How Do you Know? How do you Judge? Bankrupt Yourself or What?
Matthew 7:6
September 24, 2006
The teaching today isn't one of hearing it's one of experience. Thanks so much for writing down your truths, pearls of wisdom, I have them here for us. And, this is what I think of them (rip them up; throw them down; walk on them). How are you feeling? …What does this do to our community? According to today's Scripture I, today, in these actions represent a dog or a swine…trampling on the pearls of wisdom. Why is this a serious offense?
Today's teaching is about recognizing the Holy. Those people things, actions, words that are holy as they are associated with God. As people of faith we are associated with God and are supposed to live lives that are holy. And we are supposed to avoid those things that compromise holiness and closeness to God. As a community this is a basic premise. You do not take something someone considers holy and dash it to pieces. Because when we do that it tears us inside. It prevents us from having relationship. It hurts our community. It corrodes our spirit.
These papers on the floor are just fakes. They are not your pearls of wisdom. They are here. I would never intend to walk on them, rip them, destroy them. I consider your truths holy and part of knowing the Divine is knowing these things, in your words, I put them on the altar as a gift of the community to our Beloved God this morning.
The problem of judgmentalism is a sin. I don't often feel comfortable using this sort of language. However, this morning's teaching along with last week's teaching make this very clear. And, our logic, our experience along with a study of Scripture help us to know that this is true. When one becomes a judge, he becomes a critic. And as a critic he assumes an authority that allows him to assess the failings of others. But, this is all self imposed and prevents himself from assessing his own failures. This is extremely detrimental to relationship of God and self, as well as person to person. Failing is hard enough on its own, no one needs a judge pointing out and assessing each time we fail.
But, we also need some sort of judgment. We want to know there are things that are good and right and things that are not good and right. We need to know the value of something or there is no point in anything. Part of working our way through this living is by having sound judgment. We engage our reason, experience, history and choose so many times a day. This is judgment. And, we also seek out teachers, mentors, elders, parents, peers, bosses, foremen to help us grow and learn new skills to help with our judgment. We would not want to lose these critical thinking skills or we would be weaker people and a weaker community.
As people of faith, we are called to be holy. This means our persons and our actions are to be associated with the Divine. In who we are and what we do, we are supposed to be reflecting the face of who we think God is. This means that we need some sort of judgment to know what is Divine and what is of the world. Using this logic it also would hold true that the dogs and swine of this scripture passage would be those that are not reflecting God's face and are not associated with the Divine. Often times we have heard people of faith say it's the divorced, the gays, the people of color, the addicted, the mentally ill. But, in reflecting on our logic, our experience, the history of the Scripture and what was happening when Matthew's community wrote this down, we know who Jesus was hanging out with. Jesus was hanging out with the divorced, the gays, the people of color, the addicted, the mentally ill. Jesus was embracing all of the people, right where they were and inviting them into the community. But, the rich man had to sell all that he had before he could join. A judgment. The man who called himself Legion had to choose. A judgment. The disciples had to drop everything they knew and follow Jesus. A judgment. And, through each of these examples, we are given insight by what people did in the story as to who the Divine is and how the Divine chooses. The story of the rich man doesn't say, take him down, loser. Instead the teaching just states the story as the way it is, he can not leave his riches to follow Jesus. He may still worship God but he can not be a charismatic itinerant. He can still be a man of faith.
I think the teaching lies here today. We as a people of faith have to understand the qualities of the Holy. We have to know the qualities of love, hope, joy, peace, kindness, compassion. We must know and be able to model these qualities in ourselves and see them in one another. However, when we don't see them in another. They can not be our embodiment of the holy. And who is? Who can say that they can meet that list every day in every moment? I'm not sure I've ever met that person. But, I think we get a lifetime to attempt to try. Yet, it is also a caution. If we do not see the holy in a person. And we elevate that person into leadership, they will maul us with our own pearls of wisdom. Be critical and cautious. Don't throw discretion to the wind. God gave us minds to think, and even in matters of faith this is crucial to our faith.
I also think that today's teaching is a sort of check and balance teaching. When we judge what is the outcome? Does it solely elevate us into a superior than thou position? Jesus never did this. Jesus didn't say, “Hey rich dude, you're too much, you vainglorious pig. Get out!” He met the man eye to eye and honored him for all he had done serving God in his living. And, then he simply spoke of what was required. This is similar to our five promises. If you can't make the five promises. If you can't live into our five promises, you are not one who is working to strengthen this community of faith in the presence of the holy. You are not one who is working to strengthen yourself as a person who is committed to growing our faith. So, you should not be voting and determining the direction our church is going.
We need critical thinking and judgment to have a strong community of faith. We need critical thinking and judgment to have a strong personal faith. But, we do not need destructive criticism. It is counterproductive. Harsh and petty fault finding becomes a corrosive chemical that erodes relationships within ourselves and the community of faith. Let us be the people of critical thinking and careful judgment. Let us pray.