Good Morning.
The epistle lesson for today ends with these words:
“Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will be accountable to God.”
There are all sorts of “theological” arguments and implications that can come from these verses, but the reality is that these verses hit us so hard – and are so convicting – not because of lofty intellectual issues but because they strike at our daily, commonplace weaknesses.
Judging one another is something that we constantly do to each other. He’s too short. She’s too heavy. He’s stupid. She’s just a factory-worker. He’s just a farmer. Women can’t be pastors. Black people aren’t very bright. Hispanics don’t speak English very well. Germans are all fascist pigs. The Irish are all drunkards. And so on. In fact we do so much judging that we even pre-judge. That’s the root of prejudice: pre judging.
Somehow it makes us feel better about ourselves if we think that we can compare favorably to other people whom we deem to be inferior to us. On the face of it, that’s pretty dumb. Somehow we’ve never outgrown those stupid children’s rhymes about “we’re better than you are!”
Jesus tried to show us why we were wrong. Jesus tried to show us how we were so much more than we could be if all that we did was compare ourselves to one another. Jesus tried to show us that we were all the same in the sight of God. We were ever so much more than we could have ever imagined. We are the children of God, adopted through the blood of Jesus. We are the beloveds of God, forgiven and called back to return home so that we might share in God’s glory.
Whatever we do in our own names. Whatever comparison we make to belittle others and elevate ourselves in an effort to achieve our own glory, is doomed to failure. As Paul explained: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”
Whenever we judge others to be less than us – and we do that as a nation as well as individuals – we settle for a definition of us that is both inadequate and demonic. Satan, the Temptor, wants us to see ourselves only as compared to each other. God wants us to see ourselves through God’s eyes. This is why Christ died and lives again: so that we might recognize that we are the Lord’s; that He defines our worth; that He calls us His own, and that when we live for His glory we reach a value that exceeds anything that could be accomplished in the name of humankind.
Prayer: Lord God, loving Father, You offer us a new way into an old life: the life for which You created us. That “Way” is our Lord Jesus, Your Anointed Son. Lead us always that we may follow Him, know His way, and meld our minds and our wills with Your will for us. In His name we pray. Amen.
Today’s scripture readings are Joshua 8:1-22; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 26:47-56; Psalm 45, 47 & 48.
May you accept the blessings of the life the Lord offers you; you who are His beloved, redeemed and forgiven children.
Blessings.
Pastor Jim
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