JUDGE NOT

Luke 6:37, 38

“Stop judging and you will not be judged… For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

We always want ourselves to be judged by others – but it should be positively. My friend should tell me that I dress well. Parents want their children to tell them good things about themselves and vice versa. Office workers wants rewards for good things done. We want people to say nice things about us at our funeral (though we would not be able to hear it anyway). We want to be judged. Judgment is the matrix of our existence. We judge everything and everyone and find life meaningful only when we are judged as having significance. But of course, I hate it when someone judge me negatively. When you judge me favorably and applaud me, that is what I like that.

Gospel today tells us that it is better to be judged than judge – negatively, that is. Or, do not judge a person or anyone at all. You will be judged by the greatest and only Judge of all - by Jesus. He will weigh and measure the moral worth of your every thought, feeling, word and deed. You will give an account to Him of your entire life. On Judgment Day, your deeds will be the evidence of your faith, verifying whether or not you truly believed in Christ with living faith. His judgment is what will give your life its true and ultimate significance. The judgment you made will ultimately judge you.

After creating the universe, God saw that it was good. At the start, He judged as well. In return, judge Him to be your Savior and receive God’s judgment on your sins in His death on the cross. Judge Him to be your Lord and receive God’s judgment of your eternal acceptance in His resurrection.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, teach me not to be judgmental of others so I may not be judged in return by no other than You. You showed me that the only solution to being happy is obey You and use the time in what You want me to do and not on what I want to do and hear. In the end, may your mercy judge me positively so I may finally join You in heaven.

Amen +

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.