Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu đã dậy chúng ta không nên phán xét bất cứ ai và chúng ta cũng chẳng có quyền xét đoán ai cả (ngoài chúa Giêsu là đấng thẩm phán nhân từ) bởi chúng ta không thể hiểu những gì đã và đang xảy ra cho người khác và chúng ta chẳng hiểu nổi những đau khổ riêng của họ. Hơn nữa chúng ta không có đủ những sự kiện bằng cớ để lên án người khác.
Chúa Giêsu đã nói một trong những lý do mà chúng ta thường làm hằng ngày là lên án người khác vì muốn tìm cách để dìm họ xuống và đưa mình lên cao hơn hơn ai hết. Trong khi chúng ta đang săm soi tập trung vào những thiếu sót nhỏ nhặt của người khác, mà chúng ta không nhìn ra cái sai, cái xấu của mình vì chúng ta đang bận rộn và tìm cách để che đậy những cái khuyết điểm nghiêm trọng của chính chúng ta; trong đó có những tội nói hành, nói xấu, nói sau lưng người khác đệ uy tín của họ. Mặt khác, chúng ta thường không thích hay miễn cưỡng để khen thưởng hay khíck lệ hay đánh giá về một người nào đó một cách khách quan.
Hôm nay Chúa muốn chúng ta hãy chịu khó nhìn vào chính mình một trung thực hơn và không nên xét đoán, phê bình những người khác một ách tiêu cực, Bời vì chúng ta thường nghĩ tốt về mình và nghĩ xấu về người khác, thích khoe khoang về mình nhiều hơn là những gì chúng ta cần phải nghĩ đến về những người khác nữa.
Lạy Chúa xin giúp chúng con biết lắng nghe, và đừng bao giờ xét đoán người khác, biết khiến tốn mà không khoe khoang về chính mình và nghĩ tới sự thật, và biết tôn trọng những người khác.
There must be few of us to whom today’s Gospel does not apply. How many of us can say that we never sit in judgment on others, that we never speak disparagingly of others? Gossiping is one of our favorite pastimes and it is done mostly in the absence of those we criticize. We don’t have the courage to say things to a person's face.
Yet, as Jesus says, we have no right to pass judgment on anyone because, so much of the time, we simply do not have all the facts nor can we enter into the mind of another person. And, as Jesus says, one of the reasons we knock people down is to lift ourselves up. While we are nitpicking focusing on the trivial failings of others, we are actually trying to cover up our own much more serious shortcomings — of which behind-the-back bitching of others is one. On the other hand, we are often very slow to offer an objective appraisal of another person when asked.
Let us take an honest look at ourselves and reflect on the content of our conversations with others. It usually says a lot more about ourselves than what we think we are saying about others.
Sadly, this tendency is far more common than most of us would like to admit. We live in a world in which it is very common to condemn, criticize and judge. This growing secular tendency, in turn, powerfully influences our thinking and actions. Why is it so easy to judge others? Why is it so easy to see the failures of others, dwell on their sin, point out their weaknesses and speak of their faults to others?
Perhaps part of the reason is that many people are not at peace within their own souls. In an unfortunate way, condemning another brings with it a certain twisted satisfaction. But it’s a “satisfaction” that will never satisfy. The desire to condemn, criticize and judge will only grow all the stronger the more these actions are committed. If you struggle with these sins, then listen to the words of Jesus. “Stop judging…” Oftentimes the person who judges others does not even realize they are judging. This is why our Lord poses the question, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?”
If that stings even a little bit, then know that our Lord asks that question of you. And He asks it with deep love for you, desiring that you will hear Him, understand, and respond. The truth is that being judgmental of others causes far more harm to the one who judges than to the one who is judged. Certainly, being judged is not pleasant. But the act of being judged by others is not a sin.
However, the act of judging others is a sin. And it can be a grave sin. This sin leaves the one who judges with an empty and angry heart. Love is lost in the soul who judges. If these words seem unpleasant, that’s because they are. But sometimes we need to face the unpleasant truth in order to change. The Cross was unpleasant, but it was also the greatest act of love ever known. Facing our sin of judgmentalness is unpleasant, but doing so is the only way to be free. Honesty with ourselves is an act of love given to God, to ourselves and to those whom we need to stop judging.
Reflect, today, upon these challenging words from Jesus. Read the Scripture passage above a few times and then prayerfully ponder it. Use it as an examination of your own conscience. Try to be honest, humble and attentive to any ways that Jesus speaks this to you. Some will find that they have grave tendencies toward judgmentalness. Others will see less serious ways. But everyone who lacks complete perfection will find some ways in which they need to be more compassionate, merciful, forgiving and understanding of others. Be open to these truths and allow our Lord to lift the heavy burden of this sin from your own life.
My merciful Lord, You and You alone are the true Judge. Only You judge with mercy and justice. Give me the grace I need to abandon my own self-righteous judgmentalness so that I will be free to love You and to love others with my whole heart. Free me from the burden of these sins, dear Lord, so that I can more easily see Your goodness in others and rejoice in Your presence in their lives. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: You are here with me right now, Lord. You are thinking of me. You have something you want to give me today, something you want to teach me, something you want me to do. I turn the attention of my heart to you. Please help me hear your voice. Help me discover the gift you want to give me today. Help me be your faithful companion and get to know you better. May your name be praised in my heart and my life, O Lord!
Seeing versus Judging: It is very, very easy to misinterpret Jesus’s injunction in today’s Gospel to “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” A superficial reading of this passage can make us think that we are supposed to be blind to the faults and failings of those around us. When we try to act like that, as if we simply don’t see the shortcomings or sins of other people, we set ourselves an impossible task. People sin. People make mistakes. People do stupid and bothersome things. To pretend that we don’t notice those things is to shut ourselves off from reality. And that is never a good idea. Jesus is not telling us, “Stop noticing things; don’t look at reality.” Not at all! Rather, Jesus is telling us to stop judging our neighbor for the things they do. We can certainly condemn sin and point out the destructive nature of certain behaviors. But we can never pretend to understand fully why someone sins. We can never know the full story of a human heart. We don’t know the wounds, the scars, the blind spots, and the countless other factors that go together to lead someone to make a particular choice. Only God can fathom the almost infinite depths and complexities of a human heart. And yet, ever since original sin, we have had a strong tendency to want to act as if we are God. We love pretending that we know the whole story behind someone’s sin. We love putting people in boxes, labeling them, and thus elevating ourselves above them (at least in our own minds). These are diabolical tendencies of our fallen nature. When we give in to them, we reject the call to build Christ’s Kingdom and to let him be King. And when we do that, we separate ourselves from him. That’s a bad idea. Because when we put ourselves on the judgment seat, we distance ourselves from God’s mercy.
Opening Prayer:
Lord, you know human nature so well! Bless me as I reflect on your words so that I may be a messenger of your mercy, not of judgment.
Encountering Christ:
Stop Judging: Jesus’s command was pretty clear in this passage—in one sense. Rash judgment and criticism of others is a sin, one that can easily become a habitual pattern of mind and speech. It is this tendency Jesus warns us against here. Why is it that, in an emotional encounter, it can be a lot easier to criticize someone than to stay silent or praise them? Jesus said, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). We need to form our hearts to look at the positive in life’s circumstances! As St. Maximilian Kolbe says, “Do not criticize! To speak only of the faults of others does not represent total reality, for every man, in addition to his faults, also has virtues, a good side.”
Judging Has Consequences: Did you ever notice that when you smile at a stranger, he or she has a tendency to smile back? A small sliver of heavenly joy has been shared between two souls. Unfortunately, however, when we adopt a critical caustic tone toward others, they tend to respond with the same tone, and no joy has been exchanged. Perhaps blinded by the wooden beam in our own eye, we have closed ourselves off to a sharing of goodness by judging the other. What we fail to notice is the presence of a divine spark in that person. Jesus is there, even if they’re not aware of it. A harsh word spoken against our brother or sister is spoken against Christ.
Removing His Splinter: Jesus calls us to live virtuous lives (to extract the beam from our own eyes) so that we can prayerfully judge the actions of others. How else are we to remove the splinter from our brother’s eye? Once we have identified the beam in our own eye and realized our complete dependence on God for the grace to reform, we are ready, with great charity, to identify a splinter in another’s eye and strive to help remove it as an act of familial love.
Conversation with Christ: Lord, over and over again you call me to recognize my sinful nature, the beam in my eye, and turn to you for mercy and forgiveness. Then, full of love and gratitude for the freedom I have been given to live as a child of the Father, humbled not hypocritical, I am prepared to approach others as an extension of your mercy and invite them to turn away from sin. This loving fraternal correction bears no resemblance to criticism or rash judgment that stems from a hardened heart.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will examine myself for “beams” that blind me from seeing your presence in my brother or sister.
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus commands us to stop judging others. He asks, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” We are exceptionally good at seeing the fault in others, but we are exceptionally adept at ignoring it in ourselves. There was a very popular book that came out when I was a teenager. It was called, I’m Okay and You’re Okay. It represented the culture of exculpation and feel-good-about-yourself. Not many years ago, Christina Aguilera crooned, “I am beautiful in every single way and your words can’t get me down.” Look at so many of the debates today: the attitude that is winning is one of self-invention and self-assertion. Who are you to tell me how to behave?
In all of this, we are fundamentally looking away from our guilt, our fault, our darkness. We are effectively drugging ourselves, dulling the pain of real self-consciousness. In the process, we turn ourselves into God, pretending to be absolute, flawless, and impervious to criticism. So “remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye..”
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