For the past one week, we have been reading from Matthew’s Gospel, and every one of them started with:
“Jesus said to his disciples”:
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.”
“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you,”
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
“Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.”
All of these instructions to the disciples are also addressed to us, telling us very clearly and succinctly how we need to act. There is no mistaking what Jesus is telling us to do.
Hardest
The hardest one is in today’s gospel:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”
I find it so easy to look at other people and critique them in my own mind, usually in the realm of how they look, how they dress, how they behave. I do acknowledge to God that I am just making observations.
Oftentimes, they are harmless enough. I’ve just returned from a 3-week trip to Eastern Europe in the company of 61 other people; we were indeed a very large and diverse group of people, and it was easy to pigeonhole people into certain categories: good looking, not so good looking, standoffish, flamboyant, overly outspoken, helpful, reserved, etc.
But, as has happened to me many times before, by the end of this trip, having gotten to know almost all of the individuals on a first name basis, it was remarkable how very different they turned out to be from my initial assumption.
When I people watch, which is easy to do while waiting at busy airports, I marvel at God’s creation of his vast and very diversified human race. We are all God’s children, part of the same human family, no matter how we look or dress or talk. We all hunger for food and for love, we all feel pain when we fall, we are all looking to make a decent living and provide for our families.
Let me not judge others by outward appearances, for only God knows the heart of every individual, and He is a just judge. In the meantime, I will work on getting rid of the wooden beam in my own eye.
