I want to talk with you today about judgment and judging people. How do you do that? But first a story: When Mary Francis Beckley started at Juniata College in eastern Pennsylvania over 80 years ago, she didn’t quite fit in. You see, Mary Francis Beckley was left-handed. So when she went out for the women’s tennis team, the coach wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. The coach ended up sending her off to a separate tennis court to practice with a guy from the men’s team who also was left-handed. Well, eventually those two left-handed outcasts got acquainted with each other, fell in love, and got married several years later.
Later in life, Mary Francis Beckley decided that she wanted to leave some money to Juniata College for scholarships for needy students. But she attached one condition to her gift. She said that the money could only be given to needy students who were, you guessed it, left-handed. So for many years two financially needy left-handed students at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA received thousands of dollars in scholarships because of Mary Francis Beckley’s gift.
Being left-handed isn’t easy. Remember in the first grade, when the teacher is showing the class how to write – with their right hands, of course – the poor left-handed kids sit at their desks, dragging their hands across the paper, smearing what they’ve written. Or when they play softball in gym class, there aren’t usually too many gloves for left-handers, and so they’re left trying to make do with a right-handed glove.
It used to be that when teachers saw children using their left hand, they would tell them to stop it. They’d try their best to get those kids to use their right hands, so that they wouldn’t be different, you know, so they’d be like everybody else. There just seems to be something inside us that makes us, well, uncomfortable, when we run across someone who’s different then the rest of us.
Well left-handedness was always associated with evil. For many years the Church assigned a moral character to left-handedness, the lefties were even religiously discriminated against. The Latin word for left is sinister; in ancient Middle East, where there was lack of water and sanitation, the left hand did all the dirty work so that the right hand could remain clean. Even today in many of our Christian denominations, those preparing to be confirmed in their faith are instructed to receive the bread of Holy Communion in, that’s right, their right hand.
I say all this to highlight the issue of making judgements about people who don’t conform to what is thought to be “acceptable” or “normal”. The Gospel reading today deals with the difficulty that the disciples of Jesus had in accepting those who were outside of the norm, who don’t “fit the mold”. One of the disciples came to Jesus said, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons, casting out evil in your name and we tried to stop him. But he wouldn’t”. And Jesus said, “Do not stop him”. The disciples were concerned that someone was doing even good work but they weren’t part of us. They did not conform to our norms, our expectations.They wouldn’t come under our rules and we need to find a way to control them or who knows what they would do. And they were in effect saying to Jesus get rid of him because he’s making us feel uncomfortable.
Who hasn’t heard the famous command of Jesus to “judge not, lest ye be judged” (Matt.7:1), and we quote that scripture a lot. But sometimes, to be fair, we must judge, don’t we? Aren’t we supposed to judge in a positive way, such as being “a good judge of character”? For many Americans who are voting this fall in Presidential, National, and State elections one of the things we are looking to when we go into the voting booth is asking that question, “Is this person a person of character who deserves my vote?” Or does character make any difference at all to you?
Even the Scriptures acknowledge that there are righteous judgments that have to be made. For example in John chapter 7, Jesus said famously, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge by right judgment”. And the Bible gives us several other warnings against allowing sin to continue in the community. In fact, the problem today may be that there’s not enough judgment going around; and that contributes to an “anything goes” kind of attitude that’s so pervasive in our culture. I recall some years ago at a church convention and I saw a delegate wear a tee shirt that said simply: “I’m Making It Up As I Go!” Well we don’t want people to make things up as they go.
The church has made many bad judgments in its history. The Crusades where of course it was felt that God instructed God’s people to go to the Middle East and slaughter the infidels. That was a bad judgment. A bad judgment about Galileo when he insisted through his God given gifts of observation that the Earth was not the center of the universe. And so, he was castigated and at one time he was consigned to hell. That was a bad judgment. For almost nineteen hundred years the church supported the view that by reason of just being who they were it was okay to enslave human beings for profit. A bad judgment. Racism, a bad judgment. And for many of us to consider that women are not qualified for leadership just because of who they are. And we think that’s a bad judgment. And it’s a bad judgment against those who are oriented to the same gender that they are unqualified for who they are for holding any office in the church. Let alone being considered a full human being in the Christian family.
So, we need to make a distinction, don’t we, between judgment on the one hand, and discernment on the other. To “judge” means to be condemnatory; it is truly being “judgmental”. We all know such people, in fact we are such people, sometime. Judgmentalism is a social sin: it is the habit of constantly finding fault, inadequacy, with what others say and do and who they are. It is a disease of the spirit. The judgmental person arrogantly assumes a superiority that entitles him or her to assess the failings of others.
To discern, means to seek “understanding”; it is seeing a situation or persons as God sees them. Judging flows from the well of pride. Discernment arises from the ground of humility, and it springs forth in love.
The disciples in today’s gospel lesson were judging, not discerning. And what’s the clue to their being judgemental? Their statement to Jesus that “…he (the other exorcist) was not following us.” Not “you”, mind you, but “us”. The Church has always made grave errors in judgment. When we judge people for not following us: our rules, our practices, our interpretations of scripture that frequently damn others, as if our understanding of complex theological and ethical issues is God’s understanding of these matters. Us. Or, “My way” is “Yah-weh’s”, and all others can take the “highway” to damnation.
This story is told about how one ancient teacher got his students to understand that it takes all of us to get to the truth; he had them gather in one big circle, and he said that the truth was there in the center, in the midst of them; and they were to “go to the truth” together but they had to stay together, shoulder to shoulder as a circle. And the circle keeps getting smaller – and the students are getting closer – as they move toward “the center”. And there of course there is a great understanding, you never can get absolutely to all truth this side of the veil, this side of heaven. But we will never get to the truth unless all of us get there together.
If the truth we proclaim brings us all together, then we have “judged rightly”. But if our “truth” brings us farther apart from others, especially our other Christian brothers and sisters, then we have become “judgmental”. Only God is the true Judge! So to God we give all praise, glory, and honor forever.