Mr. Beam, Ophthalmologist

The most well-known, weaponized phrase used against Christians by non-Christians and other Christians alike is, “Judge not” (Lk 6.37; Matt 7.1). Any time someone’s actions are called into question as being sinful, the broad sword “judge not” is wielded in the fashion of William Wallace fighting the English. The attacker must back down. He doesn’t stand a chance. How could he? These are Jesus’ own words being recited as a command to his followers.

But is Jesus saying that we are not to judge anything at all in anyone else’s life? Hardly. Within the context of Luke’s account, Jesus calls his disciples to see the difference or judge between those who are “blessed” and those who are under “woe.” He goes on to speak of people as trees who are known or judged, by the fruit they bear. Disciples of Jesus will be able to judge people as good or evil by their words and actions.

Judgments are unavoidable. We must make judgments. We discern or judge daily between what is good and evil, what is appropriate and inappropriate, what is happy and sad, what looks good and what looks ugly, what tastes bad and what is delicious, and a myriad of things. Contrary to Planet Fitness’s tagline, there are no such things as “Judgment-Free Zones.” Those who condemn others for being judgmental are, indeed, making a judgment about them!

So, if judgments are unavoidable, what in the world could Jesus mean? The context of Jesus’ words in both Luke and Matthew tells us: Do not judge with merciless, hypocritical judgment. This is judgment that is quick to cut people off and condemn them for the smallest infractions. This is an unwieldy, unforgiving, impatient, hyper-critical judgment that pounces upon the sins and weaknesses of others and refuses to let those knocked down ever stand up in your eyes again. This sort of judgment is hypocritical because it refuses to see oneself standing in the need of mercy. Even while there might be a verbal confession of one’s sinfulness, the lack of mercy shown to others betrays the judge’s arrogance.

Jesus illustrates this humorously by depicting the judge as a buffoon who has a beam in his own eye while he is trying to remove a speck in his brother’s eye. His vision is impaired by this enormous piece of wood protruding from his eye, but he is swinging that thing around blindly trying to remove the sawdust from his brother’s eye. Jesus is making the self-righteous judge the butt of a joke. He is a buffoon. Jesus is laughing at him and is calling others to laugh with him. If the self-righteous judge doesn’t learn to show mercy, this isn’t the last time he will be laughed at. God will laugh at him in judgment (cf. Ps 2; Prov 1).

Jesus never says that the speck isn’t a problem. It is. The brother needs a little bit of eye surgery. The speck left in his brother’s eye will cause him big problems if left unattended. But what is going on in the speck-in-the-eye brother is minor compared to Mr. Beam. His merciless, pedantic, censorious judgment is a huge sin that needs to be remedied before he can do eye surgery on his brother. He needs to remove this beam out of his eye by humbling himself and realizing that he needs mercy just as much as his brother, and then he will be able to remove the speck from his brother’s eye.

This beam-and-speck battle remains a problem in our lives. We tend to judge others harshly and ourselves with mercy. The judgments tend to go something like this:

“That guy is a sloth. I have good reasons for not fulfilling my responsibilities.”
“That woman is a slut. I am dressing attractively stylish.”
“He is hypercritical. I just calling it as I see it.”
“She is sinfully stubborn. I’m righteously determined.”
“He is power-hungry. I’m a natural-born leader.”
“She is impatient. I only want to get things done.”
“He spends too much time in front of the TV. I am accomplishing things on the internet.”
“His hobbies take him away from his family too much. I read books in isolation from my family to nourish my soul.”

We tend to accuse others and excuse ourselves. We reshape the sin to make it sound better so that we can justify ourselves. The reality is, of course, that our sin, no matter how we shape it, can be justified.

While our sin can’t be justified, we can be. But in order to be justified, to be declared to be in the right before God, we must acknowledge our need for mercy. This mercy extended to us is not a one-off act of God, but rather it is a daily experience. When we sincerely acknowledge our need for mercy and the fact that God is merciful to us on a moment-by-moment basis, not condemning us with the maximum penalty for every infraction, patiently working with us when we sin, and, many times, not overloading us with the knowledge of all of our sin (cf. Psa 19.12), then we are in the position to image our merciful Father in dealing with our siblings.