Scripture: Matthew 7:1-6
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
Questions
- What does “judge” mean in this context and how does it compare with other texts on judging like 1 Corinthians 6:1-6?
- How does “the measure you give will be the measure you get” fit with Paul’s words that our salvation is based on faith and not on our works?
- Based on Jesus’ analogy of the eyes should we assume that we are able to heal from the log in our own eye in such a way as to help others?
- What are the holy things and pearls alluded to in verse 6?
Background
Related Scriptures: Matthew 18:23-35, 23:1-35; Luke 6:37-38; Romans 2:1-11, 14:1-12; James 4:11-12
The measurement of verse 2 is taken from trade where it signified that the same devices would be used to measure both grain being purchased and the payment, thus eliminating the possibility of cheating on one side or the other.
Speck refers to a piece of straw or wood like sawdust that can get into the eye and cause irritation.
Log refers to a large piece of timber such as a beam of a house or a piece of firewood.
The word translated “sees” for the speck means physically seeing or observing while the word used of the log is one of contemplation as in not simply physically seeing but taking action toward removal.
Reflection
The easiest way I have found to understand Jesus’ words in this passage is to focus on the analogy of the eyes. We all understand the irritation of having something like a grain of sand or sawdust in our eyes and though at times we may need someone to look at our eye to make sure it is ok, we also know that most of the time we do not need help in removing the irritant. By contrast if it were even possible for a structural beam to become lodged in one’s eye, that person would certainly need assistance in removing it and that individual would never see clearly again. The hyperbole of Jesus’ words highlights both the impossibility and stupidity of the scenario, since it is clearly the person with the beam lodged in their eye that would need the help of the person with merely a grain of dust in theirs. The odd thing is that Jesus is addressing his followers as the ones with the beam in their eyes looking to help others. This leaves me with the question, in what sense is judging others akin to me trying to help another see clearly when I have a beam in my eye?
As I consider this passage my mind goes to Matthew 23:4 where Jesus accuses the pharisees by saying, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them”. In that passage Jesus says that part of the problem with the pharisees is they do not understand or care about the burden they place on the average person by how they interpret the Law. They then judge people as righteous or not based on how those people maintain the commands the pharisees have established. I think this is the key for understanding Jesus’ words in 7:1-5, he wants us to understand that when we are always trying to correct others or holding them to our own standards we can be easily be blind to how our burdens are impacting them. Jesus is not telling his followers that they cannot (or should not) judge right from wrong, good from evil. Rather, Jesus is warning us to be careful about how we establish our standards of judgment. Are we committed to strict crime and punishment rules for justice, if so we can expect God to use that measurement. However, if we are committed to showing love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness to others then God will do the same with us. The commitment to not judging others is not about whether or not we have standards of right and wrong, but about expecting people to either have the same commitments that I have or to say that they are in some way unworthy of God’s love or grace, and thus mine. The pharisees were placing a greater premium on tithing that on people’s livelihood and Jesus calls them out for this callous behavior in 23:4, likewise when we hold people to unnecessarily strict codes without providing them love and grace in their lives, we are subject to God’s strict justice. And as Jesus points out when we do so we are overlooking the beam, that is where our hearts are hardened toward others.
What is even more interesting is that Jesus follows this up with a line that many find confusing “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine”. What does this have to do with judging others? Often people mistakenly think the pearls Jesus is referring to is the Gospel message however the only other time Jesus uses the metaphor of a pearl it is specifically about finding the kingdom of God and it seems fit to use that metaphor here. Until this point the Sermon has been focused on what life is like in the kingdom, and so when Jesus talks of holy things being given to dogs and pearls being given to swine he is speaking about how we treat the kingdom. Where I think it is easy to get lost in understanding him is that we want to see dogs and pigs as people, specifically unbelievers, and so we are always tempted to read this passage as “take care how you share the sacred things of the church”. But that does not fit with anything else in the Sermon, instead we should look at the kingdom and out place in it as what Jesus is concerned with. This means that there is no direct relationship between the animals in the metaphor and a specific group of people. Jesus is not worried that I might share the gospel with the wrong people, he frequently called attention to the fact he was sharing the Gospel with the wrong people. What he was concerned about was that those claiming the kingdom would abuse the kingdom. That we might take this sacred relationship and act as though it were no better than scraps thrown to scavengers. How would someone show such disrespect to God’s kingdom? By devaluing the character found in the beatitudes, by not being a light to the world, by not holding to the higher love he witnessed to in his retelling of the commandments, by practicing spirituality to be honored by people and not God, by storing treasures in the world, by trying to serve two masters, by judging others. In short by failing to live out the world he visualized in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ goal was to get us to realize that when we do not take his words seriously we are taking that most sacred of things, God’s kingdom and treating it with disgust. Thus it is important how we approach others, if we judge them in the measure that Jesus condemns we are showing that our character is insufficient to reflect the kingdom. How we think of others displays what we think of the merciful loving God who has opened the Kingdom to all. As John Wesley said, “The judging that Jesus condemns here is thinking about another person in a way that is contrary to love.” And so we live out the kingdom best when we commit to displaying God’s love in the world and when we fail we are throwing pearls to the swine.
Squinting in the Light 