Judged
It is hard not to judge what we see in others.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. - Matt. 7:1-12
There are a lot of messages in today's Gospel reading. Jesus is going all out to teach us how to approach the world.
He is right that we are quick to judge others even to a greater extent than we see fault in ourselves.
It is our nature, though, isn't it?
Basically, He is saying that we have trouble seeing ourselves as others see us, which means they are as quick to judgment as we are.
If we only realized that the small things we do that don't seem to matter to us, are seen by others and judged.
This is probably a good time for this lesson since we have never been so divided and polarized in our thinking as we are today.
But there is another message here, one that is a bit troubling. Do not give what is holy to dogs.
It reminds me of Jesus having a talk with the Canaanite woman who sought some food for her children.
Jesus called them dogs.
The woman came back with the comment that even the dogs get the crumbs from the table, and Jesus relented.
So, what are we to do?
Sure, there are some who don't value what is holy and will trample it underfoot, as he says, but shouldn't we try to give people what they need?
Like so much of Jesus' teaching, today's lessons require some thought and prayer. We set out to do right and pray that what we are doing is God's will for us.
He put us here to help one another through this, and we need to remember that is our job, not to focus on our own survival alone.
We are all here for all of us, and that is hard to put into practice.
More to come...