“Judge not lest you be judged." ~ Matthew 7:1
Fausto sat patiently through two painstaking days as a juror
on a jury for a drunk driving case. The
defendant had a blood alcohol level of 0.23 – more than twice the legal
limit. The judge carefully instructed
the jury that their job was to determine if the woman had, in fact, broken the
law. Fausto naively thought that the
case was a slam-dunk. They wouldn’t have
to deliberate longer than a few minutes before returning to work.
When they began their deliberations, one man piped up, “I can drink that much and drive without any problem!” Someone else chimed in with similar comments. A lady commented about how nice the young woman seemed to be.
Fausto was shocked!
They totally ignored the judge’s instructions! After three hours of wrangling, Fausto and
another juror finally persuaded everyone of the woman’s guilt, except for one
woman. She said, “I could never vote to
convict her, because the Bible says, ‘Judge not, lest you be judged.’”
That’s when an older gentleman, who’d remained silent yet
attentive throughout the discussion, spoke up.
“As a Minister,” he began,
“there’s hardly a verse of the Bible that’s more misinterpreted than Jesus’
words in Mark 7:11. When Jesus says,
“Judge not,” he’s not really prohibiting us from judging others; he’s issuing a
serious warning to take care how we judge them. It’s meant to cautioning us to faithfully examine
ourselves before speaking.”
“Our courts,” he continued,
“demand a rigorous process of evaluating evidence in an effort to ensure that
deceptive appearances and biases don’t distort the truth. This process requires diligence, patience,
and restraint.
And while reasonable doubt regarding
a person’s guilt persists, we must take great care to believe the best about
each other until sufficient evidence confirms that a law has been broken. When in doubt, “not guilty.”
But when evidence does confirm
that misbehavior has occurred, we must take great care that our judgment, like
Christ’s, is always charitable. God will
judge us … in the manner we judge others.
So, we must judge with right spirit – compassionately, transformatively,
lovingly.”
The room remained silent as heads nodded in agreement. The final vote was unanimous. And each left the courthouse on that day
confident that Jesus wasn’t telling us not to think or evaluate; He was
teaching us how to judge.
As Christians, our role is not to conform, but to
reform. It’s not our job to change
others – that’s God’s job. Think of our
churches not as country clubs - but as hospitals. Think of ourselves as First Responders always
ready to preach the Gospel by our actions.
It’s even wrong to judge others in your heart, even if you keep your
thoughts to yourself. Hypercritical
words will eventually flow from a judgmental heart.
