The Danger of Rushing to Judgment

We are a culture that loves to judge. When we hear a rumor in our workplace that a co worker has done something unsavory, we assume that it is true. When there are reports in such objective, reliable news sources such as the tabloids, we assume that the allegations are true. Many times it seems that the Church mirrors this tendency, spending more time judging those persons and groups that we deem worthy of our judgment than working on our own discipleship and holiness.

The parable of the wheat and tares, found at Matthew 13.24-30, shows us the danger in rushing to judgment. The image of the parable is that of a farmer who is cultivating wheat. In the ancient Near East, farmers who cultivated wheat had to deal with a weed called darnel, which grew up right along with the wheat and looked indistinguishable from the wheat. Further, even if you could distinguish it, if you tried to remove the darnel prematurely prior to the harvest of the wheat, you ended up pulling up lots of the wheat by accident. At the end of the parable, the farmer tells his servants to wait until the harvest. At that time, the darnel will be dead anyway and the wheat can be easily removed.

We love to be judgmental, but we are also very bad and ineffective at it. Many times we pass judgment on those who are innocent. When we do so, we end up pulling up lots of wheat along with the darnel. And in doing so, we do lots of damage in the world. Let's take the advice of the farmer. Let's wait until the harvest. At that time, the wheat and the darnel will be revealed for what they are. And judgment will be redundant.

In the end, God will look into our hearts and will evaluate us for what we have done and not done. Let's leave judgment to God. And even in those times when, in our workplace, our family, and even in our Church, we have to judge, let us judge carefully, selectively, and with the humility that we might be wrong. Most importantly, let's place our emphasis upon looking into our own hearts and being the best disciples that we can be.