Taking Jesus at His Word: What Jesus Really Said in the Sermon on the Mount

by Addison Hodges Hart

God may not directly judge us with harshness if we judge others harshly ourselves. Nonetheless, indirectly his judgment may be felt in how others react to us. Notice the imprecision of Jesus’ words, his avoidance of saying anything about God’s direct judgment: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” There is something subtle here in how Jesus speaks of the judgment we get back for judging others — whether through gossip, criticism, or condemnation. It might be the sort of judgment in which “what goes around comes around” — others may treat us as we have treated them. Possibly this lies behind the warning in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the community should “see to it … that no ‘root of bitterness’ spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled” (Heb. 12:15). When we speak judgmentally of others, critically or disdainfully, it is often only a matter of time before we find the same coming back in our direction. Bitterness can very easily and quickly take root in a community, and it rapidly defiles “the many.” Whole communities suffer and sometimes dissolve precisely because of such undisciplined internal criticism between members.