that we can’t relate lovingly at all. Eventually, we might be tempted to push them away entirely.

Yet Jesus is giving us a choice. When we are tempted to judge someone, we can decide to step closer to them. Instead of choosing separation, we can ask the Spirit to help us find connection. We might just find that connection by recognizing the “beam” in our own eye (Matthew 7:5). Do they have a bad habit? We probably have some too. Did they offend us? Surely, we’ve offended people! Did they make bad choices? Who knows? We might have acted the same way in their shoes.

This is not just about redirecting the judgment to focus on ourselves; it’s about recognizing our common humanity. When we realize that we all fall short in one way or another, we discover that we can relate and even empathize with the person we are tempted to judge. Instead of cutting off the relationship, we can open the door to compassion and love.

We need one another. Let’s not let judgments separate us.

“Holy Spirit, help me not to judge anyone today.”

2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18
Psalm 60:3-5, 12-13
Matthew 7:1-5