Last Sunday in Epiphany – To judge or not to judge
Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?
Luke 6: 41
On the last week of Epiphany, before we enter the sacred space and time of Lent, we hear Luke’s Jesus telling varied stories about those who judge others without turning a spotlight on their own behaviour. It appears that to follow Jesus requires a piercing look at one’s own life and actions BEFORE judging the behaviour of others!
The pause of such self-examination could well take a whole lifetime, which would mean that there would be no occasion for an opportunity to examine and pronounce judgement on another’s behaviour!
It’s possible that Luke could have intended for such a message to be imparted to those listening to his words. Who knows?
But like many others today, I watch and hear with a strong sense of helplessness the breaking news of the invasion of peaceful Ukraine by their much larger Russian neighbour. And I cannot help but decide that judgement and condemnation MUST have a place in following the way of Christ.
Luke’s Jesus was critiquing destructive behaviour between neighbours – of which hypocrisy was the focus for this week’s reading. Hypocrisy is a FORM of violence against another, with the perpetrator ignorant of their own failings.
In our globalised society, we are all neighbours, connected with each other in a complex web of economic and trade relationships. What is happening today could well have been exacerbated or encouraged by the behaviour of wealthy nations in the past in some way. By a hypocritical turn of policy which prevented real consequences being visited upon violent actions which may have prevented a future return of such violence.
We are called to be alert constantly to our own motivations in our own governance – painful business sometimes – but so necessary if we really want to participate in a world where our most vulnerable neighbours are cared for – in God’s kingdom.
My prayers for our Ukrainian sisters and brothers living in fear for those they love.
Ceri
