THE DAILY GOSPEL

June 20, 2016 (Monday) 12th Week in Ordinary Time Psalter: Week 4/(Green)

Ps 60:3, 4-5, 12-13 Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us. 1st Reading: 2 K 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18

The army of the king of Asshur subjected the whole of Israel, coming to Samaria and laying siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, exiled the Israelites to Asshur and made them settle in Halah, at the banks of Habor, the river of Gozan, as well as in the cities of the Medes.

This happened because children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh, their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they were subject to Pharaoh. But they had turned back to other gods. They followed the customs of the nations which Yahweh had driven out before them.

Yahweh warned Israel and Judah through the mouth of every prophet and seer, saying: “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and precepts according to the laws which I commanded your fathers and which I have sent to you by my servants, the prophets.”

But they did not listen and refused, as did their fathers, who did not believe in Yahweh, their God. They despised his statutes and the Covenant he had made with their fathers, and the warnings he had given them. They went after worthless idols and they themselves became worthless, following the nations which surrounded them, in spite of what Yahweh had said, “Do not do as they do.”

So Yahweh became indignant with Israel and cast them far away from his presence, leaving only the tribe of Judah. Gospel: Mt 7:1-5

Do not judge; and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged; and the measure you use for others will be used for you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and not see the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as that plank is in your own? Hypocrite, remove the plank out of your own eye; then, you will see clearly, to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. Reflection:

In today’s gospel reading we hear Jesus warn us, “Do not judge and you shall not be judge.” Judged by whom? By God, the experts tell us because often in the Bible, when the passive voice is used and no actor is mentioned, then we are indirectly referring to God. So this question of judging other people is serious business, since it involves the judgment or condemnation of God.

But here the practical application of the prohibition to judge others raises acute problems. Is it always possible not to judge when we have to hire or fire employees, evaluate performances, assign duties, etc. In fact, is it desirable not to judge when we have to discipline children, rebuke subordinates, correct abuses? The solution to this problem lies in the distinction between action and person (or the heart in biblical terms). One’s actions are not always an adequate expression of one’s heart: Some people perform good actions for the wrong motives (v.g. the Pharisees), and some people perform objectively wrong actions but with the best intentions (the apostle Paul before his conversion). And so, we can judge a person’s actions, but only God can judge a person’s heart because only God can see the depths of the human heart.

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