From Matthew 7-8
Jesus is concerned with how we live our lives. In today’s passage he gives a series of warnings and instructions for daily life. He speaks about judgment. Do you judge others? He speaks about prayer. Do you make requests of God and expect him to answer? He compares the easy gate and the narrow gate. The narrow gate is hard to enter, but it leads to life.
This post is part of my bible in a year series.
Passage and Comments
Jesus begins with judgment. I hear quite often people assuming the judgment they proclaim is ‘God’s judgment’. Who can rightly judge another other than God himself?
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Mt 7:1–6)
Jesus warns against judging others because the standard applied to others will applied to the judge. This should cause us to consider carefully the way we view and speak to others.
How would you fare if the judgments you imposed on others were applied to you?
Jesus warns against being blind to one’s own issues while judging others. Its easy to see the flaws in others. Hard to see them in ourselves. Jesus calls people who make judgments on others and overlook their own issues hypocrites. Putting on a face that does not reflect reality.
“This is the mystery that lies underneath the present passage. Jesus warns sternly against condemning others. Of course, this does not mean (as some have thought) that no follower of Jesus should ever be a magistrate. God intends that his world should be ordered, and that injustice should be held in check. Jesus is referring, not to official law courts, but to the judgments and condemnations that occur within ordinary lives, as people set themselves up as moral guardians and critics of one another.” (Wright, T. (2004). Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (p. 69). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Mt 7:7-11)
The passage concerns prayer. Asking the LORD for something and receiving. It is a generous promise. Believe God’s promise.
At one level prayer like this requires faith. Faith that God is good and powerful.
Jesus presents an optimistic face to prayer. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. These statements imply a kind of perseverance in prayer. Believing God listens to our prayers. Believing he is good and powerful.
I find this difficult with some issues in my life. I need to ask for more faith and persevere in my prayers.
Jesus draws an analogy between man and God. Human fathers generally care for their children and will give them good things. We could say this is linked to their moral character. Good fathers care for their children. When their children ask them for something they will not give them something harmful in return. Rather something good for them.
The same logic works with God, only much more. Compared to God’s character, human fathers are evil by comparison. If ‘evil’ human father’s give good things to their children, how much more will our good Father in heaven give to his own children.
By way of comparison all things fall short of God’s moral character. However, Jesus is not saying this to make the point all humanity is evil and should be punished.
Jesus point is to encourage people to pray, knowing that God is more willing than our own fathers to give good things to those who ask him.
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Mt 7:12)
This is a grace filled statement. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. This is a classic statement, built into the western vernacular. Think about how you would like to be treated. Treat others this way.
Jesus is not saying the reverse. Do to others as they have done to you. This statement can be applied for vengeance as well as for good.
The statement sums up all the commands and instructions in the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Mt 7:13–14)
Sadly, Jesus says many will enter through the easy gate and be destroyed. The narrow gate is much harder. Following Jesus requires sacrifice, suffering and perseverance. Few make it to the end. Those who do follow Jesus to the end. He leads them through it.
About Jesus
Jesus is obviously concerned with how we should be living our lives. Jesus gives a series of warnings and instructions for daily life.
We need to be careful how we judge others. We should be judging ourselves more than others and be wary of blind spots in our lives.
Jesus encourages us to pray. He makes some wonderful promises. Believe the LORD is good and powerful. Persist in prayer.
Keep following Jesus, listening to him and applying what he says. People who do this will enter through the narrow gate that leads to life.
Copyright © Joshua Washington and thescripturesays, 2015. All Rights Reserved.
