Matthew 7:1-6
Preached by Dr. Charles J. Tomlin,
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
6th Sunday After Pentecost, July
16th, 2017, (Series: Questions Jesus Asked #4)
If you’ve ever had an eye problem you will never forget it.
Once, I pick up a gravel with a lawn mower and it ricocheted off a
tree and glazed my eye. The pain was
unbearable for days. Fortunately the
injury was only to one eye, but during the time that eye was healing, I
couldn’t see out of either eye.
My wife has allergies that often gets into her eyes. The first time it happened, we had no clue
what was happening. She had to go a
whole week with both eyes patched. When
they finally discovered the cause of her deteriorated retina, they told her
that to deal with the problem when it reoccurs, she should immediately keep her
eyes closed overnight and it would heal itself. Occasionally, it still happens, but now she
knows how to deal with it.
Eye problems can be difficult to deal with. In our text today, Jesus reminds us that it’s
very easy for Kingdom people--that is Christian, who truly try to follow the
way of Jesus, to also develop a kind of spiritual eye problems. Because we are people who are trying to live
rightly, we will have a tendency become ‘judgmental.’ But we’d better think twice about that Jesus
says. Before we try to ‘take the speck’
out of the eye of our brother or sister, we’d better ‘first remove the plank,
the log or the beam, from our own eyes.
‘JUDGE NOT’
When Jesus says ‘Don’t
judge’ he is specifically speaking to us, his followers. He is not speaking to pagans, Gentiles or
simple Jews, but to his own followers. This
is one of Jesus’ very few clear cut, absolute, direct commands and he aims it
right at us. Can you see how important
this was to Jesus?
In the recent book, “Unchristian’,
author David Kinnaman, who worked for the Barna Research Group, writes about
what the ‘new generation really thinks
about Christianity’. Not only do
young people think that the church of today is ‘hypocritical’,
‘antihomosexual’, sheltered, misguided, and way too political, they also think
the church and church people are way ‘too judgmental’. To be exact, 87% of youth outside the church,
which means almost 9 out of 10 young people, think the church is way too judgmental (p. 182). In one example, Kinnaman tells of a young
woman who was visiting a women’s Bible study group. As they were discussing prayer issues, she
told of a girl she knew who was pregnant, whose boyfriend left her, and she felt
all alone and was considering aborting her child. When the young woman shared, there wasn’t one
Christian who empathized with the young girl.
Each of them rushed to get on the judgment wagon. This kind of so-called judgmental “Christian”
attitude, shocked the young woman. She
just couldn’t believe how harsh these Christian women were. The young woman was not advocating that the
girl should have an abortion, she was just trying to help the others know how
to feel and pray for her. What the
group didn’t know was that there new Bible study partner had an abortion many
years ago. She would never have wish an
abortion for anyone, but what it did do was make her at least understand the
feelings the young girl felt. She left
that meeting with the impression that Christians don’t have empathetic
feelings. She said she didn’t need a
judgmental faith like that. She would
figure out this “Jesus-thing” on her on.
She became one of those who ‘likes Jesus’, but not the church.
Being judgmental goes back a long ways. And for the record, it’s not simply a
Christian, or a religious problem; it is a human problem. Don’t you recall how once in the Old
Testament, when King David got very excited about the return of the Ark to
Jerusalem, that he ‘danced before the
Lord with all his might’(2 Sam. 6:14) and evidently exposed some of his
private parts. Michal, the daughter of
the former king Saul, saw her over-exposed King and husband, only to unload on
him for ‘going around half-naked….,’ exposing himself to ‘servant girls…as any vulgar
servant might (6:20).’
Perhaps she made a point, but did she hear what she sounded
like. Did it cross her mind that her
sour disposition was even worse that David’s nakedness?
This is the thing about being judgmental, isn’t it? According to Jesus, it’s fairly easy to go
around trying to find the fault-specks of other people, but it’s really hard to
take an honest look at what everyone sees and knows about us, except us. Pastor Dan Day rightly calls this the ‘pickiness problem’. This pickiness problem of self-excusing and
other-judging, goes all the way back to the Garden, when Adam tried to make God
believe it was all Eve’s fault. “It was THAT WOMAN you put here with
me---she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it?” (Gen. 3:12). It
was her, not me. She did it!
We all have at some form of this ‘pickiness problem’ in each of us,
don’t we? And I don’t think we can or
should blame Eve or Adam for it either.
I think the story of Adam and Eve is the about OUR human condition, not just
THEIR condition. The story of Adam and
Eve is not about who caused us to be who we are, but it is the story of who we
humans have always been, right from the very first ‘bite’.
But here’s an even bigger story.
Just because we are now Christians, and just because we are now ‘new creatures in Christ’, this does not
mean that we are able to shake off our human qualities and conditions. We can try to change some of them. We can try to kick some of our bad habits and
behaviors, but the truth is, and Jesus knew this, that some things are liable
to get worse, rather than better, now that we are following Jesus. Case in point is what happened with James and
John, nicknamed the ‘Sons of Thunder’.
Once, when the disciples encountered some Samaritans, who refused to
allow Jesus and them to make a short cut through their town, they were ready to
‘call down fire from heaven’ against those folks (Luke 9:52-54). Evidently, James and John didn’t even flinch
when Jesus said “Blessed are the Merciful”,
or said “Love Your Enemy”. Right before that, after arguing with the
other disciples over ‘who is the
greatest’, James and John requested
that only they were capable of ruling with Jesus in the coming kingdom (9:46). In both cases, whether with a stranger or a
friend, they were ready not to not only pass judgment, but to carry it out,
even without a trial.
This human tendency to judge others, rather than take an ‘honest
look at ourselves’ is exactly why Jesus makes
this command ‘not’ to judge straight toward us.
Exactly because we are still human, and as we are ‘being transformed by the renewing of our minds’ as Paul says, we
are still ‘not yet what we will be’,
as John also says.
How does this human tendency to judge, and pass judgment on
others, come out in your life? Well, in
my life, one of the ways it shows up is when my wife makes toast. As you know, my wife is a wonderful
cook. And she not only cooks well, she
manages well, and she can cook fast and good.
But sometimes, especially when she is making breakfast in the morning,
she will have a many things going at the same time, and I have to remind her
about the toast. Often times, it’s too
late. Well, the truth is, I should be
helping with the toast. The truth is, I have
a tendency to leave things laying around the house. The truth is, I’m supposed to make the bed
every day, but sometimes I leave it unmade.
And the biggest truth is, when she burns the toast, I should keep my big
mouth shut, but it’s a still a struggle.
The biggest struggle is not to scrape the black off the toast, or to
make new toast, but the struggle is for me to keep my mouth shut, and to
remember what mom said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at
all!”
Of course, there are other more complicated issues, because we all
have our own ‘pickiness’ stuff that we struggle with. For all of us, inside the church and outside
the church too, because we are human, we struggle with jumping conclusions and
passing judgment too quickly. Probably the
biggest lesson came for me when I went to a Wedding years ago, and the
officiating pastor performed the entire service from memory. As a young pastor, I was not impressed, but
was perhaps a little jealous that he had the mind to do that, and somewhat
infuriated that he would try, because there were a few times he struggled. When I realized that he was struggling to
recall the words to the ceremony, I thought to myself, “How dare him try to be
so impressive with his memory that he was somewhat spoiling this sacred
moment?” But as the service came to a
conclusion, I suddenly had a rude-awakening.
This pastor was blind. He had
lost his eyesight and was doing the best he could. And he was now doing a really great job. It was me that was making the biggest
blunder. It was I who deserved to be
judged, not him.
‘WHY DO YOU….?
Moving from Jesus’ command “Do not judge!” we now come to Jesus’
big “Why?” “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s (or
sister’s eye) and pay no attention to
the plank in your own?” Then he
adds, “How can you say, “Let me take the
speck out of your eye, when all the
time there is a plank hanging out of your own eye? Why?
How dare you try to do something like this (7:3-4).
Jesus paints an unforgettable, funny picture of a person trying to
get a splinter or speck out of another person’s eye, when they have a log or
plank hanging out of their own eye. But
Jesus is not joking. This kind of
‘judging’ or ‘judgmentalism’ can destroy
churches, communities, and families. In
fact, Jesus has already spoken of the seriousness of all this. “For
in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you
use, it will be measured (out) to
you” (7:2). Jesus takes ‘judging’
and ‘judgmentalism’ so seriously, that it even sounds like he is going back to ‘eye for eye and tooth for tooth’ (Matt.
5:38). But he’s really not. Let me explain my point with a reminder of
Shakespeare’s play, “Measure for Measure”,
which was based upon this text. This play
is called a Comedy, because everything turns out alright in the end, but most
of the play is dark and disturbing.
The focus of the play is about Angelo, a noble but stern lord, who
is left in temporary charge of Vienna while Vincentio, the Duke, goes away for
a spell. At least he pretends he goes
away, but actually stays near in disguise.
For no sooner has Angelo taken charge, he reveals his strict, moralistic
self, tightens up the laws, and condemns someone named Claudio to death,
because Claudio has fathered a child out of wedlock. Isabella, Claudio’s sister, who was about to
become a nun, pleas for her brother’s life, warning Angelo, that if he handles
her brother too harshly, God might also handle him harshly. She questions in great Shakespearean
prose:
“If He (God), which is at
the top of judgment, should but judge you as you are?
O, think on that and mercy
then will breathe within your lips, like a man new made.”
Angelo refuses. Claudio
must die. But at the same time, Claudio
is smitten with passion and lust for Isabella herself, and offers to spare her
brother, if she will allow him to have his way with her. The plot twists and turns, but ends with
Angelo’s own vices and crimes being exposed, with him finally pleading for a
sentence of death against himself.
Instead, the Duke, who has been around the whole time, now reveals
himself, pardons them all, making Angelo live with the truth about himself for
the rest of his life (Most of
this comes from NT Wright, commentary on Matthew, p. 68, or from http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/measure/summary.html).
The fate of Angelo is the fate, Jesus questions and warns us
about. “Why” would we try to judge the
faults of others, without looking at our own faults first? Why would we dare this, knowing we could get
into worst trouble by judging or disobeying Jesus? Without having to get into Freudian analysis,
the answer could be right here, in Jesus own question: Why do
we look at the speck in THEM? How
could we avoid seeing a ‘plank’ or a ‘log’ in our own eye, and instead, stress
ourselves and other out, by straining to see the speck in their eye? Well, couldn’t it be the same reason some
were ‘straining a gnat and swallow a
camel’ (Matt. 23:24)? By putting
the focus on others, on other things, we get the focus off of ourselves. We see
what we want to see, no matter how small or big, and we don’t see what we don’t
want to see, no matter how big that is either.
A good example of this is a family reunion. Who wants to go to one? Who wants to go and smell Aunt Sally’s bad
perfume, listen to Uncle Jim’s bad jokes, or cringe when Cousin Jack gets all
political and opinionated? We all have
relatives we can’t stand to be around for obvious reasons. But the unobvious one, and perhaps the hardest
reason these relatives are hard to be with, is because they are one of us. As Pastor Dan Day says, “These are your family”, and when we are with them, we are forced to
face the fact that they ‘we are all one,
big, messed-up, dysfunctional family, whether our name is Smith or Ekweku,
Zawahiri or Grunewald. As Scripture
says, ‘we are all of one blood’
(Acts 17:26, KJV), and ‘when I’m
grumbling about how many jerk there are in the world, I need to realize what arrogant and
impossible turf is being defended’ by trying to exempt myself, which is only an
attempt to avoid owning up to how the dysfunction runs right through me (Day, J. Daniel. If Jesus
Isn’t the Answer…: He Sure Asks the Right Questions! (Kindle Location 536).
Smyth & Helwys Publishing. Kindle Edition.
FIRST TAKE THE PLANK FROM
YOUR OWN EYE, THEN….
Now, as we conclude, we must not misunderstand Jesus. Jesus is not saying that the Christian or the
church shouldn’t make serious judgment calls.
This is definitely not an excuse to live like the world, to condone the
way the world lives, nor to overlook the need to correct each other in
love. There is still room in the church
for rules, values, and standards. In
fact, Jesus says, “First take the plank
out of your eye,’ then, he implies, you can work on ‘the speck’ in your brother or sister’s eye.
No, this is not a question of making judgments, but its about
becoming judgmental, that is taking upon ourselves a role that only belongs to
God. Why is Jesus so concerned about
this? The truth is Jesus is not simply
trying to stop us from judging each other.
This is the small picture, but it’s not the big picture. The big picture concerns the work and growth of
the kingdom in us and in the world around us. While we, as Christians, cannot
cause the Kingdom of God to come on our terms, we can seemingly slow it down,
or at least, prevent the kingdom of God’s grace, from being present in our own
church, in our own family, in our own community, in a way that God’s mercy and
grace is denied becoming a reality in our own lives.
We prevent this ‘blessedness’
from being real in us, when we live judgmentally, forgetting to examine
ourselves first. Though we may not have
the same faults as others, and they may in fact have sins that outwardly seem
much worse, what Jesus names here is the sin of a follower, or an outwardly
religious person, which is a sin much worse than even being the worse
sinner. For you see, sinners can be
forgiven, but a hypocrite cannot. A hypocrite can’t be forgiven because they
will not because their sin is too great, but because by the very nature of
their sin, they will not admit to being just as big, or just as bad a sinner as
everyone else. Remember the Pharisee who
prayed: “Thank God, I’m not like that man over there” verses the one who
prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The second prayer results in salvation, but the first doesn’t result in
salvation because, the person prays to put themselves in a category that
implies they don’t need salvation.
But it doesn’t have to be or stay this way. Recall that wonderful gospel song of the
70’s, ‘Put Your Hand in the Hand’,
and its chorus that went:
“Put your hand in the hand
of the man who stilled the water.
Put your hand in the hand
of the man who calmed the sea.
Take a look at yourself and
you can look at others differently.
Put your hand in the hand
of the man from Galilee.’
This is what this question is all about. It is not simply a lesson on how to be a good
Christian, but it is an even more important lesson about how we all need Jesus,
and we need each other too. As a welcome
saying goes, “We are not supposed to see
through others, but to help to see others through.” Amen.
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