Love and Judgment

Luke 6:27-42 

Love Your Enemies

27 "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

32 "But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Do Not Judge

37 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

39 And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.

Love, judgment, condemnation, and forgiveness are all covered in these two discourses by Jesus with the disciples.  Love is not only for the deserving, but should also be lavished on our enemies.  The Lord explained this unconditional love is not based on how good another is us, but showing good in return for evil as unwarranted and undeserved as He does for we unworthy who are in Christ by such unwarranted grace.  When others use us for their own gain or amusement and are hateful with unwarranted evil to steal and destroy us with spite, we are to forgive and let them vent their ungodliness while we return a godly response.  This is not easy because it goes against our moral expectations of fair play and goodness which the evildoers do not possess or understand apart from a transformative work of Jesus Christ in their hearts and minds.  We are warned against expecting good in return for our showing grace to such as well.  Sinners expect a return on good works; the godly are to expect no such thing.  Our reward in heaven is what motivates because we were all once such sinners in varying degrees and mercy triumphs over judgment in the end (James 2:13).  We often call this the golden rule to describe loving our undeserving enemies with no hope of a return on our spiritual investment.  Just as God shines kindness of grace on the unthankful and evil ones, so we are to reflect His love to them.  Because our Father in heaven is so merciful we are to be merciful to the same degree, a high calling which goes against our sense of right and wrong.  Similarly, we are not to judge and condemn but forgive those who do unrighteous deeds of evil and self-seeking.  With the measure of forgiveness and grace we mete out to these, we will reap the same from our Lord in return.  The parable Jesus spoke here describes  a blind leader of fellow blind men and a focus on the faults of another without first dealing with our own shortcomings of sin.  The lesson for us is to look first with humility at the situation to show compassion on those who cannot see without being able to first see ourselves and for ourselves before helping another without judgment of condemnation.  We can judge the issue without condemning the offender because God is the Judge and not us.  We therefore should listen to our Lord to deal first with our own log filling our blinded eyes to empathize with fellow sinners and humbly assist them with comfort and understanding to deal with their own problems that are often smaller than our own.  When is comes to dealing with a sinning brother or sister, harsh condemnation does not justify us, only Christ can do that.  May we be merciful and faithful to exhibit grace (Matthew 18:15) as we consider our own forgiveness of grace (Ephesians 2:7) by God in Him according to His goodness.  Amen.