June 13, 2004

Wanda Winfield

FIRST NATIONS SUNDAY " Who Are We to Judge?"

Scriptures: Isaiah 56:1-8, Psalm 8, Galatians 3:23-29

The title of today’s message, Who Are We to Judge, is a two-fold question. Who are we to judge, and who are we to judge? Our holy scriptures are full of stories of judgment, and we are tempted to take them at face value. We want to claim the right to proclaim judgment upon those people we consider to be godless, sinners, in error, or just those who have a different opinion than we do. But if we look at these texts in more depth, we will find an entirely different message. Would you please now pray with me and for me?

In the Hebrew Scripture we heard today we learn of the story of King Ahab, who is mostly known for his infamous wife, Jezebel. This story illustrates both his weakness and greed, as he covets the vineyard of his neighbor and schemes to obtain it. He doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, so he manages to remove himself from the actual deed of murder by conspiring through his wife to have Naboth legally executed. For Christians, we hear an ominous forewarning of another trial of an innocent man, Jesus Christ.

But, God always has another plan. He sends a prophet, Elijah, to call the king to account, and reveal his misdeeds. Although we don’t get to hear the end of the story today, Naboth does repent, and his judgment is suspended.

In the Gospel reading today we heard of another story of judgment. Jesus is in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and an unnamed woman comes to him, weeping and penitent, and he forgives her for her sins. Simon is shocked, and questions whether Jesus is a prophet, because in his view a prophet would have known, "what sort of woman this was." The irony is that Jesus does indeed know what kind of woman she is: a beloved child of God. He does not see with the eyes of the world but with the eyes of love.

How do we judge one another? Whenever we label or categorize or somehow separate ourselves from each other, we are proclaiming a judgment both on ourselves and the one we wish to exclude. God’s reign will not be complete until it includes everyone. Inclusiveness isn’t just a social value, it is a divine commandment.

The early church was very concerned with this issue. It seems to be part of our human nature, wherever we gather, to want to know who’s in and who’s out. In the gospel of Matthew, (18:15-20) Jesus teaches that there is a method to follow if you are offended by another. First, you approach that person in private, and then, if the disagreement persists, you bring it to a small group of witnesses, and finally, to the whole church. Somehow, we seem to get it backwards, and a disagreement between individuals gets blown out of all proportion because it is brought up first in the wider community, and almost never between the parties involved directly.

When this happens, Jesus tells us quite specifically what the results can be. In the gospel of Mark, (7:21) he declares that we are defiled not by what we put into our mouths, but by what comes out of it, and he includes in this list of evils "coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness." I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have certainly been guilty of any one of those things at some point in my life, or will be.

The purpose of the gospel is not to condemn us, but to deliver us. And so, as depressing as the above list of evils may sound, it is meant to warn us that we are all equally sinful, but also equally forgiven.

This is what went wrong with the tribunal that condemned Naboth. He was set up, and judged, without love or forgiveness because evil people used the system and twisted it to their own ends. Likewise, the Pharisee wanted to judge the woman who came before Jesus, as an outcast and a sinner.

The whole of our scriptures, both what we call the Old Testament and the New Testament are quite clear that when we judge another we are ourselves judged. On the other hand the basis of the Golden Rule, which is in all of the world’s major religions, is ‘to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Who here would like to be judged? None of us, so why do we judge one another?

I imagine some of us are wondering if this means that our society should just condone all behaviours, and tolerate a kind of free-for-all, or anarchy. But this would not pass the other test we have as Christians, the Great Commandment, to love one another as ourselves. It isn’t loving to allow a child to do whatever it wants, and it isn’t loving to allow others to hurt themselves or others.

There is a movement today towards a different way of looking at issues of judgment, justice, and community that is called Restorative Justice. It’s somewhat new to our European, westernized way of thinking, but it is actually a very old tradition among the world’s aboriginal peoples. It has been called variously lodge-house justice, sentencing circles, victim-offender reconciliation, or family group conferencing. The point is to restore community by directly addressing the offense as one against the community. The community is involved in restoring this individual by coming to a group conclusion on what kind of reparation may be necessary. This method has been used with great success in many parts of the world, including Canada. Under the new Youth Criminal Justice Act, the court is required to show that there has been an attempt to mediate certain offenses at the community level. Our criminal justice system is now scrambling to catch up, looking for host communities to be sites for Restorative Justice.

I believe that as Christians we are called to practice restorative justice, and that we at Emmanuel Howard Park United could be called to respond to this need in our community. Please talk to me later if you feel you would like to know more about this.

First, we need to make sure that we know why we are doing this. It’s not because we think we know better than anyone else, or that we have got the patent on how to do justice. I believe it’s because we know that we can’t do justice on our own, that we depend on God to lead us into God’s vision of justice.

God reveals this vision in some wonderful ways. Last week, we prayed for someone who had died recently, and in the evening service we heard the story of how this person had acted to save someone’s life. It seems that this man was owed money by another, and was angry that the debt was not repaid. The one who owed him the money was viciously attacked by another person, in a totally unrelated incident. Guess who came to his rescue? The person to whom he owed the debt bound up his wounds, called for help, and stayed with him until it arrived.

This is a modern day version of the parable that Jesus taught to Simon the Pharisee. Who has experienced the greatest forgiveness? The one who owed more, and how much more can you owe than your life? When we accept the price that Jesus paid on the cross, we are forever in his debt.

Who are we to judge? We are the forgiven, and our judgment is to forgive others, as we have been forgiven. Every Sunday we pray this as part of our Lord’s prayer, to "forgive us our trespasses, as we have forgiven those who trespass against us." Let’s pray it like we really mean it today, in a spirit of gratitude for the debt that has been paid for us. We have been set free. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Intro to next hymn: What Does the Lord Require of You?

Our hymn of response is based on a text from the book of Micah. The prophet asks, what does the Lord require of you, and the answer is three-fold: to do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. This has been described as all of the Torah, or law of God, in one text. It is also the basis for our Christian understanding of justice.

 

Contact us

Home