Luke 6:37-42
Judging Others
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 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.”
39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
41 “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? 42 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.
John 7:24
Judge Correctly When You Judge
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.
2 Timothy 4:2
Correct with Great Patience
2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
Jesus teaches us not to judge in St. Luke's Gospel, then He gives us another statement on judging correctly in St. John's Gospel, and then St. Paul gives us teachings on what we are to do, when we do correct others...Jesus, then, is not telling us to never make a judgments about others...What He is telling us, is that when we judge and correct people, we many times lose that connection and can break down a relationship, with that person at the time of our judging them...
It is easier to be with people we like...Usually that is people who share our point of view, our interests, those who like to do what we like to do...When we judge others, sometimes, we are putting up a road block, a fence of sorts that this person is not like us, they need to be more like us, and in a sense we are better than that person...When we judge, Jesus wants us to be Holy about it...We are not better than others...We should make a proper judgment, and not judge one on their appearance, but what is in their heart...If we make a judgment on others on the basis of that we think, and we think it is for our neighbor's own good, this is not what He is teaching...In some situations, this separates and breaks down any relationship we had with our neighbor...It is not loving our neighbor...
Jesus does not want us to have a judgmental attitude that hinders our relationships with others...He wants us to love our neighbors...He goes even further, He also wants us to love our enemies...Love is the key, in the above verses...If we love others, we do not want to be correcting our neighbors much of the time...We do not want to be judging others and breaking down our relationships with them...I think this is why He adds the phrase on forgiveness with judging others and condemning others...This maybe why He says do not judge others, do not condemn others, forgive and you will be forgiven and has these statements all together...The is a link in the breaking down of a relationship with your neighbor, instead of loving your neighbor...Forgiving builds back the relationship, when one can forgive as He forgives us...
Jesus wants us to examine our own heart before we judge...Only when we look at the speck in our own eye and more importantly remove that speck can we properly judge...And if we judge others correctly and proper, we are to correct only with great patience and careful instruction...We are to do it in a loving, holy way, as in His teaching of love thy neighbor...Let us be more loving and forgiving than judging of others...