In Leo Tolstoy’s final novel[GH1] , ‘Resurrection’, written after he experienced inner turmoil regarding the meaning of life, his main character is a wealthy, young prince. The prince took advantage of a young woman, who, because she became pregnant, was ousted from her home. She ended up in prostitution. A decade later, she was falsely accused of poisoning one of her clients. The court that she appeared in was the same one that the prince was summoned to as a juror. The prince was mortified that he, the one who was guilty of causing the young woman’s demise, had been appointed to judge an innocent person. Rather than judge her, he examined his own deeds and decisions. This marked the beginning of the prince’s spiritual reformation.
‘Judge not’ in a judgy world
Our world is characterised by ‘judginess’. [GH2] We evaluate people’s appearance. Their clothes. Their car, home, or vocation—or lack thereof. In Jesus’ radical Sermon on the Mount, he emphatically told his followers not to judge (Matthew 7:1-6). He added a warning that we will be judged by the same measure by which we judge others. Like a surgeon, he cut through our hypocritical thoughts and motives when he noted how prone we are to see a speck in our friend’s eye while neglecting the log in our own.
Jesus’ command in that message to not judge isn’t a command to suspend our discernment and critical faculties concerning people and circumstances. Nor is it a call to prohibit the activity of courts, as Tolstoy surmised. Instead, it is an injunction to not judge others in a derogatory manner, seating ourselves in the jury. To not be censorious or hypercritical. To be a negative fault-finder. To presumptuously set ourselves up as superior and think ‘I would never say or do that’ or ‘I would never find myself in that situation’. Ah, Lord, help me—there but for the grace of God I go!
We need to look in the mirror
Instead of being self-righteous judges, Jesus calls on us, his followers, to humbly evaluate our faults and failings before attempting to discern (and help) others. Instead of using a microscope on other people’s lives (i.e. magnifying minuscule details) and a telescope for our own (i.e. making massive features appear tiny), we should reverse these instruments.
John Stott wrote that if we enjoy occupying the bench, we must not be surprised if we find ourselves in the dock. Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7). We need to remind ourselves that “the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). It is humbling to know that we must all one day appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10-12).
Self-forgetfulness, not self-focused
What is the remedy for our propensity to judge others rather than examine our own lives?[GH3] When the Lord looks at my heart, how can I stand? I have fallen short! Tim Keller helps us here: “This is gospel-humility, blessed self-forgetfulness. Not thinking more of myself as in modern cultures, or less of myself as in traditional cultures. Simply thinking of myself less.” As we consider ourselves less, so comparing, coveting, envy, and judging will wane. This attitude is only possible for a regenerate heart. Jesus redeems us. Re-purposes us. Renews us. The alternative is a self-focused approach that attempts to compensate for failures, resulting in being routinely disappointed and disheartened by our attempts to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
Tolstoy’s theism, which emphasised repentance but denied redemption and miracles, stopped short of a gospel-centred faith. Ours should not. We need to hope in the one who preached the great Sermon on the Mount—and lived it without faltering. Only then can we erode judginess, with God’s sanctifying work in our lives. Once we know the grace and mercy of the One who saves, we cannot help but see others through that lens. Those who have been forgiven much, love much (Luke 7:47). Jesus must increase, I must decrease (John 3:30).
A Christian counterculture
At the end of Tolstoy’s novel, we find the prince reading the Sermon on the Mount. He was struck by its beauty. Clarity. Simplicity. Practicality. Following Jesus’ words changes the fabric of society. Relationships and communities flourish when shaped by divine wisdom.
[GH4] Imagine if we Christians took the words of that great sermon seriously. If we trusted and obeyed. Please help us, Lord. We need to reform ourselves continually. Yield to his Spirit. Examine our hearts. Be accountable to one another. Love others as ourselves. Become increasingly Christ-centred and Christ-like. Today, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
