Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "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 he 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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "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 to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as 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 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."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin also.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  Moreover, my study Bible points out that the second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each used in a different context, as Christ clearly repeated this message many times.  This repetition teaches us something about the significance of the principle He names here.

 

"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."  Here is an elaboration on the warning against judgment, and a teaching on our own blindness to our flaws and what that does to us.  We are to look to ourselves to correct our own errors and mistaken thinking and practices before we can ever help others.  For Christ's teaching on mutual correction in the Church, see Matthew 18:15-35.  Let us remember also that Jesus is preaching to those who are His disciples, and who will in turn become teachers and authorities in His Church.

 

 "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."   Dogs and swine, my study Bible explains, refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic teaching, "dogs" are those who are 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 (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  On the contrary, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  Additionally, this extends the warning about judgment to protection from those who would respond with hostility to what is intended as helpful correction given through grace ("removing the speck in another's eye") such as Christ gives to His disciples.  

 

 "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 he 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!"  My study Bible tells us that in the Greek, the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy here:  our effort is commanded, but not ever apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  Human beings are called evil not to condemn all of us, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (in other words, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, my study Bible explains, 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."  This verse is known as the Golden Rule.   Jesus' expresses that it fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets; my study Bible remarks that it is also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (see Jesus' statement of the two greatest commandments, found at Matthew 22:37-40).  This Golden Rule is a first step in spiritual growth, according to my study Bible.  There is also a negative form of the Golden Rule which was already well known in Judaism ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you").  But Christ's fulfillment of the Law and Prophets renders this into a positive statement:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  

 

Jesus teaches, "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 he 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!"  We may be tempted to think of these words, taken apart from the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as indicating material blessings to be given by God in exchange for our good behavior.  But to keep asking, and keep seeking and keep knocking in this context is to seek the blessings of discipleship, the blessedness of the Kingdom, the reality of what it is to be an adopted "son" of your Father who is in heaven.  The good things Jesus preaches about are the fruits of discipleship, the spiritual gifts meant for those who love God, and seek to do God's will.  Jesus begins today's reading by teaching, "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."   These are words that teach us, as followers of Christ, to pay attention to what we are to be about -- not to what everyone else is supposed to be doing.  In the final verses we find in St. John's Gospel, there is a story that is illustrative of this same principle.  Jesus comes, in one of His resurrectional appearances, to St. Peter.  In a striking dialogue, meant to be taken as a restoration of St. Peter to his place as apostle after his three-time denial of Christ (Matthew 26:69-75), Jesus asks St. Peter three times, "Do you love Me?"  Each time Peter answers positively, and Jesus indicates that his work going forward is to feed His lambs (John 21:15-19).  This moving scene is tremendous in and of itself.  But -- perhaps just because it's St. Peter -- that's not all there is to the story.  Peter then turns, see the apostle St. John (the author of the Gospel) following, and asks Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus' response bears out His teaching in today's reading.  He tells St. Peter, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me" (John 21:20-22).  If it is even so for one as great as St. Peter, the first among equals of the apostles, consider how it is so for us that our job is to look to ourselves, our place as disciples, the "plank" in our own eye that needs removal, our own flaws, and our own ways we're called to follow Christ.  If we think about it carefully, casting pearls before swine or giving what is holy to dogs is also outside of our purview, not staying in our own lane, so to speak, nor remembering what it is we are supposed to be about.  Moreover, the grace and mercy we are capable of expressing will be measured back to us.  Let us remember that Jesus is speaking to those who would be His disciples, and that this sermon's theme is the righteousness of the Kingdom.  Beginning with the Beatitudes, He teaches us about blessings that seem to stand the values of the world on their heads, and here the promises and teachings are all about how we grow in discipleship, and the good things bestowed by our Father.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "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 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 he 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:-12

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "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 to 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 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."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The phrase "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" is also found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38.  Each is used in a different context, and there is no doubt Jesus taught this important message many times.  

 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic commentary, "dogs" are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  Pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, it notes, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant.  This is not in order to protect the holy things themselves, as Christ needs no protection.  But we protect faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  See also Luke 23:8-9 for Jesus' response to Herod's questioning.

 

 "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 he 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!"  The verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives.  In other words, their effect is to say "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here which my study Bible cites:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer, we seek by learning God's truth, and we knock by doing God's will.  My study Bible also comments that people are called evil here not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but to contrast the imperfect goodness that is in people (that is, our goodness is mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, so 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."  The "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets, says my study Bible, and it's also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible calls it a first step in spiritual growth.  It adds that the negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well-known in Judaism.  Jesus' form, however, is positive, and this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  See also Luke 6:31.

 

 In the context of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, and in particular today's reading, we need to make sense of it in terms of being directed at disciples, those who follow Him.  We're first told, "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."  This is another form of the Golden Rule in today's last verse, but applied specifically to judgment.  How do we look at our neighbors, or in particular our fellow disciples of Christ?  We should consider how we wish to be judged, for we will be judged the same way.  It seems to me this is directly invoking how we treat one another.  Jesus goes on, "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"  In chapter 18 of St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus will speak of mutual self-correction in the Church.  This verse reflects this notion of mutual correction as a way of helping with discipleship, and emphasizes the humility necessary to do this appropriately.  In monastic practice, a good elder is one who is experienced spiritually, so that their own knowledge of themselves and their mistakes and corrections can be beneficial to others, and they may correct helpfully and with love and mercy, not the kind of judgment Christ forbids here.  If we're blind to our own errors, we're in no position to help, and will easily practice projection upon others.  In this context we read, "Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  For a person to benefit from spiritual help, they must be disposed toward acceptance and not rejection.  Even the greatest spiritual treasure may be hated by one who does not wish to accept it.  Jesus then says, "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 he 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!"  This is a great exhortation to spiritual growth and discipleship, for it emphasizes the generous nature of God for those who do seek and ask and knock with sincerity.  As my study Bible points out, these are meant to be ongoing always with us; it's a continual pursuit and practice. We keep asking, keep praying, keep knocking through the practices and resources we have in the Church. And the world needs that resource and experience.  Finally, here again is the summing up:  "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  Do you want to learn?  Then help teach.  Do you value kindness, humility, mercy?  Then offer it to others, and in particular we need to model this among the faithful in the ways we treat one another.  Do you wish to gain self-knowledge, spiritual understanding?  Offer what you have, but be properly discerning.  This message of the Golden Rule is a deep emphasis on the communion involved in all of this pursuit of following Christ in discipleship.  God is first of all our Father in heaven, as Jesus references God, so let us understand what we are to be about, all the time.  Let us understand that the good God who gives to us may also reward us with knowledge of ourselves, even of what we need to change in our habits or ways of thinking.  But we continue to ask and seek and knock for how to go forward in God's love and teaching.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "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 there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he 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 

 

In our present readings, we are going through the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "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 to 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 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."  My study Bible comments that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  That is, we have also failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  It notes that to pass judgment is to assume the authority of God.  The second part of this verse is found also in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each in a different context, as Jesus no doubt repeated this message many times.  

"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."  This is a continuation of Christ's teaching in the previous verse, but with more specifics.  Note how it continues on themes of the "eye" -- and whether or not our eye is "full of light" (Matthew 6:22-23).  Here the plank in one's own eye is that which obstructs true vision.  But Christ is speaking of our own faults and flaws we need to correct, and our "blind eye" toward ourselves.  Moreover, Jesus will recommend mutual correction in the Church.  But how can one become a true  brother and teach others when we have failed to implement our own correction or repentance?

"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."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic commentary, "dogs" here is meant to apply to those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" are images of those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including the teachings of Christ (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  My study Bible says that these holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  Instead, we protect those who are faithless from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  Let us also note the context of mutual correction which Jesus discusses above:  while humble correction or teaching can be helpful and instructive, it is wasted on those who cannot value it, who may even in fact respond with vicious hostility.

"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 there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?"  My study Bible explains that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives.  That is, they convey the teaching that we should "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here:  our effort is commanded, but not apart from God's immediate help to us.  My study Bible says that we ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  

"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!"  My study Bible comments that Jesus calls human beings evil not in order to condemn the whole human race, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness that is in people (in other words, our goodness is also mingled with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, it notes, 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."  This is known as the "Golden Rule," and it fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  As my study Bible importantly notes, it is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  This is, it says, a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of the Golden Rule was well known in Judaism ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you").  Christ's form is positive:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God. 

In chapter 18 of St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus lays out a model for mutual correction in the Church (see Matthew 18:15-17); it's a teaching for what to do with a sinning brother, particularly one who has caused offense.  It's given in the context of Christ's teaching on forgiveness.  When Jesus teaches today that, first, we must not judge, and second we must correct our own flaws before we can helpfully teach others, we see an overarching context of mutual correction or edification, which includes constructive criticism -- and must always be done with love and mercy.  In St. Luke's Gospel, we find the similar teaching of the Golden Rule, "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise" (Luke 6:31).  On that passage, St. Cyril of Alexandria calls "the natural law of self-love" the basic standard of how we're to treat others.  As Christians, the entirety of today's passage conveys, we're meant to be continually growing.  This is, in effect, the purpose of discipleship.  As Jesus teaches us also to "keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking," He's implying also a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and for the things of God.  For these are the mysteries into which discipleship initiates us and continues to take us more deeply.  To understand one's own errors and make correction is to become capable of helping or teaching others along the way.  But without that effort, we simply judge; we are not practicing mercy, love, or the Golden Rule.  For indeed, if we would desire to excel in real discipleship to Christ, then we might understand how to help others who desire the same thing.  But we shouldn't presume to cast those pearls before people who find no value in such discipleship, as Christ warns us here.  So our growth must be seeded with mercy and kindness, our conduct so -- but the righteousness and love Christ teaches is also meant to be discerning.  It is quite similar to His teaching to the apostles upon sending them out on their first mission:  "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16).  Let us keep asking, seeking, and knocking to grow in learning Christ's ways of loving righteousness, and in those "good things" God will give to us.

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets

 

 "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 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 he 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 

 

Currently we are reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "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 to 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 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."  My study Bible comments that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  Jesus also uses these terms, "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you," in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38.   Each is in a different context, as no doubt Jesus repeated this important message many times.  

"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 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."   We should remember that this message is directed to those who would be disciples, and regarding the practice of discipleship.  How can one possibly correct or instruct others in spiritual growth unless one already has the rigorous experience of seeing, knowing, and correcting one's own spiritual "blind spots"?  It's also a warning about our own capacity to overlook our own flaws, and an admonition for this kind of self-knowledge and correction.  The language here follows Jesus' earlier teaching, "The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (see Saturday's reading).  

"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."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine are references to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic sources, "dogs" are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study Bible explains, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ does not need protection.  Instead, we protect faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  The words of Christ also warn us about the response of those who cannot or will not understand.  Again, Jesus is still speaking in the context of discipleship, correction, and spiritual growth.

"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 he 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!"  Once more, Jesus is speaking of spiritual growth in discipleship.  My study Bible says that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives, which can be rendered "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here, it asks us to note:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer, we seek by learning God's truth, and we knock by doing God's will.  Here, human beings are called evil not to condemn all, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in human beings (where our goodness is also mingled with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  My study Bible further comments that 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." My study Bible says that this "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets, and is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  It's a first step in spiritual growth.  There is a  negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") which was well known in Judaism.  Christ's form is positive:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God, my study Bible says.  

This "positive" form of the Golden Rule is illustrated in the parable of the Good Samaritan, found only in Luke's Gospel (Luke 10:25-37).  In that parable, the Samaritan is the one who gives aid and help to the injured Jewish man, and so it is the Samaritan who was his true "neighbor."  In the language of the Gospel, the one who was the true neighbor was the one "who showed mercy" on the hurt man.  So this positive form of the Golden Rule applies to all acts of mercy, of charity, in whatever form that takes.  This ties in Jesus' statement at the beginning of the reading, concerning judgment.  Our positive acts toward others, embodying the things we'd want done for ourselves, become a way to heed Christ's teaching, "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  Interestingly, Jesus also speaks of what we call "projection" in modern psychological terms.  That is, we're blind to our own flaws ("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 your own eye?"), and we often accuse others of the very same thing we ourselves are doing.  This seems to be particularly true in the public eye, in which it's often observed.  We can see this on the smallest scale, such as an argument between child siblings, to the grandest scale, in which those committing war crimes will often accuse their opponents of the same crime.  Clearly Christ calls us, if we would be His disciples, to do otherwise, and to rise above this common human flaw as part of spiritual discipline.  One thing is certain, Jesus does not entertain those who would claim their character is written in stone or that human nature cannot be changed.  On the contrary, what He teaches is that our own minds are malleable and capable of the greatest transformation, for this indeed is the very essence of salvation, of repentance (in the Greek of the Gospels, the word for repentance literally means "change of mind").  What we are asked by Christ to do then, in our own discipleship, is to be aware of our propensity not simply to overlook or be blind to our own faults, but to project them onto others -- and to do something about that.  We're meant to shift our focus onto ourselves, and instead to follow this positive Golden Rule.   Good judgment, Jesus tells us, is impossible when we have no clear understanding of ourselves and our own faults, and hypocrisy leads to our downfall.  Indeed, the greatest condemnation Jesus gives will be in Matthew 23, when He rails against the religious leadership for their very hypocrisy.   We remember that the word "hypocrite" originally meant "actor" -- the Greek literally meaning "below the mask," as in the masks worn by actors in ancient plays signifying the character they play.  Many today would seem to replace religion as a guiding light for practices of mercy in public life, with the tools of political ideology and persuasion.  Yet there we also observe that many seem to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the powerless even as they pose as champions of enlightened policies and human rights.  So neither blindness to our own shortcomings nor hypocrisy has left the world, and perhaps the modern day power of propaganda and communication technologies make such masks that much more powerful and oppressive. Let us, then, look to our Lord to guide us in our lives, despite the hypocrisy we see.  In such a time, many would say that the light and truth of faith -- which shines from the inside to the outside -- is now more needful than ever.  For where there is hypocrisy there is surely hardness of heart.

You have kept the good wine until now!

 

 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 

- John 2:1-12 

 

On Saturday, we were given the fourth day reported in John's Gospel of the beginning of Christ's public ministry.  Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.    On the third day is an expression which means "two days later," as it includes the current day in the calculation.  So, this is the sixth day of seven given in this beginning of Christ's public ministry.  My study Bible comments that the wedding in Cana parallels the creation of man and woman on the sixth day in Genesis 1:26-31.   My study Bible also adds that this setting is significant.  In the Old Testament, marriage feasts symbolized the union of God with God's Bride, Israel.  Jesus begins His ministry here in Galilee, which had a large Gentile population.  This is a sign of the spread of the gospel to all the world.  Also, that the wedding took place "on the third day" sets a resurrectional tone, which shows that the marriage of God and God's Church will be fulfilled in Christ's Resurrection.  There are other ties between Christ's Resurrection and marriage; both involve a woman named Mary how makes an appeal (in the next verse) and the disciples are invited to witness both events.  Moreover, John's Resurrection account  (John 20:11-18) has a striking similarity to Song of Solomon 3:1-5, showing once again a unity between marriage and the Lord's Resurrection.  Finally, by His presence at this wedding, Jesus further declares marriage to be holy and honorable (Hebrews 13:4); therefore this passage is read at weddings in the Orthodox Church, and these images are incoporated into many prayers in the wedding service.  

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."   My study Bible says that this is an example of Mary's gift of  intercession.  She is "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28).  It adds that even now, the Church understands that Mary continually speaks to her Son on our behalf (prays for us) and is our preeminent intercessor before His Throne.  An Orthodox prayer declares, "The intercessions of a mother have great effect to win the favor of the Master."  This is confirmed by Jesus' response that comes in the next verses.  We should remember also that here, wine is symbolic of life, and therefore my study Bible comments that there are two levels of meaning in Mary's statement, "They have no wine."   First, that a marriage is incomplete without the presence of Christ; and second, the old covenant was not able to bestow life even on the most faithful people. 

 

Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."    In contrast to how modern ears may hear it, the term Woman is a sacred title in Scripture; my study Bible calls it an address which conveys deep respect and distinction (John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:13 -- compare to Genesis 2:23).  What does your concern have to do with Me? can be read more literally, "What is that to Me and to you?"  It is also a parallel to the words from Zarabeth to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:18; in the Greek of the New Testament and of the Septuagint Old Testament, they are identical statements.  In this parallel sense, Jesus is giving Mary a warning, as a widow who will lose her only son, about what is to come once His ministry becomes fully known.  My study Bible says that this answer of Jesus is not a refusal of Mary's intercession, but a declaration that the time had not yet come for Christ to be revealed.  That Christ will fulfill Mary's request teaches several things.  First, Christ is Lord over hours and seasons and is not subject to them.  Second, the wedding party needed to be aware of their lack of wine first so they might learn that it is Christ who fulfills all needs.  This also teaches us that we need perseverance in our petitions before God (Matthew 15:21-28); and finally, that the intercessions of the righteous have great power (James 5:16).  Let us note also Mary's great confidence in Jesus in her reply, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  Waterpots were made of stone, my study Bible explains, because, according to rabbinical teaching, stone would not contract ritual impurity.  That there are six (one less than the perfect seven) indicates that the Law, which is illustrated by water being reserved for Jewish purification, was incomplete, imperfect, and unable to bestow life.  This water is changed into wine -- which symbolizes the old covenant being fulfilled in the new, which is capable of bestowing life.  My study Bible adds that the overabundant gallons of wine illustrate the overflowing grace which Christ grants to all.  Regarding wine and wedding as metaphor for the new covenant, see also Matthew 9:15-17.

 

 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  In patristic commentary, this transformation is seen as prefiguring the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.  In today's reading, we are given the first of seven signs which are reported in John's Gospel, as manifesting Christ's glory (John 11:4, 40), which also includes His humble service to human beings, shown most perfectly on the Cross (John 12:23-32).  The seventh day given in John's Gospel in the day after the wedding in Cana, when Jesus rests at Capernaum with HIs mother, His brothers, and His disciples -- paralleling God resting on the seventh day in Genesis 2:1-3.

 

This first of seven signs in John's Gospel really tells us quite a bit about Jesus and His ministry.  There are all the elements noted above, especially the important symbolism of a wedding and of marriage.  It teaches us about union with Christ, but a union that spreads out relatedness to a wider community, that brings so many also into itself, as part of itself.  A marriage is a covenant, and so this deep relationship as blessed and sanctified by God brings much out of itself.  Jesus tells us that the "two shall become one flesh" -- even leaving behind parental ties for this new union brought together by God (see Mark 10:5-9).   Seen in this light, marriage is also a "new covenant," and in Christ's language, one made so powerful and potent through God's sanctification, that the two become one.  Moreover, as we can see from the wedding at Cana, weddings have historically been community affairs.  Through marriage extensive relationships are established within communities and between many people, and this image is also what we must draw upon when we think of Christ and His covenant with us, with His people.  He brings in all those with faith, "in His name," within this covenant which -- like marriage -- bestows new identity through this union of faith.  Because, after all, what is a union between two people but a kind of faith, a trust which is placed one in the other, and for the union which is produced and whatever fruit it bears?  This wedding teaches us also about the deep faith Mary, Jesus' mother, has in Jesus as Messiah, as the Christ.  For she has kept all the things in her heart which were revealed to her through angels and through prophecy (see Luke 1:26-56; Luke 2:8-52; especially 2:19, 51).  Now Mary acts in that confidence, together with all the experiences of life with Him as His mother.  And it is her great faith -- her prayer, essentially -- that initiates this first sign of seven, and the beginning of Christ's Galilean ministry, which manifests His glory in a very public way, uniting all in the wine, as a prefiguring of the Eucharist.  Let us contemplate the deep meanings and connections here, and especially the way that Christ gives us relationship and community, through God's great grace and blessings for us.  For this is indeed the "good wine" in which we share.

 

 

 

 

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets

 

 "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 fish, will he 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 presently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:  "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 to 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 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."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves also have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and in Luke 6:38, each in a different context; no doubt Christ repeated this particular message many times.  It teaches us, also, how basic this concept is to our faith and our lives.  There is yet another important message here, and that is the means whereby we seek to clarify our own perceptions, to cleanse ourselves of false beliefs and values through repentance, and whether or not we have practiced our own spiritual learning and discipline in order to properly help others.  For without the discernment that only comes from one's own experience of repentance and spiritual growth, one fails to perceive clearly or properly.

 

 "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."  My study Bible explains that while dogs and swine would refer to heathen peoples in the context of the time (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), they also would include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic literature, "dogs" are those people who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  Of course through continual evil behavior, this is possible for any one of us.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, which includes Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, my study Bible explains, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  Rather, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt. 

"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 fish, will he 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!"  My study Bible points out that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are, in the Greek of the Gospel, present progressives.  In other words, Jesus is saying we are to "be asking," "be seeking," and "be knocking."  It asks us to note the synergy:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer; we seek by learning God's truth; and we knock by doing God's will.  Human beings are called evil here not in order to condemn all of us, but to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (our goodness is also mingled with sin - fallibility and imperfection), with God's perfect goodness (see Matthew 19:16-17).  My study Bible comments that 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."  This is the "Golden Rule" which fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  It is also the practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible says it is a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well-known in Judaism.  Jesus' form here is positive:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God (see Luke 6:31).

My study Bible calls the Golden Rule ("Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets") the first step in the road toward God.  That is, when we simply begin to consider treating others as we'd like to be treated, we are making a first start on Christ's road of perfection, of being His disciples.  I daresay there are times when we'll find, in this practice, that there are others who don't like being treated as we'd like to be treated (that is, they don't necessarily want the same things from others that we do), but this becomes part of the learning curve of spiritual discernment and proper boundaries.  It is part of the learning curve of discipleship, even of how to deal with those who don't love or appreciate or treasure the "pearls" that we do.  Nonetheless, that very basic understanding of proper respect for other human beings becomes a first step in the journey of discipleship; it sets out a sense of what we might call boundaries, and lays down a foundation of how we approach Christ and neighbor.  It will teach us also that there are limits to what "doing good" means; what is good to us is not necessarily what others think of as good.  Moreover, it is the first step to discerning those who do not wish to receive the "pearls" which God has given to us.  On another level, it is important to understand that the road to Christ is the long learning curve of love.  What is good for people, what they truly need, may vary from person to person.  Sometimes love asks us to let go; sometimes love is reaching out.  Sometimes love means having to say "no" to what another person wants from us.  All of these things are integral to the spiritual life of discernment, the level of discipleship we have integrated and towards which we wish to move.  Jesus says earlier in today's reading, "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  He emphasizes that it is this spiritual experience, this discipleship journey, that makes us qualified to even begin to help another:  not only to recognize the "speck" in another's way of perceiving, but even to understand our own difficulties in perceiving and doing away with the flaws in our ways of seeing, the places where we are blind.  In terms of how we treat others and the Golden Rule, the more blind we are in our own way, the more we seem to project our flaws onto others, and fail to see where we also need change and repentance.  The things we fail to see about ourselves on this road of discipleship become the places where we fail to "change our minds" in repentance, and so to correct our own spiritual sight.  In the midst of all of this, Jesus promises great help:  "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."  We do not do spiritual seeking on our own; the level of change we need is one that is addressed through asking, seeking and knocking.  It is through a life of prayer that God can help us to know our way; this is not a journey that we judge nor undertake ourselves.   It is only God's love -- and the help of Father, Son, and Spirit and the saints and angels with whom we pray -- that can lead us on this journey, teach us, guide us, refine us, and help us to know what we need to cast away.  And this is where real discernment comes in, when we realize our dependency upon God, and that we cannot undertake this journey without the practices of our faith and the loving hand of the Helper (and other helpers) always there, and the communion we find in the great cloud of witnesses, both seen and unseen, by which we are always surrounded.   We are taught to "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."   It's only with God's help that we can seek good judgment, and discernment -- for everything begins with the Golden Rule.

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

 

 "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, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he 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 me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:1-12 

 

We are currently reading through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 -7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "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 either toil nor spin; and yet I say to 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 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."  My study Bible comments that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  In modern terms, this is frequently called "projection."  My study Bible adds that we ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and in Luke 6:38, each in a different context, as Christ no doubt repeated this particular message many times.  Let us note also how this teaching ties in with His teaching on the practice of mercy and forgiveness elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7, 6:14-15).

"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."  While Jesus' teaching here exemplifies what He has just taught about judgment, and applies in general to our behavior, we may also look at this in the context of discipleship.  Correction is part of discipleship, and mutual correction is a teaching Christ has given to the Church in Matthew 18:15-35 (at the end of which, He repeats His warning about forgiving trespasses found in Matthew 6:14-15).  In that context of mutual correction and discipleship, it is important also to apply what Christ is saying here.  Only with our own experience of correction and growth could we successfully advise another, and with the proper understanding.  The very word in Greek for disciple means "learner," and we must remember that in this context.  Any way we look at it, we see that correction and growth within ourselves (in other words, learning) is the great thing necessary as disciples, and even as potential teachers or help to others who are brothers (and sisters) in the Church.

"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."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue in the context of Christ's time and place (and audience).  According to the patristic writers, "dogs" are those who are 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, which include Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study Bible explains, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  Rather, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt (see also Luke 23:8-9, in which Jesus did not answer the questions of Herod Antipas).  If we view this verse in the context with the verses above it, we see also that one's "pearls" can also be teaching resulting from the work and spiritual growth of discipleship and personal correction, hard-gained through experience, which would be appropriate to those who truly desire discipleship, but a stark warning about those who do not.

"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."  My study Bible points out to us that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  It says that we ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.

 

"Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he 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!"  My study Bible comments that people are called evil not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (that is, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  It notes that if imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, all the more will God work perfect good.

 

"Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets and it is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible describes it as a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well known in Judaism.  Jesus' form is positive, as with so many of His "proactive" teachings:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God. 

 

We note how the "Golden Rule" -- "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" -- gives us a summing up and echo of so many of Jesus' teachings on mercy, on forgiveness, on judgment (as in the first verse in today's reading).  As we noted above, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus applies this teaching explicitly to mercy (Matthew 5:7), to forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15), and in today's reading, to judgment (see today's first and second verses:  "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").   All together, and in varied passages cited by my study Bible in notes on today's reading, Jesus will teach the same thing many times.  But we can see clearly the link between mercy, forgiveness, and good judgment (or, as in today's reading, refraining from bad judgment).  In John 7:24, this teaching becomes more explicit:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  In today's reading, the patristic exegetes remind us that what we so often judge in others are flaws we have in ourselves, and we're reminded that St. Paul explicitly says the same thing in Romans 2:1, where he really spells it out:  "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."   Taken altogether, as a whole these statements remind us about discipleship: that it's all about learning, discipline, correction, and growth.  That is, the whole of discipleship is learning to identify and remove that plank that is in our own eye, otherwise we can't really be truly helpful to others.  We'll just continue to project that plank in ourselves (to which we're blind) onto others.  We see this so often in public life that I feel I don't have to point out examples for any reader to know what I'm talking about.  In the context of Christ's clear instructions regarding discipleship under Him, such behavior is a sign of clear immaturity, and in particular, a complete lack of spiritual discipline and experience in that discipline.  The true disciple is not a hypocrite, but rather one who knows and undertakes to grow in spiritual discipline, in self-awareness, and in the correction of one's own flaws.  That true disciple is also one who is aware that as we judge others, so we are judged ourselves.  In action, this deeply implies the practice of the Golden Rule:  "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  In Luke 6:31, in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus phrases it this way:  "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise."  Let us note that if our true desire is for discipleship and growth in Christ's model, with Himself as the life in which we seek to participate, finding our own image in Him, then what we want (a merciful judgment, a lifetime of learning and growth, the good things of God, and good teachings which help us to be corrected in love) is the gift of discipleship.  In that context, this is what we may also seek to offer to others when we profess His teachings.  In this context, however, we must also take to heart as true counsel what He says, not to share our pearls with those who have no use for them, cannot value them, and do not desire them, " lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  Those things that are precious pearls, the things that are holy, in Christ's words, are for those who desire to enter into discipleship, who are willing to take on the mantle of learning and growth and loving correction, and as we know from the whole of His teaching and the lives of the apostles and saints uncountable, this naturally includes a willingness to sacrifice and serve in order to fulfill the image in Christ He offers to us -- for the "hand" or "eye" we're asked to separate from ourselves (Matthew 5:29-30) is the flaw that keeps the whole of us from that growth in discipleship.  These all refer to aspects of selfishness or self-centeredness, a spiritual immaturity, that which is not compatible with the things that are holy, the fire of God's mercy and grace.  In all, He offers us a better life, a true focus, a way to go forward in which there is always the work to do which is right in front of us, as He seeks for us to become more like Him, "like God" (Genesis 1:26).  Let us hastily note that Jesus did not suffer fools gladly, and nor did He tolerate hypocrites.  He told the truth, and gave "what for what" when it was necessary.  But always this was in the context of His mission, of what He had to accomplish.  And He invites each of us in to take up that mission, to do what is necessary, to find the big things within us that we're blind to and make correction, to grow in His love and teachings, to challenge our own hypocrisy, and to pay attention to what is our business -- in this sense, it extends to forgetting about the "dogs" and "swine" who have no use for the things that are holy and the pearls of God's beauty, truth, and goodness.  Let us seek to practice what He teaches.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 "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 he 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 for you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

- Matthew 7:1-12

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:   "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 if 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 to 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 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."  My study bible remarks that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  It says that to pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse -- with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you -- is found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38.  Each is in a different context, as Jesus no doubt repeated this particular message many times. 

"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."   Later on in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus will offer a system of mutual correction in the Church as one that is good for the community (see 18:15-20).  So helpful corrective criticism is seen as a good, functional part of discipleship.  But Jesus here qualifies precisely how that works in discipleship.  We are not in a position to help others with correction if we ourselves have not been through the experience of correcting our own mistakes!  A hypocrite is the last thing Jesus wants and the first thing He repeatedly condemns.  It is only spiritual experience which has leavened and taught us that can help us to be wise enough (and humble enough) to help others in an appropriate way.  This requires the fullness of self-knowledge, and a constant seeking to be aware of and mindful of our own flaws.  Otherwise we really do not clearly "see" spiritually.

"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."  My study bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15).  However, this also includes Jews who do not practice virtue (keep in mind that Jesus is a Jew speaking to fellow Jews in preaching the Sermon on the Mount).  According to patristic opinion, dogs are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while swine are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  Let us keep in mind that in the context of offering helpful correction in discipleship, this most definitely applies to the error of teaching to those who do not desire nor value such spiritual wisdom.

"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."  My study bible points out that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives.  This means that they more literally would be translated as "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."    It remarks on the synergy contained in this teaching:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer; we seek by learning God's truth; we knock by doing God's will. 

"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 he 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!"  My study bible comments that human beings are called evil not to condemn the whole of our species, but to contrast the imperfect goodness that is in people (that is, our goodness is mingled with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see 19:16-17).  It notes that if imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, so all the more will God work perfect good. 

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do for you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."   This is called the "Golden Rule."  It fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  My study bible calls it a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (22:39-40).   It's a first step in spiritual growth.  It also reports that the negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was already well known in Judaism.  But Jesus' form is positive:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.

The note at the end of the reading for today tells us that the negative form of the Golden Rule was already known in Judaism.  But Jesus changes it to positive action.  And we can read with consistency this emphasis by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan, found only at Luke 10:25-37.  In that parable, a man -- who is a stranger and foreigner -- takes his own initiative to help someone who is hurt, incorporating the concept of "neighbor" to someone outside of his own community and in effect creates a "neighbor" relationship where there was none.  Sometimes there are times where we can't apply the Golden Rule literally, and Jesus also addresses that above.  If we would invite real spiritual correction (constructive and helpful), that may not be the case with everybody!  Hence, Jesus' warning about giving what is holy to dogs, or casting our pearls before swine.  Not everybody wants what is holy nor the wisdom of spiritual growth and understanding, and it is these of whom Jesus warns to maintain a distance in the context of the teaching.  So at all times what we have with Jesus is neither absolute "rules" to follow to the letter nor do we have esoteric and fuzzy idealistic philosophies or abstract concepts.  Instead, Jesus gives us pragmatic, simple, and wise down-to-earth advice that always bears a hallmark of experience.  And I think this is most important.  Jesus invites us also to discernment with His teachings -- He wants us to truly see and to learn how to perceive correctly.  Moreover, discipleship is a process of growing.  As is often said, our faith is a journey.  Throughout the Gospels, we are given a picture of the journey of the disciples as they become apostles and grow into their roles -- even through painful lessons --  as the pillars of the Church.   We are not simply offered abstract ideals and philosophies, nor are we given legalistic rules.  Our faith is a pragmatic one, which invites us to grow through spiritual experience and work at life in this blessed place of the Kingdom Christ opens to us.  Neither does it have impossible expectations, but rather offers us glimpses of the reality of the human condition:  both what we are and what we can be.  It doesn't flinch from the evil in the world.  It asks us to live and endure and to know for ourselves the Kingdom's blessedness, and to participate in Christ's life and sacrifice and resurrection.  Let us pay careful attention, step by step, and learn in God's love, where God's help is always at hand through it all.  So we ask, and seek, and knock, as He says.  Christ did not come into the world to fix it and be done.  Rather, He invites us into His life and the struggle for faith, with Him.  Above all, these teachings have stood the test of time and have not failed us in their truth.  Let us continue to learn and grow.