“Judge not, that you be not judged"

 Matthew 7:1-6

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 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 swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you."

I wanted to share this Tim Mackie exposition of judgement which I found profoundly helpful.

Even if it is not true, the impression most non-Christians have of Christians is that they are judgemental, hypocritical & anti-gay. Westborough Baptists then: a vocal minority. Tim, quite shockingly says we are guilty of judging other Christians way more intensely than anyone else, especially if we disagree about theology or liturgy or something. This is such a truthful insight.

Jesus doesn't end this teaching by saying "don't have hard conversations with each other", but by saying move towards each other, but only after some serious self reflection. Jesus is not talking about judging actions, He is talking about the way we de-humanise other people. Instead of seeing their fundamental human dignity, we judge them by they behaviour so we can categorise them and define them. And then we go further and consider Jesus is on our side in that judgement.

We do need to grow and change and this passage of Scripture actually gives us guidance on how we can invite others into our lives to help us understand that we are engaged in destructive behaviours.

Jesus IS NOT saying don't make the right judgement about moral behaviours. Becoming a disciple of Jesus means growing in your ability to make moral judgements. So what is He getting at? In verse two He speaks about a certain kind of judgement. What kind of judgement is He speaking about? The Apostle James helps us to understand in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount in Chapter 4:

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbour?

We observe someone's behaviour and we think we know them and know their behaviour. And we think Jesus agrees with us.

The beam & mote/ log & speck explains to us that yes your brother may have a mote in their eye, but before you can even begin to address is you need to understand and deal with the beam in your eye. Jesus wants us to assume our own vision is impaired by sin: we need to evaluate our own perspective before we evaluate someone else's. He's not encouraging us to self-loathing, but rather a commitment to self-reflection. This doesn't mean you don't have difficult conversations, it means you go into that conversation fully aware of your own flaws and therefore come out of that encounter changed by it.