We may even invite punishment unknowingly
September 20, 2026
The unintended effect of reading the Bible, the Word of God, is the self-ascribed immunity from God’s judgment. An ignominy reserved for other people. Less pious and far from good, in fact, outrightly devilish. WE invite judgment: “Judge not that you may not be judged”. (Mt 7:1)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus states, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son“ (John 5:22). This passage underscores the divine authority bestowed upon Jesus, affirming His role as the ultimate Judge of humanity. Jesus judges; we should not.
Some who judge unfairly take shelter in, “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” (John 12: 47,48)
They would argue that if we do not believe, we will not be judged; after all, God did not come to judge the world but to save the world. But we cannot be saved if we have not believed. Why did we not believe? To escape judgment for condemning our neighbour? Why are we so bent on judging when we have been told explicitly not to?
We say we pray for the neighbour because he is such a bad fellow and we want him to be saved, but we will not forgive him for what he did to us: scammed us out of our property, our rights, or our good name by gossiping. Is it that, or is our angst due to envy, misconstruing what was done or not done?
We will not admit it. For we are not sinners. Envy is a sin that brings God’s judgment. Envy is “The sin of wanting what others have — invidere in Latin means to look upon with ill-will, and the evil eye is built into the word’s origin.”
Often jealousy is mistaken for envy. Jealousy, however, is a reference to sexual possessiveness and suspicion, from Old French jalousie “enthusiasm, love, longing; jealousy”.
Our judgment of our neighbour stems from a belief that we know right from wrong. We are wrong about that, as Adam and Eve learnt to their dismay when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden to work by the sweat of their brow and bring forth children in painful labour.
Adam & Eve erred when they ate of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, which God explicitly forbade them to do. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Gen 2:16-17)
To die spiritually, but live physically. What torture if the spirit is not with us in our physical form.
We do not know how God decides. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is 55: 8-9)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus describes the judgment of the nations in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. He explains that the Son of Man will separate people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, based on their actions towards “the least of these” (Mt 25:31-46). This passage highlights compassion and service to others as evidence of genuine faith.
That’s what we are called to do. Not to judge and condemn, no matter what someone has done to us. It helps to believe ‘possession is ownership, ’ i.e., whoever possesses the property owns it, unless the court of law rules otherwise. If you don’t possess it, it’s not meant to be yours. Not that it will never be yours. It can be if God wills it. Certainly not because we will it. So much better to leave it in God’s hands and to His justice. He will render it to you. Don’t let the situation steal your salvation. Better to surrender than become litigious and quarrelsome.
We witness and experience that God’s way of thinking diverges greatly from how man thinks in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard (Mt 20: 1-16):
According to Jewish tradition, the first hour is six o’clock in the morning and the last hour is six o’clock in the evening, a working day comprising 12 hours. Hence, the workers called at the 11th hour should have received only 1/12 of a denarius; they got one denarius (one day’s wage), the same as the worker who worked from the first hour for 12 hours.
There are four dimensions to this parable: 1) Historical dimension: Jews, God’s people, were the first set of people who were called to the Master’s vineyard, and the last to come are the Gentiles; 2) Ecclesiastical dimension: both are viewed by God as the same (one denarius each - whether called first or last); 3) Economic dimension: relates to social justice enshrined in two encyclicals - Rerum Novarum encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on capital and labour, and Quadragesima Anno, the encyclical of Pope Pius XI on reconstruction of the social order, subscribing to the concept of universal basic income to feed the family for the day, whether they were deserving or not since it was a matter of life and death for them - and hence one denarius to the one who worked for 12 hours and also to one who worked one hour - so that they can feed their family for the day; 4) Personal dimension: those who have been living life righteously, and those who repent at the end of their life, like the thief on the Cross who was to see paradise with Jesus, are treated the same in God’s eyes or Hezekiah when mortally ill (2 kgs 20).
How do we interpret this parable? Was God being fair? Can organisations run their secular operations in this manner? When we share our inheritance with the children, would we give the ‘wasteful’ prodigal son the same as the elder brother who worked hard and stayed by the father? If we possessed property, would our attitude be any different from those unwilling to part with theirs?
- Mathew Anthony
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