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| “The Kiss of Judas” by Cornelis Engebrechtsz, c1500 |
Commentary:
Reading 1: 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
Commentary on 2 Kgs 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18
In these verses from the Second Book of Kings, we see the history of faith revealed, as much of what is now modern-day Israel falls to Assyria. The root cause of this tragedy, in the eyes of the chronicler, is the Hebrew people’s failure to be faithful to God’s statutes, given to them in the form of Mosaic Law. Weakened by this lack of fidelity, they were conquered and enslaved, “Only the tribe of Judah was left.”
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 60:3, 4-5, 12-13
R. (7b) Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.
Commentary on Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-13
Psalm 60 is a community lament. In these strophes we hear the psalmist complain that the armies of Israel have failed in battle, and implore the Lord for his assistance. The consequences of this failure are attributed to the fact that the people have fallen into distress caused by lack of faith. The concluding strophe gives witness to their dependence upon the Lord’s aid: “Give us aid against the foe, for worthless is the help of men.”
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Gospel: Matthew 7:1-5
Commentary on Mt 7:1-5
The beginning of the seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel finds Jesus teaching his disciples about being judgmental. They are told to first look at their own transgressions before judging others. “This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, which would be hardly compatible with Matthew 7:5, 6 but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults.”[4] “Jesus’ teaching on judgment is two-sided. He condemns judging others’ faults (vs. 1-2; Luke 6:37). We are incapable of judging with fairness and accuracy since God alone knows the heart (Proverbs 21:2; Luke 16:15). However, Jesus commands us to exercise critical discernment (Matthew 7:6; 15-19; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Examination is necessary to avoid profaning what is holy (7:6) and embracing what is false (7:15).”[5]
“A person whose sight is distorted sees things as deformed, even though in fact they are not deformed. St. Augustine gives this advice: ‘Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves’ ("Enarrationes In Psalmos", 30, 2, 7). In this connection, the saying, ‘A thief thinks that everyone else is a thief’ is in line with this teaching of Jesus.”[6]
CCC: Mt 7:1-5 678
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Reflection:
We reflect today upon the relationship between Jesus’ teaching about being judgmental provided in the Gospel passage, and his teaching about forgiveness, emphasized earlier in Matthew 6:14-15. The relationship between being judgmental and forgiveness is at the heart of the cliché, “Love the sinner but hate the sin.” Jesus reminds us in very clear terms that we do not have the authority (or the wisdom) to judge others. We do not have God’s ability to see into the hearts of others, to see their intent, or the factors that have led them to act in ways we might consider sinful. (See CCC 1749-1756: objective, intention, circumstances.)
Our observations often cause us to identify, or stereotype, a person (or group) based upon actions we see, and that we judge violate our norms of behavior. For instance, in the opening scene of the 1964 epic film Zulu, a missionary and his daughter are in a Zulu village witnessing a mass marriage between around fifty warriors and their prospective brides. From the perspective of the missionary’s daughter these people are barbarian, sinful because of several cultural factors. Yet in the eyes of the people themselves, they are being quite moral.
This theatrical example is brought into sharper relief when applied to individuals or groups we might encounter. In a more recent and non-fictional example, a man was reported to have attempted a robbery at a convenience store in suburban Detroit, Michigan. The owner of the store (of Arabic decent, highlighting yet another stereotype) refused to give the man the money from his cash register, whereupon the would-be robber dropped to his knees sobbing saying he was sorry but he had lost his job and had only resorted to stealing to feed his family. The shop owner had pity on the man, and gave him a loaf of bread, twenty dollars, and allowed him to leave. We could judge the man who tried to rob the store as a thief who deserved to be incarcerated. We could judge the shop owner as having done the “morally good” thing, and in both cases we may have been wrong.
In this example we see clearly the link between the Lord’s prohibition against being judgmental and his exhortation about forgiveness. While we have neither the authority nor the wisdom to judge others, we do have the ability and the responsibility to forgive those who may have harmed us. The logic of one supports the other. Since we cannot know the heart of the person who causes us injury, we may only forgive them.
Today, Jesus tells us to avoid being judgmental of others. We who have sinned do not have the right to judge the sins of others; that is for the one who is without sin. May we take his words to heart, and in place of our rush to judgment, may we rush to forgive.
Pax
[1] The picture is“The Kiss of Judas” by Cornelis Engebrechtsz, c1500
[4] NAB footnote on Mt 7:1-12
[5] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. pp.18
[6] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp 95
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