Explication
Every day
Biblical commentaries
Continuing the Sermon on the Mount that he addresses to the disciples, Jesus issues a sharp warning: “Judge not, lest you be judged.” Today we think of La Fontaine’s “Tel est pris qui pense se pris”, which concludes the fable “The rat and the oyster”. The severe warning remains valid for us. Judgment must remain the prerogative of the Lord, free to “make his sun rise on the wicked and on the good” (Mt 5:45), in other words to show mercy.
It happens that hasty judgment escapes us, that our words condemn the perpetrators of violence, while neglecting “the beam that is in (our) eye…”. In the 4th century, John Chrysostom positively shed light on the “measure” of which Jesus speaks: “…He who judges the faults of others with prudence and indulgence, lays up for himself a treasure of mercy for the day on which God will judge him. » (Homily XXIII, 2). If we rely on mercy for ourselves, it must permeate our words and behaviors.
Let us fight against the hypocrisy that Jesus denounces, a sort of “double standard” which would always be to our advantage… To grow in humility and lucidity, to avoid hypocrisy and to convert ourselves, Pope Francis advised submitting to the sanction of the “mirror”: “… When the temptation comes to us to (judge others), it is better to look at ourselves first in the mirror, to see clearly how we really are. » (Meditation, June 20, 2016).
Other readings: 2 Kings 17, 5-8.13-15a.18; Ps 59 (60)
