Judging others as they judged Jesus

         I am fairly certain that there are people I grew up with, people from the faith I was raised with, that would not appreciate much of which I write about.  In fact I am also fairly certain it would be looked at as heretical, aside from the fact that I do not view anyone in the LGBTQ community as "intrinsically disordered". I call myself a Christian in the most fundamentalist of ways. Jesus became a man and died for us. Jesus showed us by his life how to love. That is fundamental. Not the crazy right wing Bible thumping, Bible quoting zealots whose views and actions seem far from what Jesus taught and died for.

       What I just wrote about speaks of Christians who judge me and further, how I judge other 'so called' Christians. There I go again. I'm noting this with all sincerity because of how Jesus was treated by his own congregation in Nazareth. Jesus was a Jew and many of his very own people seemed content with what they believed. Certainly don't rock the boat. Certainly, Joseph's little boy Jesus is not the Messiah.  We all like the comfort of our beliefs, especially when we are looking down on someone else. We seem higher. We have the moral high ground ( we think ) and the justifications go on, and on.

         I know that I am not a bad person. By most standards I am a pretty good person. I know in my heart I have good intentions and I always try to do good. In case you know me personally, that does not mean I am perfect. As you can see I am quite capable of making judgments about the religious right or the hypocrisy and errors of the Roman Church. Heck, I view President Trump as the Antichrist, almost evil personified, misleading countless sheep.

         So I wonder in all the bantering back and forth of judgments, who will be welcome at the pearly gates?  I know I should not worry so much about that as actually living a good and decent life, loving without measure and oops, being judgment free.  I wonder though how many of us feel absolute justification about our judgments and looking down on others. Do we know we are even doing it? Will we be held accountable for our actions, beliefs, maybe even heresies?

          I think there is good reason for all of us to do some soul searching, some self analysis of how we live, what we believe and whom we judge.  A bit less arrogance might be a great thing. If we can then focus more on the living well ourselves, loving more, judging less and being thankful for our graces. Wow, how great would that be?

          For less judgments and more loving, we pray.

Luke 4:14-30

 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free, 
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ 
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.