Judging or Loving?

Just for fun let’s say that the day arrives when human beings come to a collective notion: Fault-finding or judging is simply not a legitimate way to evaluate the things we do, or don’t do, as people.  For instance, locking up a serial killer until he’s fixed or dead makes sense for public safety but killing or torturing him is irrational.  In a society such as that, would religion be put out of business? Jesus was approached by a man who asked him to settle an inheritance dispute and Jesus not-so-graciously declined (Luke 12:13ff).  So if religion is not about morality us religious folks must be missing the point. And since Jesus refused the office of judge (and therefore the church at a later date was dead wrong in presenting him as a returning judge), then he must have taught something else. There is evidence in scripture supporting both sides of this debate but I’m coming down on the side of a non-judgmental Jesus because it goes against the grain of human nature and conventional wisdom.  Tough issues, puzzling metaphors, unanswered questions (i.e. the parable of the “good Samaritan” in which Jesus did definitely not answer the man’s question – Luke 10:29ff) all point to the Jesus who was out to change people, and the world, radically. Easy, pithy pronouncements don’t change people. I see Jesus moving, challenging, encouraging us to see God personally and intimately.  Doing so is life-changing and nurturing of love.  It’s creative and it blesses both the inner and outer person.  It’s salvation in the fullest sense.  He blessed both those who clung to him for hope and those who murdered him for fear.  It is not a wonder that, in spite of countless errors by his followers, his name is still lifted up worldwide by people who need not to be judged, but loved.