Do not judge (a reflection on Luke 6:36-42)

Serving the body of Christ can push one to the brink of homicide. I wonder what it feels like to control fifteen fractious toddlers half an hour longer than expected when church runs over time. Let us not go there. But I know of people that have, and some are still alive today! In fact, some might say it was not the church overrun that put the final nail in the coffin but the time that elapsed between the closing prayer and the point when the last parent finally arrived to collect his little darling. It confounds the imagination to think that in such circumstances, some parents would stop to chat before relieving those on duty.

By the way, do not think that anyone has been complaining to me because they have not. But I do have eyes! And it is not only in the hallowed precincts of the toddler room that one may observe sacrificial and often unappreciated service.

Perhaps you also struggle from time to time when you are taken for granted or abused. And such abuse is particularly hard to bear when it is suffered at the hands of those who appear to contribute nothing to the life of the church. I suspect that one of the biggest temptations of those who are trying to follow Christ’s servant example is the temptation to judge those who seem not to be pulling their weight.

One of the ways we judge is by labelling people. Johnny is lazy or rude or selfish. Yes, we have been hurt and writing somebody off is one way to take justice into our own hands. So having passed judgement on Johnny, we then carve a picture of him in stone. We condemn him to a particular pigeonhole and leave him there to moulder without any possibility of change.

But the pigeonhole is simply a category we have created in our own minds. It does not exist in the real world. Johnny IS changing because Jesus has extended him the same grace that we ourselves have received. Yet we cannot see it because un-forgiveness has befuddled our focus. All we can see is the spec in Jonny’s eye, a spec that has grown to the size of a plank in our own mind’s eye.

Therefore, it is no wonder that we must remove the plank of un-forgiveness. How can we become like our teacher let alone aspire to lead by example when we are withholding the one thing that Jesus gave without measure? Instead, let us give generously of our time, service and above all forgiveness, knowing that if we give, it will be given to us, “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over”.

What you do for the body is not about those who do nothing. It is about being like Jesus who was not only driven to the brink of homicide (e.g. Mar. 9:19) with frustration but gave to the point of death also.

Cheers for now - Ian