You got it my friend, more of Luke Chapter 6."Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher." Luke 6:37-40
Wow, this is good stuff. I mean this is really good! It is words such as the above that cause many pagan philosophers to proclaim that our King was the wisest sage who ever lived. In particular, I love the authority with which Christ speaks in this passage. He is bold, but not over the top; full of illustration, but straight to the point. In a word, perfect.
This passage is not as difficult to understand as the previous in this series. Jesus does not mean we are not to judge at all, as life is full of ethical decisions and even simple judgement calls that one must make. It is the judging that is hypocritical that he is talking about, later on in the context of this passage he makes the humorous comment of us worrying about the speck in a brothers eye while we have a plank in our own. Also, as follows later in the verse, he is talking about the type of judging that is condemning of another person. This is not good. We are to speak the truth in love, not in condemnation.
Regarding the believers ability to be Christlike, Bonhoeffer writes this: "Christ's followers always have his image before their eyes, and in its light all other images are screened from their sight. It penetrates into the depths of their being, fills them, and makes them more and more like their Master. The image of Jesus Christ impresses itself in daily communion on the image of the disciple.....That image has the power to transform our lives, and if we surrender ourselves utterly to him, we cannot help bearing his image ourselves." (The Cost of Discipleship, 337)
Jesus, we all want a good measure given to us. If the mystery of our faith is you dwelling within us in the world, then make us mysterious.
"I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." Galatians 2:20 KJV
