Monday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, June 26, 2023

Matthew 7, 1-5

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged.”  This verse has been much misinterpreted over the years.  The traditional English translation of the Greek verb in the verse has a range of meanings and has in fact shifted in meaning down through the centuries though the word continues to be retained.  In fact, in Ancient Greek it means “to bring to court”, “to accuse”, “to condemn”.  It most emphatically does not mean “to make or hold an opinion” or “to criticize”.  In practice, Jesus means for us not to act with malice on our thoughts or words about another person.  Neither should we jump to conclusions, assume the worst about someone’s intentions, or draw conclusions from generalizations.  By withholding our accusations and condemnations, we avoid sin and escape condemnation from God.  “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”  While the first part of the verse tells us what not to do, the second part advises us on what we should do.  We should “measure” generously and graciously unto others, but because we imitate Jesus in his immeasurable generosity to us, offering his life for us, and because we thus increase our capacity for what God wants to give us.

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?”  This “beam” would hold up a roof.  Jesus speaks to our desire to divert our own and others’ attention from our own faults.  He also hints that once this “beam” is removed we will find that it distorted our eyesight so badly that the fault we attributed to our brother in fact did not exist, and so we look doubly foolish.  “Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye.”  Not only do we point to the supposed fault, we attempt to correct it though we truly do not understand how.  This is also the sign of a person who wishes to control other people.

“You hypocrite.”  Jesus calls such a person who accuses others of faults while themselves being riddled with faults “godless”.  This is the work not of a religious soul but of a pagan.  Pagan do not always worship statues, but they do always act in destructive ways against their neighbors in order to promote themselves.

In these verses we see the Lord Jesus not only fulfilling the Law but providing a way to understand that the basis of the Law — the path to heaven — is love.