Judgment Through Charity and Right Reason

Gospel Reflection for June 23, 2025

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not judge, that you may not be judged. For with what judgement you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure, it shall be measured to you. But why dost thou see the speck in thy brother’s eye, and yet dost not consider the beam in thy own eye? Or how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Let me cast the speck from thy eye’; and behold, there is a beam in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam from thy own eye, and then thou wilt see clearly to cast out the speck from thy brother’s eye.” (Mt 7: 1-5 NCE)

Chapter 7 of Matthew’s Gospel concludes Jesus’ famous, Sermon on the Mount. Avoiding judgments begins this chapter of today’s Gospel reading. This particular Gospel passage is perhaps one of the most profound teachings of Jesus, and conversely the most misunderstood. Not only what is presented refers to judging others, but also one’s own risk of judgment from God by doing so. So many people seem to stop right at the beginning where it says, “Do not judge…” and yet there is much more to be considered here.

This Gospel’s first verse, in its complete rendering, reads, “"Do not judge, that you may not be judged.” Yes, there is a warning given by Jesus, but not against the act of judging in itself. Upon examining this Gospel, we begin to see more clearly that Jesus is not telling us to not make judgments of certain behaviors of others, but rather to first, “…[S]ee clearly to cast out the speck from thy brother’s eye.” After all, judgement is indeed part of our reasoning process (after understanding, the second act of the mind) given to us by God, and thus, good. So here, Jesus is acknowledging that judgements are to be within the implication of true charity and right reason. This entails then, an immense self-awareness, honesty of one’s own shortcomings, and a true love for others. For Christ knows quite well, that since we all fall short of the glory of God and are plagued with concupiscence, we can easily fall into an unhealthy preoccupation of judging others, which, in many instances, equates to condemning them.

Many times, in Christian circles we have heard the phrase, “Hate the sin and not the sinner;” as cliché as it sounds, there is a lot of truth there. So often the sinner’s soul is judged to hell right along with the sin—but judgment of one’s soul is done by God alone! Consider these two passages from the letters of St. Paul that both reaffirm the concept of dangerous hypocritical judgment and who, solely, has the authority of ultimate judgement:

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? (Rom 2:3)

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”(Heb 10:30)

It seems, as His Sermon on the Mount concludes, that Jesus is sowing the seeds for His two great commandments, subsequently to be revealed in Matthew 22: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy god why thy whole heart, and why thy whole soul, and thy whole mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mt 22: 37-39) Thus we ask, how can we focus on loving God if we become so enamored with judging others, and will we be willing to hold ourselves as accountable as we do them? Through the whole of His ministry, it is clear that Jesus seeks to change our internal dispositions—in this case, from one of unhealthy judgmentalism where true charity suffers. It is our focus that Jesus wishes to adjust. As through Him, our intellect becomes less darkened, our reasoning more accurate, our judgments more prudent, by which we can better clearly see the needs of both ourselves and others.