“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:37-38)

What things do you feel judgemental about these days? What do you condemn? There are lots of possibilities these days: I think of the truck protests, health restrictions and mandates, the government, various positions, identifications, and responses in the land of human sexuality, etc.

It does not really matter which side of these matters any one of us might fall on—the question is about when and where we pass judgement. And I would imagine that most of us do: somewhere. Every statement and action public or private falls under intense scrutiny these days, and many of us are given to the same.

Not that this hasn’t always been an issue, but it seems to me that social media has really accelerated our ability to feel righteous anger even as it has improved our capacity for making judgements and condemnations from the comfort of our armchair—this is how the algorithms drive our engagement. And while the digital world has probably also widened our portfolio of causes to give to, it would seem to have rather diminished our capacity for forgiveness somehow.

The point, I suppose, is that in light of Jesus’ words—many of us are not nearly reticent enough to pass judgement or condemnation (perhaps because via social media we no longer face the people that we judge or condemn), nor are we perhaps as ready as we ought to be to forgive (perhaps again because we don’t need to face down the people who have hurt us via social media—we just block them).

There are few consequences for stating a bold opinion about matters we likely have very little business wading into. Or so it seems. Jesus seems to suggest that the more judgement, condemnation, lack of forgiveness and gifts we put out into the world, the more judgemental, unforgiving, and scarcity-minded our world becomes which certainly comes back to us in due course. And so, Jesus calls us to something different through a variation of his “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” principle.

Who of us likes being judged? Then we also ought not be ones to pass judgement. Who of us likes being condemned? Then we also ought not be ones to condemn others. However, should we fail in some way, which of us would not like to be extended the grace of forgiveness and restoration? Then we also ought to be people quick to offer that forgiveness and restoration to others.

All of this speaks to a generosity of spirit: a giving that multiplies the gifts swirling around in the world such that we too find ourselves recipients of the very goodness we have sown. In doing this, we follow Jesus who himself sowed a profoundly imbalanced amount of grace and forgiveness into the world: forgiving even those who crucified him (forgiving the rest of us through that act too!); condemning not the woman caught in adultery; judging not before the appointed time, leaving wheat to grow alongside the weeds.

In any case, as tomorrow’s text will remind us: most of us plank-eyed people aren’t righteous enough to bear the weight of dealing gently with our neighbour’s sin anyway. Jesus is the judge who will meet out justice when the time is right—and this is a work best left to him.

Giving and forgiving though? These things have been given to us to do. And we already know the end result: a new creation bursting with life where tables are spread and cups runneth over. Will this measure that will be measured to you by Jesus on that day inform how you measure out gifts and forgiveness to others today?