Luke 13- Do We Judge or Love?

We’ve all heard reports in the news of Christian leaders or groups claiming that bad things have happened to certain groups of people (Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, for example) because of their sin. At the beginning of this chapter Jesus gives some examples of awful things that had happened—like a tower falling on and killing a bunch of people—and he basically says, “Do you think that, because of what happened to them, these people must have been worse sinners than everyone else?” And you just know that some people in the crowd were thinking (or saying), “Yes!” and recalling the sins of the people who had died tragically. But Jesus answered his own question. “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Wow. What a great reminder that we need to be more concerned about identifying and repenting of our own sins, instead of ignoring our own and pointing out others’ sins. In fact, Jesus talked about this before in Luke 6:41. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” As long as we’re trying to judge how sinful other people are, we are too busy focusing on their “specks” instead of focusing on removing our own “logs.”

I know I’m guilty of this, so I’m certainly not pointing my finger at everyone else by writing this. (How ironic it would be if I were!) It can be so much easier and more comfortable to sit back and look at everyone else, and to try to judge how sinful or how righteous they are. It’s easy to talk about someone else’s mistakes and wrongdoings, and to gossip about them and vilify them. It’s a lot harder and a lot more painful to honestly take a look at our own selves, though, isn’t it? It’s not so easy to put ourselves under our own magnifying glass and identify our own shortcomings and sins. It’s uncomfortable and it’s painful, because it forces us to realize that we are not perfect either, that we are broken on the inside.

But Luke 6 also says “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” That reminds me that when I judge or condemn others, then I must turn that magnifying glass on myself, and I will have no choice but to judge and condemn myself just as harshly (and other people will as well)—but when I am forgiving toward others, I can also forgive myself and be forgiven.

I also find myself reflecting on the fact that, even with all my imperfections and screw-ups, God loves me unconditionally. That has taken me a long time to learn and understand, because for so long I believed that he didn’t love me much at all if I wasn’t doing things just right. But at the same time, I think it’s important to remember that just as God loves us unconditionally, he also loves other people unconditionally. Those other people whose sins we judge harshly, who we condemn, who we gossip about, who we make nasty jokes about, who we avoid—he loves them unconditionally too. If we are striving to be disciples of Jesus and to be Christ-like, wouldn’t it be a good idea to love them also, to show them mercy and grace?