(From The Wisdom of the Desert, by Thomas Merton, saying XLIII).
When I originally wrote this a few weeks ago, the internet and news media were ablaze with the issue of same-sex marriage. I'm not going to weigh in on the legality of gay marriage. I doubt that anyone on either side of the discussion would be thrilled about my opinions. However, I do feel froggy enough to jump at the spiritual side of the momentous discussions that will take place over the ensuing months and years.
One of the most frustrating thoughts I have heard from some pulpits involves the lamentation of a proposed misinterpretation of Mt 7:1-5, in which Jesus says, "Do not judge." I have heard pastors expound that we do, in fact, have a right - even a responsibility - to judge others. To justify this opinion, they emphasize Jesus' parabolic discussion about splinters and planks. Appealing to verse 5, they claim, "Jesus wasn't suggesting we shouldn't judge others," rather, "he was saying to get our own lives fixed first so that we might be able to rightly judge others."
There are numerous problems with this interpretation. The most important is that it misses the thrust of Jesus' initial statement: "Do not judge, so that you will not be judged." You are not to judge others because the judgment that goes around comes around (verse 2). The plank in the eye of the pharisees is their obsession with judging others. They are so focused on the sins of their neighbors that they are completely oblivious to the fundamental sinfulness with which they themselves are plagued.
It seems to me that the point is not that they are judging wrongly because they are hypocrites. The point is that we are all hypocrites so we have no business judging others at all. The religious leaders are "blind guides" (see verse 39 of the parallel passage in Luke 6) because they do not realize that what everyone (including themselves) needs is not judgment but redemption. And when it comes to redemption, Jesus is the only game in town.
I often hear complaints that those who take Jesus' command against judgment literally do so because they have blindly embraced our culture's "moral relativity." How interesting then, to discover how contemporary and powerful are the words of the Desert Fathers on this subject: "Do not judge a fornicator [even] if you are chaste." Why? Because "you too are violating the commandment as much as he [or she] is." Moral relativity wasn't the issue for the Fathers, the issue was faithfulness to God, being merciful as their Father was merciful.
As I grow older three things become more and more clear to me: my own sinfulness, my own pride and my own ignorance. This growing awareness has led me to conclude that the morality or immorality of homosexuality pales in importance to my obligation to sacrificial love as a representative of Christ. I will focus on proclaiming God's love and redemption and let God work as He chooses in the lives of others. He was capable of destroying death and sin all by himself, I suspect he is capable of moving in the hearts of his children to bring them to himself in his own way and his own time.
I question the compulsion to convince someone of a spiritual peril with which God has not troubled them, particularly in the face of broader issues of injustice and suffering that confront us at every turn. God give us the grace and strength to listen to your voice as you speak to us rather than shouting so loud that we drown you out.
