There is a marvelous flow of teaching from Matthew 7:1-12 in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, your sibling’s eye, if you prefer, but do not notice the log in your own eye?Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
It is easy to fall into a judgmental attitude of unspiritual pride about oneself and an attitude of contempt or anger toward another person. How can we take that log out of our eye?
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
Coming right after the previous teaching, this one makes the hearer think. Why is Jesus referring to people as dogs and swine? If we stop and ponder, we can recognize that this language of Jesus is not a judgment of souls but factual realism about the dangers of the social environment for those who carry Jesus’ saving message, not to mention the dangers of being judgmental. When we combine the spiritual idealism of the first teaching with the factual realism of the second teaching, we are ready for the third one.
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
This teaching assures us that we can trust, like a little child—or an adult child of mature faith—that we can ask Jesus for transformation, so that we can take the log out of our eye and go forth wisely with our gospel teaching.
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Thanks to the transformation of Jesus’ Spirit of Truth, we can grow to live simple golden rule of treating others as we want others to treat us on the highest level, which Jesus revealed when he said:
Love one another, as I have loved you.
Watch the 8:22 video or listen to the podcast episode.
Photo credit: By The Golden Rule – https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025825/1899-01-14/ed-1/seq-1/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86715125
