Do not Judge

Do we live in a judgmental world?

1 He departed from there and came to his native place,[a] accompanied by his disciples. 2 [b]When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 3 Is he not the carpenter,[c] the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 [d]Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” 5 So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,[e] apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.-Mark6:1-6

Last Christmas, my mother and sister accompanied me to my godmother. The visit is not only to bring her our gift and to greet her, but also to ask her a favor to give me an evaluation. Though I can choose my other friends for this task, I preferred my godmother because of her seniority and involvement with the Church. As we continued with the evaluation, my sister keeps on refuting, denying, disapproving and contradicting every good word given to me. She's always making a face, always grumbling whenever a good comment is uttered. I was fed up and mouthed to her to shut up because the one giving the evaluation is my godmother and not her. I gently told her that every person has a different way of seeing another person, if I am a bad person in the eyes of my sister then so shall it be, but what's wrong if my godmother thought that I am a good person? What's wrong if others think well of me? I asked her, "Do your friends all think the same way when they evaluate you?" I believe Jesus' invitation to us all is to be slow or to not judge hastily other people. There is such a thing as CHANGE and CONVERSION. Life can be better for some. God can bestow the best gift there is to anybody even if that person seems to be unfit to our judgment. Life is much better if we rejoice in our own blessings and to rejoice as well in other people's blessings.

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