Matthew 7:1-6
Judging Others
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “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? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 15:1-20
That Which Defiles Us
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Luke 6:31
Do Unto Others as You Would Have Then do to You
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
I recently had someone tell me that what he did not like about religion were those believers who are hypocritical of others...Jesus teaches us this very thing...He teaches is often throughout the four gospels...Jesus regular reminds us that we are hypocritical...When He teaches us about judging others, He speaks to the very heart of hypocrisy...When we judge others and do not judge ourselves we are being hypocritical...It is easy for us to be two-faced...Sometimes it seems natural to want to help another (or tell another from our point of view) with one's comments, and without even thinking, the thought or idea and the very comment is hypocritical...Sometimes we just say things impromptu, and sometimes we say things without thinking to others...
Maybe we expect more out of others than we do ourselves...And maybe we do not even realize this, or maybe we do...C. S. Lewis said that "This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people."...And if we do expect more out of others, the question is should we?...It is so difficult, even for the believer, to read the Bible and read about Jesus, and then go out and practice what He did day in and day out...Christianity is both very believable, and very hard...We want and try to treat others as we want to be treated...We read about this, study this, and find out how difficult it can be in the real world...And sometimes we come to the conclusion that someone got what they deserved...What did or do we deserve?...
Often I think we each just know better...We know what is better for our neighbor...We know better than he does, so we are just trying to help him...Mankind seems to know better in many cases even though we haven't been walking in their shoes...Yet we go ahead and do what we do helping as we know it...I have heard the comment do as I say, and not as I do...Only Jesus can say do as I say, and do as I do...This is because He did both...