Monday of the 12th
Week in Ordinary Time
June 23, 2014 8:30am
I find it important to look at today’s
gospel in the context of Saint Matthew’s entire gospel.
If we do that, I think there are three
lessons here for us.
First, Matthew uses the term “hypocrite.”
That word originally meant a mask
that a person would wear to pretend to be something or someone he or she was
not.
For us, it might be like a
Halloween costume.
In this passage, Jesus is
cautioning us not to pretend to be better than we are or to be better than the
next person.
Then, in that context, Jesus
tells us not to judge one another.
Here the word judge has the
meaning of condemn.
So we are not to condemn one
another as bad or evil persons.
We are not to treat others as
objects to be judged, but rather as persons to be treated as we ourselves would
want to be treated.
Finally, today’s passage is in
chapter 7 of Matthew’s gospel.
In chapter 18 Jesus gives us
guidelines or a process for addressing another person whom we think is doing
something wrong.
So, while we are not to judge
other persons, we do need to judge behavior as right or wrong, as good or bad.
We do need to call one another to
live according to the way of the Lord.
But, of course, we are to do that
without condemning the person and with the care that the Lord showed to the
sinful persons of his own day.
We are to do it respectful of
their own conscience and aware that they, like us, are on the journey of life –
a journey with the Lord and to the Lord, and that they and we are never fully
there, never perfect.
