I love watching young children try to imitate their parents or other special adults in their lives. If Dad is welcoming to guests, his son also becomes a welcoming person. If mother likes to bake, her daughter loves to roll out the cookie dough and cut cookies to put in the oven as well. Sometimes they stand in the same posture and have the same facial expressions. They are learning by imitating.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:37-38 Does this sound a lot like how Jesus interacted with others? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17 "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:11 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’” Luke 5:20
There is a fine line between using information gathered from watching others in order to make a good decision for ourselves and judging others. The line is determined in the heart. What is the motive for gathering this information? Is it to condemn the other and make ourselves look better? Or is it truly to learn from others’ mistakes and become wiser. Too often, we like when others fail because we look better. But it is not in others’ failures that we are made better. It is only in Christ Jesus. We cannot become righteous except through his saving grace in our lives. Because we are forgiven, we are to then forgive others. What is this “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over?” I believe it is the kindness that others will show us when we become kind and forgiving people. By nature, we are more quick to judge those who judge us and forgive those who forgive us. Jesus is asking us to choose forgiveness to start the cycle.
“He also told them this parable: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:39-40 I wonder why this follows, “Do not judge”. Parables are meant to teach something. Jesus was a rabbi – a teacher. I wonder if there are two messages in this parable. Maybe the first is to the people – choose carefully who you follow so you don’t follow them to destruction. Since in the Jewish culture, rabbis were constantly sitting in on the teaching of other rabbis to either ‘Amen’ or ask more questions, I wonder if Jesus may have had a message in this parable for these religious leaders and teachers of the law as well. Maybe the message was something like, “Be careful to not take people into the pit with you.” In fact, what follows seems to be aimed straight at those who determined how to follow the laws correctly.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42 I think what Jesus saw was a group of religious leaders who had themselves and all of their followers tied up in knots trying to follow their laws and all their addendums and totally missing that the laws were meant to help people see God and their need for him. So while they were arguing over whether it was okay to carry a certain amount of weight under a certain condition on the Sabbath, they were missing that the Sabbath was to give them time to lay down their burdens and rest in the company of God. Jesus is telling them to quit fussing over little details and look at what is behind the detail. Knowing what is behind the detail helps us to make better choices concerning the detail. So in this case, I think Jesus was telling them to take care of their own plank (understand why the Sabbath was established by God) in order to deal with the specks in others (determining whether something is okay to do on the Sabbath).
When I was a teenager, a very wise man – my father – once refused to make an important decision for me. Instead, he asked me to examine the motive in my heart regarding that decision. Rather than taking the opportunity to micromanage a speck, he asked me to examine the log knowing that if I understood how to move the log, the speck would take care of itself.
God is always interested in the motive of our hearts. And it seems that this is one more way he is addressing that. How do we choose who we will follow? Do we choose those that tell us what our itching ears want to hear? Do we choose to follow those who make us feel comfortable with who we are or those who ask us to consider change in response to something learned from God? Do we choose to follow those who we believe are following hard after God because we want to follow hard after God as well?
God, please help me to choose well who I will follow after. My heart seeks to know you. Help me to only follow after those who also seek to know you more. Help me to lead others to your throne as well. Amen.
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