Split Second Jugdment

By DT
Selected thoughts from my 6/21 sermon.
I was sitting near the window in a small, local coffee shop the other day. Down the street shuffled a dirty, homeless-looking older man. His hair was greasy and wiry, stained orange by sun and probably alcohol. His clothes were discolored. I have to admit: my first awful thought was oh no, he's coming in here. I wasn't alone, though, everyone else gave him a corner eyed glance of annoyance as he hobbled through the door.

The man sat down in a corner seat and ironically I continued reading a very good book about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I heard a quiet squeaking noise. The old man is making balloon animals! Lots of them. My second awful thought why does he have to make so much noise! I'm trying to read!

The old man quietly and awkwardly handed out the balloon animals to the kids in the shop. As he did, the faces of the kids and adults brightened with surprise and humor. He asked nothing in return and didn't know how to respond when people said thank you. The entire atmosphere of the coffee shop was changed - kids running around with balloon animals, adults wearing goofy balloon hats. Everyone smiling. I realized how awful it is for me to frequently make quick judgments about others. But we all do this don't we?

Try this experiment: slowly read the following story. You're alone. You take a seat at a deserted bus stop downtown. A young guy is walking down the street towards you. He's wearing dark baggy jeans that are sagging way too low beneath his rump. A red bandana is tied around his head and his hair is in cornrows. He's got a silver chain hanging from his neck.

Quick. Think about the image you have in your mind. I didn't give you much information to go on but automatically you began to piece together a complete image of him. What race was he? Was he smiling? Frowning? Was he skinny or overweight? Did you feel safe?

We do stuff like this all the time. It's how our mind works. It's how we function in the world. We think in stories and images. In a split second we take in a situation and then make conclusions. We connect the dots and fill in the blanks. Most of the time it happens so quickly and so naturally that we are not even aware of it. There's nothing wrong with this. It's how we're wired.

We live in a culture that believes what is happening on the outside is more important than what is going on inside. We value external appearances and pay little or no attention to what is going on inside a person. We value image over substance.

If we're honest, we all know that we end up thinking just like I did in the coffee shop. This is something that is common to all humanity. In the depths of our souls we are mean, nasty, and harsh towards people. We assume the worst. We focus on people's faults and we are usually unforgiving of their mistakes. We categorize people. We stereotype. We judge. We condemn. We judge them for their mistakes and sins and then we throw the book at them. Bang! Guilty! End of story.

The ancient Greek storyteller Aesop wrote a fable based on his observations about people. It's called The Two Bags: Everyone is born into the world with two bags hanging around their neck. The bags are full of faults. The bag in front is full of their neighbors' faults, and the bag behind filled with their own faults. And so people are quick to see the faults of others, and yet are blind to their own failings.

Rather than offer people a welcoming, outstretched hand, we point a critical finger, we offer a clenched fist, or we have a judge's gavel ready to slam down.

Jesus also has something to say about this idea of judging and condemning. In his sermon on the mount he has been telling us who gets into the Kingdom of God and what it looks like to live there. Those who get in must have a righteousness that is not based on appearance. The world is broken but God is breaking into the world. Those who are followers of Jesus are marked by love. The greatest commandments are to love God and love other people. But our sin reveals itself as we act nasty toward each other, as we judge and condemn others.

Matthew 7:1-6
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person's eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."

Why are we so nasty towards each other? Our tendency is to be fault finders. We quickly point out the flaws and mistakes of others. We hold grudges, we are unforgiving. We focus on the negative. The awful part is that we usually feel better about ourselves when we do all this.

To live in the Kingdom of God, however, means that we are relate to each other in love. The image that we get from the sermon on the mount is a companion. We are companions on this spiritual journey. But, rather than offering people a welcoming, open hand, we offer them a gavel clenched in our fist.

Externally, this looks like exclusion. I worked at a church in the past that was not welcoming of certain teenagers. In our neighborhood there were many youth who dressed in gothic clothing or rode skateboards. Many of them would come to youth events during the week. However, they were looked down upon on Sunday mornings. People would avoid them, give them dirty looks, make cruel remarks to them. It's not surprising that these youth stopped coming to church. There was a disconnect from what they were hearing about Jesus and how they were being treated by his followers.

What the people in the church were saying was: You have to have to change before you can come in here. You have to change before we tell you about the Gospel. The people were forcing the youth to reach a certain standard but really they were making the youth become like them.

This is so wrong! Jesus came to us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)! He does not ask us to change before he saves us. He asks us to come to him just as we are. He alone has the power to change us. He alone has the power to judge and redeem. Rather than asking us to change, he asks us to become more like him. Jesus asks us not to judge but to do as he did: he hung out with prostitutes, thieves, murderers, adulterers, homosexuals, the dirty, the poor, the sinners, the goths, the skaters.

Jesus is also concerned about what is going on in us internally. Even if we are not excluding people we still judge and condemn people in our hearts. We make assumptions - they will never change. We make judgments - what they did is so awful they should be locked away. We smile, we hold out a welcoming hand, but we are just drawing attention away from our own sins, flaws, and brokenness. We end up thinking we are better than others. We measure ourselves based on the extent of other people's sins. In our hearts we condemn people as irredeemable. We reject and exclude.

When we do, we miss the power of the Gospel of Jesus. No matter what we have done or are doing, no matter how evil we are, there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. There is nobody who has gone so far away from God that he can't bring them back. When we judge and condemn we are saying that the Gospel has limits. There are some who are out of reach, who are not deserving.

Don't get me wrong, God will judge sin. It is appointed for all of us to die once and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). However, Jesus came into the world to save sinners and we don't have the authority to judge people.

Why can't we judge? Not only are we NOT God, but in Jesus' words we are all hypocrites. We are just as guilty as the people we condemn. Most of the time we have done exactly what we are judging them for. Many times worse.

My first reaction is: but I have to fix them! Don't they know they are sinners? I have to judge what they are doing! I have to give them my wonderful solution. I have to change them! So we force our gospel on them. We give them something they are not ready to receive. Rather than coming alongside them as a companion, rather than trying to get to know their soul, we feel compelled to force Jesus on them.

If we had the power to change people's behavior, jail would work a whole lot better!

Last weekend some Mormon missionaries came to my door. At first we had some interesting conversation but when it was all said and done I felt pretty awful. We were each so convinced of the truth of our side that we did not allow space for the other. We became objects and love was not expressed. As I closed the door my emotions were all fired up and none of us knew each others names. They came to my door trying to convince me of their truth but I also tried to force mine on theirs. It turned into a boxing match of ideas. I wonder what it would have been like if I invited them in for dinner? They could tell me their story and I could tell them mine. We could interact as people, as companions.

Rather than offer people a welcoming, outstretched hand, we point a critical finger, we offer a clenched fist, or we have a judge's gavel ready to slam down.

Jesus asks us to live a different way. He asks us to give up our need to judge, to condemn, to point the fault finding finger. He asks us to extend ourselves in love and compassion. But the sermon on the mount is not a Dr. Phil self-help book. No, the reality is that we can't meet this standard of righteous living on our own. We can try hard to be nice, to smile, to be accepting, but Jesus is showing us that we are hypocrites in our hearts. What we need is a soul transformation. We need a new heart. That's what Jesus offers us. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside.

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