Judgmental Attitudes

I watched a movie about the life of Joseph Mohr yesterday.  He was a Catholic priest.  He also wrote the very famous song, “Silent Night,” that thousands, maybe even millions, have sung over the years.  I guess he never knew how popular that song had become before he passed away.

I have heard it said that no Catholics will go to heaven, which I disagree with wholeheartedly.  Who has the right to say such a thing?  No one knows a person’s heart but God himself.  It is easy for us to make wrong judgments but God knows all things, let’s leave that kind of judgment to Him.  

If this movie wasn’t ‘doctored up,’ and it was truly the way this man lived and talked and acted, he was, to me, a lot like Jesus.  He sat and ate with sinners and invited them to the church he ministered in.  In those days they spoke in Latin, which many of the people didn’t understand so he tried to get permission to speak to them in English, but was not permitted to.  He went as far as putting a girl in the choir and got chastised for it.  Because he wouldn’t give in, they finally transferred him to another parish and then the movie ended so I don’t know what happened after that.

The reason I brought this up was because I was reading the story in Matthew 9:9-13, where Jesus was accused of eating with sinners.  Read verses 9-11, “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”

These men always tried to catch Jesus in something, so they could accuse Him of doing something wrong.  Instead of them thinking of themselves as holier than thou, they could have humbled themselves and ministered to those that needed their help and not their condemnation, but they didn’t.  Read what Jesus said to them in verses 12-13, “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’”

Jesus really did love sinners and He wanted to help them change and repent.  Question: did He hate sin?  Yes He did.  Did He tell us to love the sinner but hate their sin?  No, He said for us to hate our own sin.  I heard that statement so much I thought it was a Bible verse, but it’s not.  I heard it so many times that I have said it myself more than once, but I was wrong and I am sorry.  These people were so proud and arrogant that all they could see was the sin in others, thinking they were too righteous to even talk or sit with them.  But, think about it, how many of us have acted like a Pharisee, or a hypocrite, at times in our Christian walk, I sure have been guilty, to my shame.  I have heard that Christianity was just one beggar trying to tell another beggar where to find bread.  Christians are forgiven sinners, saved by God’s grace.

Jesus said this about judging and criticizing others, read what it says in Matthew 7:1-5, “‘Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’”

Jesus is talking about hypercritical judgment, the kind that runs other people down.  We need to be very careful of our attitudes when judging others.  Something to think about!  Have a super day and may God bless you and yours!!