|
Gospel According to St Luke, Douay-Rheims translation wrote:
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again...And why seest thou the mote in thy brother's eye: but the beam that is in thy own eye thou considerest not? Or how canst thou say to thy brother: Brother, let me pull the mote out of thy eye, when thou thyself seest not the beam in thy own eye? Hypocrite, cast first the beam out of thy own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to take out the mote from thy brother's eye. For there is no good tree that bringeth forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns; nor from a bramble bush do they gather the grape. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:36-38, 41-45).
|
We tend to gravitate towards certain passages from the Bible, and to make them the central message of our Faith. In our age, this passage from Luke, and the related one from Matthew (see Matthew 7:1-5) are often favorites. These are cutting words of Christ against those who look for the worst in other people, who always seek their faults first and their graces last. I can admit to being guilty of this at times, and so can most other people. One of the deadly sins which plagues our race is envy--including spiritual envy--and another is pride. The former may act to tear down the other for having what the self lacks, the latter builds up the self by emphasizing the failings of others: both have the same effect. This is therefore a much-needed rebuke for the pharisees in every age, for the spiritual snobs, for those who place themselves continually and irrevocably above the rest of mankind, be it in spiritual matters, or material, or intellectual.
It is, however, with the greatest irony that these passages are so often employed by people who are themselves acting in a judgmental manner. Whereas on Jesus' lips, these words are a rebuke--a sort of harsh correction--they become a club used to beat down anyone else who offers correction, be it in the spirit of charity or of pride. The passage from Luke is often taken away from its context: the leading verse, which is to "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."
What is the nature of mercy? First, it presupposes justice. There can be no mercy if there is no debt, no forgiveness if their is nothing to forgive. It moreover means to "have pity" on the struggling and suffering of others. It is interesting to note that "pity" and "mercy" are sometimes different translations for the same verse: see, for example, Luke 7:13 in the Douay Rheims, the New American, and the New Jerusalem translations, which render the same passage as "moved with mercy," "moved with pity for," and "felt sorry for," respectively. To mercy, then, could mean seeing a person struggling with a situation (e.g. a sin), seeing that they are failing in that struggle, and acting with compassion to help them to overcome the situation. Mercy, therefore means to render aide to another in meeting the demands of justice, and doing so as an act of charity.
Consistency requires a further note concerning mercy and justice. If mercy presupposes justice, and if it means helping another person to meet the demands of justice, then it moreover implies a duty to instruct the other person when he is ignorant of the demands of justice. But this means precisely being able to discern the demands of justice, and being able to discern that the other person does not know these demands: which is ultimately an act of judgment!
These two demands are reconciled by noting that Christ follows "judge not" with "condemn not." Here, then, is the key to understanding "judge not," which is that we are told not to condemn the other person as a result of our discernment. We may judge the situation, discern the sin and even the other person's ignorance of the sin--but we ought not judge the person himself. Having made this judgment, we are then called to action of some sort--perhaps only instructing the person (itself an act of spiritual mercy), perhaps by going further and helping the person to overcome his sin and to develop the necessary virtues to aide in guarding against it in the future.
The injunction against judging should be read, therefore, in the context of a people who are struggling to live in holiness, and yet are failing. They may need some fraternal correction, some help in their struggle, and may even ask for this. The injunction against being judgmental is not a command to cease discerning, or offering charitable and fraternal correction, but rather to cease condemning people (their sins are a different story). It is a condemnation of self-righteousness, not of all righteousness, of sanctimony and not of sanctity.
_____
Image taken from Movement Invites Movement, which has a brief essay of its own on this topic. Said essay was not, incidentally, the inspiration for (or even the information used in) this post.
Note: This brief reflection originally was written for my Equus Nom Veritas blog. It can be viewed in its original format there (complete with links), but otherwise the entire post is imported here.
Tags: Musing Scripture Theology
