Yesterday at mass I heard a very powerful homily on hudgement and mercy. The priest’s homily was focused on how we tend to “judge” in our daily lives and sometimes by doing this, we get labelled as being “judgemental” or “holier-than-thou” especially in this modern day and age. Society shuns upon people who make such “righteous judgement” on others. Even I myself at many a times have been “accused” of such sentiments by my peers or friends.
For the longest time ever it was a struggle to me. Why a struggle? Because I knew that I wasn’t so much judging about the person rather than the offence or the decision he took. But I could never explain this idea to others because I myself was not fully aware of this thought process.
The priest used the story of Jesus and the adulterar to explain this and I thought it was very poignant. While the pharasies no doubt were right in stoning the woman for the offence she commited, Jesus was able to seperate between individual and the sin. Sure she had a mistake ; she had cheated and it wasn’t like she was “wrongly accused” of doing so. But at the same time while Jesus did admonish her for her sin, he also extended mercy to her by forgiving her and holding no condemnation against her (neither do I condemn you).
That encounter is so prevalent in today’s culture isn’t it? We are told to be loving to the individual, and that if he tell the individual of his/her mistakes, we are being “harsh” or we are being “unfair” or even a “bigot” for that matter. We are accused of being narrow minded and having that “holier than thou” mentality when in actual fact we are just too corward to face facts and be honest with ourselves.
And that’s where mercy and judgement comes in and this is what the Church has always taught throughout history. The Church offers both judgement and mercy provided we are willing to be honest with ourselves and truly ask for repentence and forgiveness. God is not so much interested in punishing us as he is more in restoring us. The judgement is necessary for the purification process to start and without the purification process, how would we ever be better individuals for tomorrow?
So the next time you’re going to pass judgement on someone, remember to always isolate the individual from his/her action. The two are totally different. When you see it from that angle, it will change your perception of things.
