Advent 3
Sermon by Bishop Michael Hawkins
(The readings may be found here)
Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord.
I only want to add one emphasis to that wonderful Exhortation. Saint Paul would convince us this morning that we are incompetent to judge one another. Why not? 1. This is not the time for judgment. 2. It is the Lord who judges, and for us to pronounce such judgment suggests that we think we ourselves are the Lord God Almighty. 3. We do not have the full picture, and we always know only in part. 4. We do not know the motives of others, so we cannot judge what is in the heart. So we are encouraged to move from the hasty and ignorant judging of others, from the mote in their eye to considering the beam in our own. But not so that we may condemn ourselves, but rather that we may seek and trust in the forgiving mercy of God in Jesus Christ. And that out of a more honest accounting of ourselves and our faults, and an assurance of God’s love, we might more readily share the mercy showered upon us, and love as we have been loved, and forgive as we have been forgiven.