Sun, Sept 11, 2005 - Judge Not

Genesis 50:15-21
Psalm 103:1-13
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35


Oh, we're in trouble today... Paul, in his letter to the Romans, is cutting us no slack whatsoever today. His message, plain and simple, is: do not judge. "Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?" "Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God." Paul makes it crystal clear - we are not to judge others. After all, who are we to put ourselves in the position of judge? None of us are better than anybody else, none of us less sinful or more saintly; none of us commit sins that are any better or any worse than anybody else's, and none of us have a faith that is better or worse than anybody else's. And so we can't judge. Not only because of that, but also because, as the parable from the Gospel of Matthew tells us, all of us stand in judgement and dire need of mercy ourselves, so when we judge, we must be careful of how harsh we are with others. If we judge others to be less worthy than us, than we risk having that same judgement made of us. If we judge others to be more deserving of punishment than us, than we risk that same punishment. So we are not to judge.

And yet we do. Oh, yes, we all judge. You know we do. Actually, it's more like we accuse than just plain judge since when we judge others, it's never to judge them positively, it's always negatively. We look at other people and we judge them, accuse them, of being worse than us. We see a teenager on the bus with a baby and judge her, accuse her, of being a teenage mom. We see a guy in a mall with his arm around another guy and judge them, accuse them, of being gay. We see three young black men standing on the street corner and we judge them, accuse them, of being part of a gang. We see a poorly dressed person on the street asking for change and we judge them, accuse them, of being a bum. Even though we're not supposed to.

We judge other Christians, too, which is what Paul is specifically condemning in his letter. If we are liberal Christians, we judge conservative Christians as being fundamentalist and living under the Law, as unenlightened people who have no compassion. If we're conservative Christians, we judge the liberals as giving in to popular culture and throwing around cheap grace, as people who've progressed so far they've left their faith behind. And then of course, we judge the Christians in the middle for not taking a stand and living by their convictions.

It's so easy for us to judge. For one thing, it makes us feel better about ourselves. Judging others makes us feel like we've got our stuff together, like at least we're not making the mistakes they are. Pointing out where others have failed or gone wrong makes us feel like we've made it, like we're right, like we're better. And of course, judging others directs everyone's attention, including God's, to that other person, highlighting their flaws, so that nobody turns around and notices our own flaws. Yup, we're so quick to judge others because we are deathly afraid that they'll turn around and start judging us. And then, we'll never make it in those heavenly gates. After all, as I said in the beginning, we're all sinners, we all deserve judgement, and if God worked the way we do, if God was like the wicked slave, if God was like Joseph's brothers, we'd all be judged guilty and condemned and only the righteous would make it into heaven.

But thank God that God is not like the wicked slave or Joseph's brothers. Thank God that God is like the merciful king, who forgives the enormous debt of his slaves, thank God that God is like Joseph, who forgives his brothers for trying to murder him. Thank God that God is, as we said in the psalm today, "full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness... He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness... As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed ours sins from us." It is certainly true that we all stand before God in judgement, as Paul says in Romans, "Is it before their own lord that they stand or fall." But is equally true, even more true, that even though the judgement comes through as guilty, God commutes the sentence. "It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand."

You see, when it comes time for judgement, we have the best lawyer in town, appointed by the judge himself, interestingly enough, who is able to lighten and indeed get rid of our sentence. Since none of us has a faith that is strong enough to guarantee us salvation, since all of us have sins that are too big to be overlooked, since none of us live lives that are good enough to make us righteous, and since God wishes above all that we should not be punished, God has appointed Jesus Christ to stand in for us, to represent us before the court, to ensure that we get off scott-free. It doesn't sound fair, it doesn't sound impartial, but, as we prayed in the Prayer of the Day today, God, our great judge, "declares [God's] almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity."

And that mercy and pity is shown to all of us. To the teenage girl with the baby, to the man with his arm around another man, to the three young black men, to the poorly dressed person on the street, to the conservative Christian, to the liberal, to the moderate - God shows this mercy and pity to all of them. Even to those who judge - to us. Our parable from Matthew is a little misleading - and there are a number of biblical scholars who believe it was added by the editor of the Gospel and not said by Jesus himself - because it ends with the king torturing the unforgiving slave. You see, we know that everyone is forgiven and that God tortures no one, not even us unforgiving slaves. In fact, the good news for today - which is what the word "Gospel" means: good news - the Gospel for today actually comes from the Old Testament, from the story of Joseph and his brothers. That's where we hear the news of forgiveness and mercy that we know God promises us. When we fall before God in sorrow for what we've done, as the brothers fell before Joseph, we know that God is going to forgive us and reassure us, just as Joseph did to his brothers.

Which means that we don't have to leap to judge others in order to feel better about ourselves. We don't have to point out others' flaws so that nobody sees our own failings. We don't have to condemn others for their sins so that nobody notices ours. Who cares if people see that we're imperfect sinners? For one thing, it's not as if we're the only ones, but for another, we know that that's not going to stop God from loving us and forgiving us and welcoming us into God's kingdom. God doesn't demand perfection from us - that's not what that unconditional love and mercy means that we're always talking about. And that means that we don't need to demand, or even expect, perfection from others. So we don't need to judge.

I'm going to turn again to the Old Testament for the Gospel - the good news - to end. It's words from our psalm, and I want you, as I read them, to know that they are meant for you, specifically, no matter who you judge or don't judge, no matter how deserving of judgement you are yourself. So: "The Lord forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities. The Lord redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and lovingkindness." "The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting." [v. 17] Amen.