Anchor My Faith

Judge with Right Judgment

Scripture: John 7:20-24

We ended the previous lesson with Jesus asking the crowd why they seek to kill him. We begin this lesson with their response: ^{Jn 7:20} “The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”’

This is one of several instances where Jesus is charged with being demon possessed. In John 8, Jesus declares that the Jews have as their father the devil and their will is to do his desires. Then in John 8:48 the Jews respond with, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” In John 10, Jesus claims to be the good shepherd that will lay his life down for the flock. Then in John 10:20 “Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”’ In Matthew 12, Jesus had just healed a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute. Then in Matthew 12:24, the Pharisees declared, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”’

^{Jn 7:21} “Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. ²² Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? ²⁴ Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”’

This one work that Jesus is referring to is probably the healing of the invalid in John 5:1 – 15. This healing took place on the Sabbath by the pool called Bethesda. Jesus points out to them that if the eighth day of a child falls on a Sabbath they would still perform circumcision and not put it off until the next day. Jesus points out that if they are willing to perfect just one small part of the body on the Sabbath, then why would it be wrong to heal the entire body on the Sabbath? Isn’t the entire body of greater importance than one part?

Jesus then brings the focus back to appearances that we covered on our study of the sermon of the mount. In his teaching, Jesus pointed out their concern over outward appearance and not the condition of the heart. For example, they said that murder was wrong, but didn’t consider the feelings of the heart that produced the murder to be wrong. All kinds of laws can be passed to try to control evil behavior, but the real problem is the heart. If the heart is cleaned up, then the behavior will change accordingly.

Conclusion

It is so easy to judge someone based on appearances and not be willing to come long side of them and help them with issues of the heart. By judging them do we not try to elevate ourselves.