Judge not [Trinity 4; St. Luke 6:36-42]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Jesus speaks to us today by the Gospel saying,

“Judge not, and you will not be judged...”

Ah, yes. The timeless phrase used and misused over and over and over again. These great condemning words of Jesus loom so large in our field of vision, that we immediately cast them upon others using them to silence anyone and anything that begins to disagree with our life choices.

“Judge not…” I can have a baby or not have a baby, with or without marriage. Its my life.

“Judge not…” God spoke to me and told me to do this. Are you saying I’m lying?

“Judge not…” just because I don’t believe every part of the Bible doesn’t mean I’m not Christian.

“Judge not…” I can marry whomever I want.

“judge not…” Look at your own life and you’re telling me what to do?

In fact, if we were to follow the world’s prescription on “not judging” there would be no world left. For, we would have “not judged” it into oblivion, following this or that desire or lust until everyone died.

This, of course, is not what Jesus meant when He said, “Judge not”, neither did He mean that religion is whatever anyone feels it is. What He meant was, there is judgment and, depending on who judges, will determine whether or not humanity has hope for an eternal future or an eternal hell.

Really, we can blame this all on God. It was He who said “judge not” but then tells us in Leviticus (19:15) and many other places TO judge. The Bible seems to contradict itself here. How do you explain this disconnect that gives apparent permission to everyone to be as vague as possible with “not judging”?

God is the Judge, you say? Well, that’s true. He says that He will judge the ends of the earth (1 Sam. 2:10). He says that the earth rejoices, because HE comes to judge the earth (1 Chron. 16:33).

That’s fine. He can be Judge, but what does that have to do with us? It doesn’t matter who is judging, it matters how they judge. God being a judge does not hold any special meaning in anything religious for us, if He just wants to set up court somewhere.

What’s not fine, is God claims to be judge and claims to do it with uprightness and equity (Ps. 9:8, 75:2). This is a problem, because we don’t see evidence for that. The earth is filled with evil that always wins out over good; where injustice rules the day; where the poor are oppressed. So whenever God, or anyone else, says they judge with equity, we say: prove it.

Worse than that, we go further and say that God judges unjustly! That He doesn’t play fair, that He picks favorites, and that He is too harsh and intolerant. In this way, we play both sides of the fence: we use “not judging” as an excuse for evil and we also use it to judge God.

Repent. One thing is certain: there must be judgment in this world, no matter who does it. In order for a civilized society to remain civilized, we must have judges. Likewise, if heaven is to remain pure and undefiled, there must be a judge who makes it so.

So we return to God’s claim of being a fair judge, but this time look at the evidence He provides in the affirmative.

The first piece of evidence is strange, for God says He is Judge and God is Spirit, but then His Word promises that man will be the judge. He tells Moses not only to judge, but to then continue to appoint judges over the people to judge in God’s place.

Most profoundly, the Lord says this: “And you, son of man, [will judge the bloody city]” and declare to her all her abominations (Eze. 22:2). Somehow, it seems, a man will be judge in God’s stead? But we all know we can’t trust men to do that work, for they are all corrupt.

To be a fair judge you must be a champion of justice and a punisher of evil and no one fits that bill, not even Jesus, for there were still many oppressed and victimized that He did nothing about. If there are those who have been plundered, you must rescue them (Jud. 2:16). The wicked must be killed and the poor, needy, and meek must be attended to (Isa. 11:4). More than that, you must be able to save even the wicked man.

Nowhere is this spelled out in Jesus’ words: “Judge not…”, but now it is a much bigger picture we must look at rather than just focusing on our lives and how we and others judge. Because our last piece of evidence clinches the case and leaves us in want.

The Lord tells us that it is He who is reviled and did not revile; He who suffered, but did not threaten and continued to trust Himself to the One Who judges justly (1 Pet. 2:23).

God can judge, because He judges Jesus in your place. God’s judgments are unjust because they punish the innocent (Jesus), instead of the guilty, you. “Judge not, lest ye be judged” now is not a command to you, but a command to God Himself, Who has judged in the past and is therefore judged on the cross.

We are all victims; prisoners of our own devices. When we hear a command from God, we expect its meant for us, when it turns out it is meant for Jesus. In the cross, we see exactly how judgment is done uprightly and equitably. In the cross, we see exactly how God can be the judge and we can depend on Him to be impartial and fair.

This is because He has judged His own Son, His very essence, and found Him guilty. You want God to be an unfair judge, believe me. You want Him to find some other scapegoat to punish for your crimes against the crown.

If He does not, then it is your life that is forfeit upon another cross. Do not judge yourself or your neighbor worthy of the cross and death, when there is only One worthy to mount that tree and descend into the grave. Do not judge your neighbor to hell, when only One retains the honor of descending and ascending.

When Jesus tells you not to judge, He is telling you not to put anyone up on the cross except Him. Judge not, for the Lamb is worthy of honor, riches, glory, and wisdom, and strength, and power, and blessing, all gained in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Thus, when we want to understand God’s claim to be Judge and His other claim to be fair and upright, you know, the kind of judge we want around, we don’t look at the evidence our eyes see, we look to the cross.

Jesus on the cross is the reason God is the Good Judge and that we can trust Him with such responsibility. He has given His promises and His judgments through Jesus and in the suffering and death of Jesus, we see and believe that all things work out for our good, even when they seem evil.

Jesus will be the Judge, because He is the one to share our humanity and suffer with us. God’s judgments are best and true, because Jesus has risen from the dead. He was crucified on our behalf and therefore can be trusted. Jesus is the only reason God has any claim to be Judge and Jesus is the only reason we find mercy and pardon, rather than guilt and condemnation in God’s Judgments.