"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." Luke 6:37-38
This icon is titled: Christ, Ruler of All. Jesus blesses us with his right hand while holding the open Gospel book in his left. The message is simple, "Come to me all you who labor." Matthew 11:28. We might think of "labor" as the tedious work, maybe the thankless, underpaid work, we all have to do everyday. The job I go to. But I would suggest, perhaps the real "labor" is the spiritual labor of forgiving other people and in the gospel verse above, the gospel labor of not judging people. It is very hard, isn't it? But there it is. We might begin by first acknowledging (if we're honest) just how much negative judging, evaluating and assessing we do.
We're in this very difficult time — the long, ugly and now post election season, and the terrible division we find ourselves in, coronavirus crisis increase, everything seemingly in a shambles, the holidays (and life!) on hold. And in the midst of all of that, Jesus comes along with this instruction and expectation, "Stop judging." I imagine Jesus wants us to live in the awareness that judging is God's business. Judging and condemning crack open the door to violence. Condemning means essentially, "We can do very well without you." If I feel the need to judge anything, I might turn that spotlight on myself.
Imagining this: Pray for Donald Trump. Pray for Joe Biden. Pray for Theodore McCarrick. Pray for the millions of people who didn't vote my way. Pray for the enormous number of people who simply refuse to wear a mask—while the virus spreads like wildfire. Pray for the troublemakers. Pray for anyone who I consider to be a royal pain in the neck or worse. We get the picture. "Jesus, give them all they need for their salvation." Very difficult—perhaps so much so, I don't want to hear what Jesus has to say. "Just this once, Jesus. Allow me this exception, Jesus."
I imagine when Jesus gave this direction, he meant it — as much as he meant it when he said over the bread and the wine, "This is my body; this is my blood."
But notice this—in the icon, the light from Jesus' face (the nimbus/halo) has broken through the interior frame. Could this symbolize the promise that accompanies Jesus' "no judging; no condemning" bit: "good measure, overflowing will pour into your lap." Maybe that's the guarantee of divine assistance we're going to need, if we're to live successfully this requirement placed upon the disciple.
