Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves!

Luke 6:39-42

39 Jesus quoted a proverb: "'Can a blind man guide a blind man?' Wouldn't they both end up in the ditch? 40 An apprentice doesn't lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher. 41" It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbour's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 42 Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this I- know- better- than- you mentality again, playing a holier- than- thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.

Food for thought!

Jesus warned that no teacher can lead his scholars beyond the stage which he himself has reached. It means that we cannot beat Christ in goodness, in forgiveness, in love, in holiness. What Christ seeks to make each one of us is to make us as himself, that is, be as good as Christ is. 

And that is what Jesus is doing everyday. He teaches us what he himself does and practices. This is what sets Jesus apart from other preachers. He preaches what he lives, and he lives what he preaches. There is nothing that Jesus tells us to do that he did not do. Nothing! The best example is yesterday's Gospel reading. If you read it with Christ in mind, everything is fine. If you read it with you and me in mind, it is next to impossible. 

This said, today Jesus is telling us something else. He is teaching us that we have no right to criticize others unless we ourselves are free of faults. That simply means that we have no right at all to criticise, because as, Edward Wallis Hoch put it, "There's so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behooves any of us, to talk about the rest of us."

John M. Templeton said, "Any of us may experience stressful times at home, at school, or in our work. When things are not going well, it is often tempting to criticize others. We may think finding fault with someone else can help us feel better about ourselves or our condition. Or maybe it could be simply that misery loves company!

"In those 'down' moments that each of us has experienced, it may be best to remain silent if we cannot say things that are helpful and kind. Destructive language tends to produce destructive results. Besides causing unnecessary pain and suffering for those around us, our negative words frequently compound our own problems."