Sunday 23rd February 2025
Genesis 45: 3-11
Psalm 37: 1-12, 41-42
I Corinthians 15: 35-38, 42-50
St. Luke 6: 27-38
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.” Luke 6: 37
Probably all of us were brought up in an educational system in which the students went to the teachers… From Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12, we walked, cycled or rode to a local school, where we met the teacher. If we went to college or university, we likely travelled even further to meet our teachers, who stayed in the same place year after year, teaching different cohorts of students…
The Lord Jesus was different, though: Jesus travelled, with his small band of apostles. Jesus sought out people – having dinners with tax collectors; meeting a grieving widow on the road; teaching people near the shore of a lake; feeding some 5000 others in a remote place; going to the synagogue to proclaim the fulfilment of God’s promise, and so on… The Lord Jesus didn’t wait for people to come to him; he sought them out, like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep; like a woman searching her home diligently to find a lost coin… The Lord Jesus was a travelling rabbi; a wandering teacher. Mary Magdalene and others helped look after their physical needs…
This can be a reminder to us: We might think, people who have spiritual questions need to come to us – they need to seek us out – if they have spiritual questions… As an Anglican lay person said to a colleague of mine a few years ago, “If someone wants to find an Anglican church, they can find their way here…”
But Jesus didn’t wait for people to find him, did he?… Some did search him out, like the friends of the paralyzed man who were so desperate to meet Jesus, they took the man up on the roof a home, tore off the roofing material, and lowered the man to healed by God’s touch, in the person of Jesus himself…
More typically, though, the Lord Jesus sought out people – talking to the woman at Jacob’s well; seeing Zaccheus watching from a tree, and having supper with him; and so forth…
What can we take from this?… We aren’t just to wait for people to show up, and then we engage with what it means to have faith and trust in Christ… We come together, Sunday by Sunday, to be strengthened by the presence of the Lord, proclaimed by the written Word, nurtured by the sacrament of the altar, enjoying the fellowship of one another… But after we are strengthened by the grace of God, you and I are called to go out, to search out, not only by good deeds, but being prepared to “give an account for the hope which is in us…” (Yes, as people get to know us, they ought to know that we are Christians… If we have never given any indication to others that we follow Christ so others may see, what went wrong?…)
Do we remember the Parable of the Great Dinner? The Master of the house (God) is determined to have a full attendance at the dinner table (the kingdom of heaven). The Master sends his servants out (that’s you and me), to draw all kinds of unlikely people into his presence. Luke 14: 21 continues,
Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.”
God presents all of us with opportunities daily, to show love… Let’s have the courage, faith and peace to make use of the opportunities which God gives us, day after day, to be ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven…
So, the Lord Jesus went out to minister – and you and I need to do the same…
Most of us are familiar with the stories Jesus told, recorded by Matthew, called the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” begins Jesus… The Lord’s Prayer, the Golden Rule, “seek first the kingdom of God,” and many teachings which are the foundation of our legal system and daily life emerge from the teachings of Jesus, recorded in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5-7….
Today’s gospel reading contains teachings of the Lord Jesus which are exactly like some of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount… Luke casually mentions that the Lord was on a level place, when he taught these words… It makes sense, doesn’t it?… One time, the Lord Jesus speaks with his friends on a mountainside. On another occasion, later in his travels, the Lord Jesus shares a similar message to another group of people, who need to learn about God, Christ, and the kingdom of God…
Like the Sermon on the Mount, today’s reading excerpt from the Sermon on the Plain contains wonderful teachings about how to live our lives by faith, in response to Jesus Christ… There are too many teachings to cover in one sermon, so let’s choose just one teaching this morning – that we are not to judge… We are not to judge…
Jesus bundles together the practices of judging; of condemning; and forgiving. Luke 7: 37: “‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven…”
Jesus Christ is firm about this, isn’t he? Christ’s words aren’t “try not to judge;” or, “judging might not be a good idea;” or, “I kind of hope you don’t do this!” He says, “Don’t judge.” Period.
Part of the package of being a disciple of Christ, a Christian, is that we are not to judge others… What does this look like in practice?…
If we are not to judge, that doesn’t mean that we believe that all behaviour is equally good, or that “anything goes.” As Christians, we are expected to carry moral convictions which are consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ… As Christians, we are called to stand up for God’s righteousness; and to resist practices in the world around us which dishonour God; or which are harmful of people…
To take just a few examples, Christians in action led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the Western world. Hospitals and schools have their foundation in the Christian faith, with God’s priorities of caring, justice for all, and an ordered universe… Care for the poor and the marginalized come directly from the teachings of the Lord Jesus… So, to be clear, “do not judge” does not mean “we have no moral positions…” We seek God’s priorities revealed by Jesus Christ, and we aim to live them out consistently, by what we do and what we say – and what we avoid…
So, if “judge not” doesn’t refer to avoiding moral positions, which does this teaching of Jesus Christ mean?… I suggest that our Lord’s direction “not to judge” plays out practically in 2 distinct ways… First, none of us knows the eternal status of anyone around us… We know the character of God, in his mercy and love. But none of us can ever know exactly what anyone else’s heart is like… Our neighbour might seem to be the kindliest of people, but we don’t know for sure if it is a show for others, while their heart might be seething with resentment and murder and hatred toward God… Or – we might meet someone who seems to be the most unlikely disciple, but we will never know, this side of heaven, their tenderness toward God and others…
Further, we don’t know how people might be shaped by evil around them, many years ago… We know that if a child is beaten by their mother or their father, they are more likely to beat their own son or daughter in adulthood!… This isn’t to excuse bad behaviour, but it can give us an insight into why some people behave the way they do… We cannot speak for the judgement of God; for none of us truly knows anyone else’s heart except their own…
The immediate predecessor in the first parish where I served was known to have a saying: “In the kingdom of heaven, after death, there might be people there we meet, whom we didn’t expect. We might expect others, and not find them there. What matters, though, is that we can have a humble assurance that we will be there, by the grace of God…”
God is the Judge. Not Peter. Not anyone in this room – or beyond!… Contrary to what many Christians have tried to do, none of us is in the position that we can know the status of anyone else’s soul… “God is a righteous judge,” reads Psalm 7: 11…
A second sense in which we are not to judge is that we are not to be judgmental… This means we need to work to avoid developing a temperament of accusation, critique and condemnation. It doesn’t mean that we can never give helped constructive criticism when invited. However, not to be judgemental does mean that we choose to be respectful of others; to be gracious; to be inclined to appreciate others rather than to condemn… The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 include these encouraging moral priorities: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. There is no law against such things…”
If we grew up in a household in which there was a lot of criticism, or perhaps if we are naturally quick-tempered, we might be inclined toward being judgmental. This might be an area of weakness with which we struggle throughout our lives… The antidote to this is to seek to develop gratitude – toward God and toward others…
The Lord Jesus undertook his ministry for about 3 years, before he was arrested and crucified. Jesus Christ travelled throughout his ministry, more or less from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the district of Jerusalem in the south. Just as Jesus Christ went out to seek and to save the lost, you and I are called to do the same – to go out; to seek others…
As well as healing and preaching, the Lord taught us God’s priorities how to live… Among all that he taught, Jesus Christ has taught us that we are not to judge… Of course Christians are called to have moral positions. However, it is not our place to assess exactly who will be saved or lost; and, we are not to be judgmental or unduly critical…
Christ has shown us the way. With God’s help, may we faithfully follow it, all our days… Amen.