The whole of the Law and the Prophets can be summarized in the commandment to love God and neighbor (Mt. 22:40). God descends from Heaven and identifies Himself with our neighbor. He calls Himself “prisoner,” “sick,” “stranger,” “hungry,” and “naked,” and says that whenever we visit a prisoner, a sick person, a beggar, we visit Him (Mt. 25:35–40). In our neighbor, we find either salvation or perdition. That’s why encountering our neighbor—that is, the challenges that come from him—is like wrestling with an angel (cf. Gen. 32:24–30), from which we emerge either having beheld God, like Jacob, or accursed, like Cain (cf. Gen. 4:11–12).
Jacob wrestles with an angel. The Bible illustrated by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light (Mt. 6:22). Christ tells us that our body can be luminous. This light is brought in by our eye, but only if it’s “single” [or “pure”].1 A pure eye is one that’s free of envy and condemnation.
In the parable of the laborers, one of the hirelings is displeased that the master paid the man who came only at the eleventh hour the same amount as him. The master responded: Is thine eye evil, because I am good? (Mt. 20:15). An envious eye is clouded when it sees goodness. Discontent and anger are the darkness that pours into the entire body and makes it the abode and instrument of every kind of evil.
Therefore, Christ emphasizes for us that malice must be stopped at the level of the eye so it doesn’t penetrate into the body, so it doesn’t incite the heart to condemnation and anger. The light of the body is the eye (Mt. 6:22). If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Mt. 6:23). If what you see outside yourself seems distorted at first glance, it means you’ve erred out of envy and hasty judgment; how much darker, then, will your body be, in which evil thoughts have hardened over the course of your entire life?
A pure eye, an eye that’s been cleansed of envy, illuminates the heart and all bodily members, making them partakers of the vision of God’s mercy, such that your entire being becomes vision.
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Not judging is the supreme sign of the Christian, the seal of love and mercy. Not judging, or not condemning, separates us from those who cast stones, and places us at the right hand of the Son (Jn. 8:7). There’s not a single case in which we’re called to judge anyone. All judgment has been made by the Son once and for all and is found in the Scriptures (Jn. 5:22).
Christ Himself exhorts us and commands us not to judge anyone (Mt. 7:1). This commandment isn’t simply some behavioral rule—it’s a fundamental condition for salvation. We’ll be judged as we judge others (Mt. 7:2). Everything we say in condemnation, every expression of bewilderment, such as: “How could he do such a thing?” we will hear addressed to us on the day of Judgment: For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Mt. 12:37, cf. Lk. 19:22).
No, people won’t get worse if we stop judging. The commandments of Christ aren’t like the abstract imperatives of Kant. Christ knows that people won’t change, that evil multiplies every day; therefore, His commandments aren’t given to change the world and make it better (cf. Jn. 1:10, 7:7, Mk. 8:36). His commandments are given to those who are being saved (cf. Jn. 9:39). A new commandment I give unto you (Jn. 13:34). To you, not the world. We’re required not to judge, not to condemn, because this is the beginning of murder (Mt. 5:21–22). If the law obligated you to stone a sinner (cf. Jn. 8:5), then your condemnation would no longer be mere slander, but the act of a murderer.
Non-condemnation is the ultimate act of mercy, for when we entreat mercy from God, we’re actually entreating that He not condemn us. Let us not be afraid to be merciful—it’s not a weakness, but a salvific act that makes us like God and is the shortest and surest path to salvation.
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What does it mean to “judge” and when is judgment a sin? Any negative remark can be met with a rebuke: “Who are you to judge?” This is fair, because judgment belongs to Christ; and whoever judges another commits the sin of the Antichrist, because he puts himself in Christ’s place.
Christ tells us that every man will be either condemned or justified by his own words (Mt. 12:37). Thus, the only judgment still taking place on earth is the judgment of words. That is, the moment someone utters a distorted word, we already know that this word is precisely his own sentence, sealed by Christ Himself.
Christ has forgiven all sins. He forgave the woman her adultery, the tax collectors their extortion, and the murderer his crime, but He doesn’t forgive the vocal blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Every word that’s against the truth is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. This is why the Holy Fathers severely condemned heresies, while for all other sins they prescribed a path of repentance, being authorized to do so by Christ.
Following the teachings of Christ, we too forgive and refrain from any condemnation of others’ sins, but we firmly confess that no one can be righteous if his words are twisted, and no one can be good if his words are bad. For every man is judged by his own words—a principle upheld even in human courts, where the first right is the right to remain silent.
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Christ is severe, but this doesn’t contradict His meekness. Christ is meek and humble of heart (Mt. 11:29), but that doesn’t mean anyone can change even one iota in His words (Mt. 5:18).
Everything said about hell, about the eternal punishment of the sinful and the obstinate, is true—but this doesn’t contradict the love of God; rather, it proves and confirms it.
On Great and Holy Monday, the Church reflects on the miracle of the withering of the fig tree, cursed by Christ for bearing no fruit: Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away (Mt. 21:18–19).
The incident with the fig tree isn’t an isolated case; it fits into a long line of Divine punishments that make up the deeper meanings of Scripture. The cursing of the fig tree takes place directly on Christ’s way to the Temple, where He was about to lash the merchants and toss their wares onto the steps in full view of everyone.
With the parable of the fig tree, Christ showed what people should do and what He Himself will certainly do if they don’t bear eternal fruit; but for now, He still gives them another chance at repentance. He overturns the tables but doesn’t punish the people. He punishes the tree that people might understand that this is what God’s love is like!
The cursing of the fig tree. 17th-century Arabic Gospel St. John the Baptist uses the same metaphor when he calls for repentance: And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Mt. 3:10). And about Christ, St. John says: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Mt. 3:12).
Today is an occasion for reflection for everyone who has invented for themselves a sort of teddy bear Christ, a chummy buddy in their own negligence—everyone who has imagined that the Lord of Heaven and earth is just a slogan for a t-shirt, and that He won’t spoil their mood on judgment day. This spirit of mockery has penetrated so deeply into the Church that we increasingly hear the pet theory of Christ the “friend,” forgetting that Christ also called Judas a friend, but it didn’t help the latter when his mind grew dark.
The spirit of superficiality is the gateway to blasphemy and the complete loss of the fear and love for God. The joy of grace, with which Christ comforts us in moments of repentance, shouldn’t turn into frivolity within us, but should rather establish us in the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
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Nothing can better eradicate a false statement than an argument proving it has no foundation. The history of Christian controversies confirms that the detractors of our faith are deluded. The Gospel doesn’t censor the false rumor spread by the Jews that Christ’s body was stolen by the disciples by night (cf. Mt. 28:13), but records it to strengthen our faith in Resurrection.
That’s why anyone who claims to want to promote the truth doesn’t censor, doesn’t conceal the teachings of blasphemers, but opposes them with evidence that makes his faith even more convincing.
There’s no sadder sight than the corruption of the human mind, which amounts to a loss of the image. The image of God in us is wisdom, just as the blinding of the mind is the loss of the image. If God created everything exceedingly good (Gen. 1:31), then we’re like Him when we consciously do good. If enlightening someone is the greatest good, then corrupting someone’s mind is the greatest evil found in the world today, in increasingly organized forms. The health of the mind is verified by the Gospel.
To be continued…
