What did Jesus say about judging others?
Jesus said not to judge, and then immediately explained what he meant, which most people skip. The problem he described was not discernment. It was measuring others by a standard you exempt yourself from. Deal with the plank in your own eye first, he said, and then you can see clearly enough to help with the speck in someone else.
What Jesus said
The line about not judging is followed instantly by a reason: the standard you use will be used on you. That is not a ban on ever assessing anything. It is a warning about which standard you are choosing to be held to.
Then comes the image. A speck in someone else's eye and a plank in your own. The absurdity is the point, and so is the word he uses next, hypocrite, which meant an actor wearing a mask.
Critically, he does not say leave the speck alone. He says take the plank out first, and then you will see clearly to help. The help is still expected. The order is what changed.
The rest of his life fills in the picture. He was direct, sometimes scaldingly so, with religious leaders who were harsh with everyone but themselves, and consistently gentle with people the same leaders had already condemned.
The hard part
This teaching gets used to mean nobody can ever say anything is wrong, which is the opposite of what he did. Jesus made hard judgments out loud. What he refused was the double standard. Living this means both being willing to tell someone the truth and being willing to hear it, and most people find one of those much easier than the other.
What this looks like today
- •Before saying the critical thing, name the same failure in yourself. If you cannot find it, look longer.
- •Ask whether you want the person to change or you want to be right. The answer usually shows up in your tone.
- •Apply your own standard to yourself for one week and see whether it survives.
Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:37-42, John 8:1-11, Matthew 23:1-12
Go deeper: this comes up in the 40 days