Judgement or Challenge?

Scripture

Romans 1:28-2:11

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. ²⁹They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die - yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

¹Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. ²You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." ³Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶For he will repay according to each one's deeds: ⁷to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

Devotion

Of all the sins that a person can commit, the one I may struggle with the most is the temptation to judge others.   Every day, people make decisions that I just don't understand.  They say things that belittle, demean, or attack me and people I love.  They act--or fail to act-- in ways that shock and offend me. There are times when I find myself thinking, "Well they are just bad people.  Thank God I'm not like them."  There have even been times when I’ve told people exactly what I think of them.  It hasn’t been pretty, and I’ve almost always regretted it afterwards.  

If, like me, you find yourself wanting to judge people harshly, then today’s reading from Romans is for you.  Paul is deeply concerned with the divisiveness in the early Church.  The Church had a lot of work to do as members repented from their sinful ways and worked to reflect Christ’s love for the world.  Christ's followers needed to work together and build each other up if they were to truly bring about the Kin-dom of God on Earth.  And yet early Christian communities tended to divide into factions and tear each other down.  The very people who had committed to being guided by a spirit of grace and forgiveness found it much easier to live into a spirit of judgment and self-righteousness.  Each time they hardened their hearts against one another, they rejected the forgiveness they had found in Jesus Christ.   

Paul didn't pull any punches when he describes all the ways people are sinning in their hearts.  Whoever they were and however good they believed themselves to be in comparison to others, Paul accuses his audience of being just as foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless as they people they judged.  Paul means for these words to sting, because he understood the gravity of the situation.  After all, how could people possibly accept God's forgiveness and then turn around and treat one another so harshly?  The wrath they were heaping on one another was a rejection of Christ's grace...and when one sows the seeds of anger, ruthlessness, and judgment, they can expect to reap the same.   

Paul's words give me pause.  There are plenty of times when my anger about people's words and actions is justified...but does that really give me the right to direct my anger to the people themselves?  What's more, how would I feel if folks judged me as harshly as I want to judge them?  Hardening my heart against others and attacking their personhood may feel good in the moment, but it comes at a terrible price.  Each time I give into that temptation, I sow yet more seeds of division and hatred into a world that is in dire need of unity, love, and forgiveness. 

Refraining from judging others does not mean that we don't challenge people.  People need to be called to account for the times their words, actions, or inaction run counter to Christ's teachings...especially in cases of bigotry, violence, injustice, and oppression.  What I am saying is that we may need to modify our approach so that we focus on people's actions instead of attacking their character.  

When someone says or does something abhorrent, we can resist the urge to respond with insults and instead simply tell people that they are wrong.  If we are in a privileged enough position to do so, we can seek to educate them on the matter.  We can show solidarity with those who are oppressed by taking actions that offer Spirit-filled challenges against the systems that fuel injustice and hatred. When others attack us, we can respond not with hatred but with love and forgiveness.  And when the physical, spiritual, and emotional toll of all this labor becomes too great for us, we can disengage for a while and trust Christ to appoint someone else to enter into the fray.  It is these types of actions that witness to the hope we find in Christ, who promises a future in which all people are reconciled with both God and one another.

These are challenging times for many of us.  There is no lack of things that should makes us feel legitimately angry.  The next time, I feel my own rage building in reaction to what someone has said or done, I will try to remain focused not on judging the person themselves but on challenging their beliefs and behaviors.  I will ask God help me choose words and actions that will help instead of harm, and I will try to be thankful for the times when I find my own wrong beliefs and behaviors are similarly challenged.  Finally, I will pray for Christ to fill the world with a spirit of repentance and forgiveness so that we may all learn to change our sinful, judgemental, and heartless ways.  I hope you will join me in this effort. 

None of us is perfect, but Jesus does not require perfection.  Instead, he teaches us to help one another change our ways by plating seeds of justice and mercy--seeds that spread the good fruit of love and reconciliation instead of the poisonous berries of hatred.  With the Holy Spirit to water our seeds, I know we can help Christ create a world where justice, mercy, and righteousness bloom everywhere we look.  The day will surely come when God repays us for our efforts.  On that day, we who have patiently done what good we can do will see Christ in all his glory.

 

Prayer

Jesus, you constantly forgive us of our wrongdoings even as you teach us to change our hateful and hurtful ways.  Inspire us to be less judgemental of others so that we can offer people the types of Spirit-filled challenges that can move hearts, change beliefs, modify behaviors, and overturn unjust systems.  May we always remember that none of us are perfect.  We all need your help and forgiveness as we follow to make this earthly world reflect the true Kin-dom of God.  And may we see the day when your justice rolls down from the heavens like water.  Amen.