Don't judge or else.......

The parable that Jesus told in the gospel reading this morning (Luke 15:1-8) is a very well known account of the love and grace of God, and his desire to seek out and save everyone who is lost. The circumstances are particularly important. Once again, Jesus is talking near the Pharisees and the scribes, those people who were really good at listening in to other people’s conversations, and saying how bad everyone else was.

And so Jesus launched into this parable about the lost sheep – 99 were safe, but one was missing. And so the shepherd would go after the one, searching until he found it, and then celebrating the find… Beyond what we have heard this morning Jesus then goes on to talk about the woman having 10 silver coins, and losing one, and then searching for it and having a celebration when it’s found. And in the final parable of this section, Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son – the young man who stupidly threw away his fortune, but was then welcomed back into the family by his father, who ordered a great celebration to commemorate the homecoming.

These are parables of God’s love. They emphasise his desire to see everyone enjoying the relationship with him that he desires. They speak of the incredible mercies of a God who is always more ready to forgive than condemn, and to welcome people rather than shut them out.

But these parables are also a stark reminder of something more, and that is about judging others. The Pharisees and the Scribes moaned about the company Jesus was keeping – they wouldn’t have liked the subjects of the parables that he told – the shepherd in an age when shepherds were not considered particularly trustworthy, the woman searching for a coin at a time when women occupied a very low place in society, and of course the Prodigal Son, who had rejected the benefits he had been given to go off and enjoy some wild living while the money lasted.

Jesus knew the judgements that the Pharisees and the Scribes would be making, but he wanted to make the point that their idea of God – the judgemental, condemning, scary sort of God that forces people into blind obedience, if not faith, was very far from the real God – the real God of love, compassion, grace, forgiveness and mercy…

And these parables today represent a challenge to us about how we look at people around us. There’s a story about a Bishop Potter. He was sailing for Europe on one of the great transatlantic ocean liners. When he went on board, he found that another passenger was to share the cabin with him. After going to see the accommodation, he came up to the purser's desk and enquired if he could leave his gold watch and other valuables in the ship's safe.

He explained that ordinarily he never availed himself of that service, but he had been to his cabin and had met the man who was to occupy the other berth. Judging from his appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy person. The purser accepted the responsibility for the valuables and remarked, 'It's all right, bishop, I'll be very glad to take care of them for you. The other man has been up here and left his for the same reason!

Or there’s another more moving story which emphasises the danger of judging people – In it, the American preacher and author Charles Swindoll told of being at a California Christian camp. The first day there a man who approached him and said how much he had looked forward to hearing Dr. Swindoll speak and his delight at now finally being able to realise that desire. That evening Swindoll noticed the man sitting near the front.

But only a few minutes into the message the man was sound asleep. Swindoll thought to himself that perhaps he was tired after a long day's drive and couldn't help himself. But the same thing happened the next few nights, and Dr. Swindoll found his exasperation with the man growing.

On the last night the man's wife came up and apologized for her husband's inattention to the messages. She then explained that he had recently been diagnosed as having terminal cancer and the medication he was taking to ease the pain made him extremely sleepy. But it had been one of his life-long ambitions to hear Dr. Swindoll speak before he died, and now he had fulfilled that goal.

Judging others, in however a minor way we do it, is natural. It is sadly a part of our make-up. We may look at someone and think or even say how rude they are, how selfish, how judgemental, how stupid. We may look at the homeless person or the drunk or the drug addict and wonder how they got themselves into that mess. We may look around at people with different abilities and make judgements about their capabilities – the fact is that at times most of us are guilty of judging the book by its cover, whether consciously or not.

But Jesus is reminding us here of the error of our ways. He recognises something all of us need to recognise, and that is about the value of life – of our own life, and of the lives of others around us, whoever they may be. These parables are a call to remind us that every human being is a child of God, whether we like them or not.…

The Christian Church has often been perceived as judgemental, sometimes correctly, sometimes not, but whilst we must always try and stand up for what is right in the eyes of God, we must do so always with love and compassion as our primary goal.

Most of us as we think about our lives will have people who have influenced us in some way – it may be one particular person or it may be lots of people. And just as we follow someone so we must leave footprints to guide others – a child, a friend, a parent, a work colleague, a neighbour… Nobody should ever feel like they have to walk the path of life by themselves.

In a perfect example of this, Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy which we heard part of earlier (1 Tim.1:12-17). Timothy was someone who had learned a lot from Paul, and followed his example in many things. Now, Timothy was struggling a bit, as he faced the practical challenges of running a Church, and so Paul, step by step, instructs him, and guides him… And he reminds him of the most important person of all to follow as he talks of the strengthening power of Jesus, who had called even him, someone who was, to use Paul’s own words, a ‘blasphemer, a persecutor, a man of violence’.

God calls every person into his family, to receive his embrace, to know his strength and compassion, to know the love that he has for everyone… When we’re tempted to judge another person’s value let’s remind ourselves of the value they are to God, the same value that we have from a Saviour who gives to us a love that can never be fathomed, a life that can never die, a righteousness that can never be tarnished, a peace that can never be understood, a rest that can never be disturbed, a joy that can never be diminished, a hope that can never be disappointed, a glory that can never be clouded, and a light that can never be darkened… AMEN