Read Along
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Do not judge.
It may be the most quoted line Jesus ever said. People quote it to end an argument. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Right away He pictures a man leaning in to take a tiny speck out of his brother’s eye, while a plank of wood sticks out of his own.
It’s a funny picture, and it’s meant to be. But it’s also the start of a passage that ends with the most famous rule for how to treat people. And in between, Jesus talks about how the Father treats you.
This is episode eleven of twelve on the Sermon on the Mount. Last time, Jesus told anxious people that their Father knows what they need. This time, Matthew seven, verses one to twelve. A speck, a plank, a door, a loaf of bread, and one question: how does the way the Father treats you change the way you treat people?
Start with the warning. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Think of a market. Grain was sold by measure, scooped into a container. Jesus says the scoop you use on other people is the scoop that will be used on you.
Luke’s version makes the picture even fuller. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” And two verses earlier, Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
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