Judgment as self-disclosure

 
Almost everyone knows this one verse in the bible: “Don’t judge” (Matt. 7:1). It fits so many situations. It puts both saint and sinner on the same level. I’ve told it before but it makes the point so well that . . . okay, here it is. Travelling on the Champaign flight from Minneapolis to Chicago the tables came down and the stewardess appeared with an ample supply of wine. Not caring for any, I turned my glass upside down. The man next to me enjoyed his first schnapps and asked for another. Then turning to me, a complete stranger, he said, “One thing the bible says, and that’s you’re not supposed to judge.”
        So we’re not to judge one another. Okay, but what does that word mean? krino, “to make a judgment,” has a broad meaning and relies on context for precision, although in its 54 occurrences in the New Testament it is overwhelmingly negative. I translate today’s passage as follows: “Don’t be sharply critical of others, or God will judge you in the same way” (p. 59). The idea that the verse puts normal evaluation out of bounds can be discarded because elsewhere Jesus counseled, “You will know them by what they do” (Matt. 7:16).
       Most judgments are negative and may reflect the condition of the one judging. It appears that “judging” is normally “an unintended exposure of one’s personal failings. To see a questionable characteristic in another often reveals that same fault in oneself. Sometimes I facetiously wonder whether God decided one day to “ease his own load” by allowing those with a judgmental spirit to unmask their own personal faults.
       In the section of the Sermon under consideration (Matt. 7:1-5) Jesus lists several reasons why we are not to judge one another. The first is that it determines the way God will judge us. When it comes to setting the terms of our own judgment it would be wise to choose the less severe scale. In the text Jesus creates a rather ludicrous picture of the critic trying to remove a splinter from another person’s eye while having a big log protruding from his own. So the person who freely gives you his negative evaluations of others is both foolish and ridiculous.
       It is unfortunate that human nature is essentially incapable of receiving unasked for evaluations from others. In spite of all the negative aspects of judging, the one being judged could learn a lot from the perceptions of others. The average person goes through life aware of their deficiencies but believing that others don’t really see any. Greater progress would result from the candid appraisal by others, but we argue in defense, “I’m better than most.” It takes a unique form of self-reliance to listen with all candor to what others think about you and make adjustments without damaging the friendship.