What right do I have to sit in judgment?

Of course, the answer is none, but to get there, consider James 2:1-13. James elaborates,

"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."

It is no surprise that James chose these two of the Ten Commandments, nor that he started with, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus established the latter as the second greatest commandment (though not one of the Ten).
  (Matthew 22:34-40)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus redirected murder and adultery from mere physical acts to thought, attitudes, and intents of the heart. In such consideration, we are all guilty, and thus condemned as lawbreakers.

We have all judged or disdained a neighbor
(Redefined in Luke10:25-37 as anyone with a need, or less directly in Matthew 25:34-36 as one of the "least of these." Incidentally, the Samaritan fulfilled Matthew 25:34-36 for one who was naked, injured, ..., a "least of these" neighbor.),
  or expressed a curse in our hearts out of frustration,
    or looked at a woman with lust and a desire to consummate what should never be cheapened, ...

Since we are all lawbreakers, what right do we have to sit in judgment on others?
Absolutely none!

Jesus emphasized this point to the religious leaders who brought to him a woman caught in adultery.
(Where was the man? Adultery takes two.) He allowed the one without sin could cast the first stone. Whatever it was Jesus scribbled in the sand revealed those men's hearts to them, and they all went away  without condemning the woman, without judging her.


Gratefully, mercy triumphs over judgment!


March 12, 2012