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"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."
- Matthew 7:1-12
We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount. We began with the Beatitudes, then we read You are the salt of the earth, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, Let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, Pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly, Our Father in heaven and You cannot serve God and mammon. In yesterday's reading, Jesus warned about the high cost of a material outlook, and its toll of anxiety: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for to tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Jesus turns again to the theme of hypocrisy, which has already been touched upon in this Sermon (see Thursday's reading, Pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly). Here, He emphasizes that with the same level of judgment we use, we will also be judged. Romans 2:1 cautions that often we condemn ourselves, because we're guilty of the same things that we judge in others. My study bible reminds us that we all need some type of repentance and to flee from sin. Jesus repeats His second statement in Mark 4:24, and in Luke 6:38. Notably, both are used in different contexts to this. This assures us that Jesus' message was preached in a number of settings, and that this teaching remains applicable in all sorts of situations. Here, the emphasis is again against hypocrisy. Let us note, this isn't a blanket command to ignore what's wrong or cover up sin. Rather, we're to take care of our own flaws -- and only then can we help others (to see their much smaller errors!).
"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces." It may seem a strange juxtaposition if we don't read carefully here: how can Christ tell us not to judge, and then turn around and tell us not to give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast pearls before swine? The real answer is that He's teaching us about real discernment, good judgment, and warning us against our own hypocrisy in order that we may be pure in heart enough to do so. My study bible says that dogs and swine are terms used to refer to heathen peoples and also those who work evil and practice idolatry (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), but would also include Jews who do not practice virtue. According to the tradition of Church Fathers, dogs are people so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while swine are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives. The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Christ's teachings (13:46) and the sacraments. This is a strong warning to practice discernment.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" What are these good things Jesus speaks about? They are the very mysteries of the Kingdom and gifts of the Spirit, the pearls He speaks of above. My study bible tells us that the verbs ask, seek and knock are present progressives in form. That is, they tells us to "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking." This is a constant process, like prayer is a ceaseless endeavor (see 1 Thessalonians 5:17). A note tells us to note the synergy here: our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God. It says, "We ask in prayer; seek by learning Gods' truth; and knock by doing God's will." When Jesus says "you then, being evil" He's not condemning all human beings, but contrasting our imperfect goodness with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17). My study bible says, "If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, all the more will God work perfect good."
"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Here is the "Golden Rule." it fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets. It's a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (see Matthew 22:39-40). My study bible calls this a first step in spiritual growth. In Judaism, it says, the negative form of this statement was well known -- "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you." Jesus' form is position; my study bible says that this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.
It's important to think of the "Golden Rule" in terms of focusing on what we want. If we're messing up, do we want to be told? How do we want to know these things? What's our real goal? It's important to keep in mind that Jesus is speaking to those who would be His disciples. His focus is always going to be on our own spiritual growth, our growth in the image of God He gives us. This is not about declaring ourselves or anyone else perfect as we are. It's about being on a road somewhere. Jesus teaches us about purity of heart, what we must do to really understand what discernment is, to judge appropriately. He is teaching us love. He is telling us what spiritual gifts (pearls) are for, how we might grow in such discipleship. Hypocrisy is a key negative -- it's something no disciple of Christ can really afford. What that teaches us is that God's beauty and goodness is always linked to truth, a love for truth. It furthermore reinforces the idea that we can't do this on our own; there's always the synergy my study bible speaks of. We work hand in hand -- or rather this is about God at work in us. We are to grow in love. Later on, Jesus will give a formula for self-correction in the Church; to remove a speck from the eye of another is to help someone else to see. We are only going to be good at that with the experience of spiritual growth ourselves, casting out the (much larger!) plank from our own eye. And we don't waste our time on those who don't want this. Can we get on board this bandwagon? Can we follow His commands for discipleship? What do we really want?
