I recall that the man whom I was assisting said more than once, "You know, Peter, there are lots of people in this world a lot worse than I am." I don't remember what prompted that comment. I have no memory of him as a worse sinner than other men - nor worse than I who worked for him. He would have known that my father was a minister. Perhaps he made assumptions about my attitudes to him. In some way it made him feel more secure to believe that there were others "a lot worse than I am."
Then, working on the stock take, we discovered that two tractor tyres were unaccounted for. Together we headed for the workshop. "You watch while I tear shreds off so-and-so!"
Of course, he had real responsibilities which it was important for him to exercise. But there was something troubling about his attitude to others and his perception of himself.
Jesus said, "Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way as you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others" (Mt.7.1-2).
We have been noting the importance of living our lives before God - it is our Father who sees what we do in private who will reward you. So we don't have to worry. Instead, we are to be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and what he requires of us and trust our heavenly Father to provide our other needs.
But here our attention has shifted from what others might think of us to what we think of them.
It is so easy to develop a critical spirit, to feel better in ourselves when we are putting someone else down. There are some court cases where the whole community finds a great deal of comfort in the plight of the accused. We have the whole matter settled in our minds before the evidence for and against has been presented. Whether the matter is proven or not, we get a great deal of satisfaction that someone else is in trouble.
Jesus is reminding us that our life is always open before God. We live before him on the basis of his mercy, for all of us are sinners. When we apply harsh definitive judgement to the character and behaviour of others, we are inviting God to deal with us on the basis, not of his mercy, but of judgement When teaching us how to pray, he told us to ask, "Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us" (6.12). In other words, we are praying, "Lord, forgive me in the manner and to the extent that I actually forgive others their wrongs towards me."
Jesus isn't saying that the magistrate, judge, school-teacher, parent, accountant… don't have responsibilities in calling people to account for their activities. They clearly do, for the good ordering of society. Yet even the discharge of their duties will be affected by their awareness that they live before God, under his mercy and grace.
Often we have the suspicion that certain politicians hide behind their criticisms of others. All of us find it much easier to call attention to the "speck" in our brother's eye than to deal with the "log" in our own.
Marilyn Helleberg tells this story, "At church camp when I was a teenager, an ugly rumour about two of our counsellors quickly became the talk of the camp. The next day, at morning prayer, the minister read the story of the adulterous woman, in which Jesus told the crowd that any person who had no sin could cast the first stone. And one by one, those who had come to stone her to death walked away.
"Then the minister passed around a bucket of stones and insisted that we each take one and carry it in our pocket throughout the remainder of camp. Any time we felt like criticising someone else, or talking behind another's back or passing on an ugly rumour, we were to reach into the pocket, touch the stone and ask ourselves if we were without sin."
She concludes, "It's so easy to criticise others, but only God knows a person's heart. Would you try something with me? Today, let's each find a small stone to carry in our pocket or purse as a reminder that we are not to judge others. Lord, prevent me from casting stones."
Jesus calls the critical, judgmental person a "hypocrite", a play-actor - they have not really faced their own relationship with God, their need for divine grace to deal with what is wrong in their own life.
It comes as a surprise, then, that Jesus should warn us against giving what is holy to dogs and throwing pearls in front of pigs (v.6). One writer notes, "We may not judge, or condemn, anyone, but on the other hand we must have 'a sense of judgement' in our contacts with our fellow-men'." Not all are ready to receive the priceless message of the gospel. It is not appropriate to expect those who have not yet received the grace of God into their lives to begin to respond to spiritual truth.
Jesus has already taught us that "Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things" - your basic needs like food and clothing. He has assured us that our basic needs will be fulfilled as we commit ourselves above everything else to God's Kingdom and what he requires of us (6.32-33).
This does not mean, however, that we are never to bring our needs to the Father in prayer. "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to him who knocks" (7.7-8).
Not only is our life to be on the basis of God's Kingdom priorities - we are to live in conscious dependence on him. We are not on some lone mission in the world - we are to be in constant constant contact and relationship with the Father.
"Ask… seek… knock…" suggests the degrees of persistence we may need to exercise in our requests to God. Sometimes we only have to "ask" and we receive.
Sometimes we need to "seek". There may be good reasons why our loving Father doesn't immediately give what we request. James wrote that "when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures" (Jas.4.3) As we continue to bring our request in prayer, our motives are refined and the content of our request is brought more in line with the Father's good will for us.
But at other times we have to "knock" - not only persisting in our request, but actively and urgently pursuing the goal. Our praying is not passive - as if we pray and do nothing while God acts. As we "knock" in prayer, we do well to expect that our heavenly Father will propel us into action.
The story is told of a Christian family in Dallas, Texas. The father sold his business at a loss, went into vocational Christian work, and things got rather rough. There were four children in the family. One night in family prayers, Timmy, the youngest, said, "Daddy, do you think Jesus would mind if I asked Him for a shirt?"
"Well, no, of course not."
And Mother she wrote down in their prayer request book "shirt for Timmy, size seven." Every day Timmy saw to it that they prayed for the shirt. Several weeks went by and one Saturday the mother received a telephone call from a Christian businessman who had a menswear shop in downtown Dallas. "I've just finished my July clearance sale and knowing that you have four boys it occurred to me that you might use something we have left. Could you use some boy's shirts?"
She said, "What size?"
"Size seven."
"How many do you have?" she asked hesitantly.
He said, "Twelve."
Many of us might have taken the shirts, put them in the wardrobe and made some casual comment to the child. Not these parents. That night, as expected, Timmy said, "Don't forget, Mum, let's pray for the shirt."
"We don't have to pray for the shirt, Timmy."
"How come?"
"The Lord has answered your prayer."
"He has?"
"Right." So, as previously arranged, older brother Tommy goes out and gets one shirt, brings it in, and puts it down on the table. Little Timmy's eyes are like saucers. Tommy goes out and gets another shirt and brings it in - and another, and another until he piles twelve shirts on the table, and Timmy thinks God is going into the shirt business!
God's desire for us is good, even when the answer to our prayer seems to be delayed. He will give us what is good. Specifically, as we read the saying in Luke, "How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Lk.11.13) - for we need, not simply physical blessings, but spiritual resources.
Verse 12 is what we call the "Golden Rule" - "Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets". The Jewish form of this was phrased negatively, "whatever you would not wish done to you, do not yourself to another."
We are called to more than refraining from the criticism and judgement of others - we are actively to seek their well-being.
The call of Jesus to live before God - under his forgiveness and accepting the priorities of his Kingdom - is a call to life. Sometimes in human history the majority in the community have seemed to approve a Christian life-style. At other times we have had to swim against the current. But we are following Christ, not public opinion.
"Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it" (vv.13-14).
Someone observed, "The majority crucified Jesus Christ; the majority burned the Christians at the stake; the majority established slavery; the majority jeered when Columbus said the world was round; the majority threw him into a dungeon for having discovered a new world; the majority cut off the ears of John Pym because he dared advocate the liberty of the press."
Jesus calls us to life - through repentance of our sins, through faith in his redeeming work, through a life of active trust and obedience. Let us hear and heed his call.
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