Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged,
and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)
October 28, 2025
Hello Everyone –
“Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” (Luke 18:9)
Now that’s quite an opener, isn’t it? It sets you back on your heels — and as well it should!
I have a small plaque sitting on the bookcase in my office that reads:
“Don’t judge someone just because they sin differently than you.”
The author and speaker, Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B., states it this way:
“To whose faults could I possibly point for exoneration of my own?”
And yet the Lucan passage that opens as described above concludes in the following manner:
“for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (18:14b)
A couple of things are at stake here, aren’t they?
First, using someone else to make us feel good or bad — better or worse — stronger or weaker — and dare I say, superior or inferior — is a dead end, plain and simple! As soon as we begin to even compare ourselves with others, we are off the mark and out of line.
From the vantage point of the Gospel, comparing ourselves with others is not a practice to be found in the life of a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Living out of our own strengths, confessing our own sins (not someone else’s), rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn — that’s the true course of a disciple. Unique creatures that we are, we have our own set of strengths and weaknesses — our own virtues and our own sins. It’s best for us to stick to what we know and not presume to know another person’s complexities.
Second, is how we understand and experience our relationship with God in all of this. By recognizing ourselves as a uniquely “mixed bag” of strengths and weaknesses should put us in a position not to compare ourselves with others but to communicate with God in thanksgiving. In the presence of the God of mercy, we as people of faith can freely and confidently embrace the limitations of our fallen nature. Before God, as persons of faith we can be reconciled with our own limited reality — not expecting to be — or pretending to be — more than they are. We learn how to stand before the Lord in honesty and truth — conscious not only of our limitations but also our failures and sins. As a result, and with the movement of grace, we become desirous of healing and forgiveness. And we make the words of the tax collector our own: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Ultimately, God frees us from the ways in which we try to save ourselves and make ourselves acceptable, all too often at the expense of others and their reputations.
And let’s face it, don’t we have enough to do getting our own houses in order?
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
Subscribe to The Branches