On judging others.

 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matt 7:1-6).

 

This post is for me:

 

I have no right to judge others nor condemn them. There is only one judge of Mankind and there are those He has appointed to meet out the earthly corrections as He sees fit. I can only inform, guide or instruct from the benefits of my own experience. Not my opinion. My opinion does not matter. No one can argue with my experience. They may express their opinion about the matter but that is their concern. No one can deny my experiences because they are my experiences. If I recount a tale of my experiences and exaggerate or lie, then I am not talking of my experiences but weaving a tale.

 

Similarly, my experiences might not match someone else's but that does not make my experiences false or less valid and neither does it there's.

 

I often speak of things I do not have any experience of and express opinions. My opinions can be charitable or vicious, some where in between or both, depending on my mood or sometimes, as a consequence of my experience. Here again I am not recounting my experience but a version of it.

 

If a similar occurrence of an experience happens then that is not the same experience, it may be lived and felt differently. Sometimes this creates confusion but it shouldn't because I am undergoing a different experience and not the same one, even though the circumstances may appear similar. They are not the same but two different experiences revealing two different outcomes. Also, no person can experience two things at one and the same time. Differing emotions may occur during a particular experience. Those are differing responses and reactions to the same experience but the experience cannot be repeated even though other experiences may bear a similarity. They are not the same.

 

My view or reaction to an experience may be very different to the experience itself. Again, this is not the experience but a reaction or coloured view of it, positive or negative.

 

When I look upon others with these views do I really see reality or a coloured view of it? Do I judge with my opinion or with my experience? Who am I to judge anyway? Am I innocent? Am I guilty? What business is it of mine? Does it affect me or just what I want people to believe about me? Have I done anything to impact on, improve or affect the situation positively or negatively?

 

Can I judge?

Should I judge?

Do I really know?

Am I professing one thing and practising another?

 

All that is required of me is that I surrender my will, confess my faults and put right any mistakes I may make, ask for guidance and try to turn my attention to helping others who ask me for my

help or who I can see struggling, make myself available to be of service to others and do the next right thing put in front of me.

 

Offering my opinion and my thoughts to people when they are not required or requested, sharing my inmost secrets in public and giving my power away to people because I am afraid of them is like throwing pearls to pigs. My experience tells me that I get trampled underfoot and torn to pieces.

 

 

Jesus' Cry of anguish from the cross.

 After Jesus' hands and feet are nailed to the cross he exclaims: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  The next words we hear him utter are to the Good Thief after the man declares Jesus innocence and turns to him and requests he be remembered by Jesus when he comes into his kingdom. To which Jesus replies "This day you will be with Me in paradise."

 Then after some time lapses with much suffering and agony on all parts Jesus gives Mary over to the care of John (the Beloved disciple, a metaphor for the reader, the Christian) "Woman, behold your Son. Son, behold your Mother." And more importantly gives John- the Beloved disciple - over to Mary.

 All this with an absolute lack of self interest on Jesus part leads to the next part where Jesus cries out: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" which may seem like he is in the pit of despair and anguish but how can it be when given the other utterances as read above? Nails being driven into his hands and feet and he proclaims forgiveness? A discourse over whether Jesus is actually who he says he is, namely the Son of God and he remains quiet only to confirm the Good Thief's positive assertions and affirm his place in heaven, to then cry out in anguish and despair and loneliness and an utter feeling of loss and separation to minutes later claim: "I thirst." then declare, "It is finished." and have the presence of mind to say before he dies "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit." No, there is something deeper going on here. This quote " My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" refers to Psalm 22: v1 when the psalmist repeats the same cry. Stephen Pimentel has followed many other great scholars in demonstrating that Psalm 22 is a thanksgiving Psalm or a Todah (my italics) and would probably have been sung at the last supper. The last meal Jesus would have ate before his Passion and Death on the Cross. Stephen Pimentel writes: "
Todah literally means “thanksgiving.” In addition to the sense of thanksgiving or gratitude, it also has a strong connotation of praise. The todah offering was accompanied by an associated type of song, usually a psalm. The todah sacrifice was offered by a person whose life had been redeemed or delivered from a great danger. The person who had been delivered would express his gratitude to God by celebrating a sacrificial meal with family and friends. A priest would normally sacrifice a lamb and consecrate bread in the temple. The meat and bread would then be brought home for the meal, along with wine.
The meal would then be accompanied by songs of thanksgiving. Todah songs have a characteristic movement from lament to praise. Sometimes, the song is actually structured with two halves, the first a lament, the second a praise. The lament recounts the circumstance of impending death and the prayer to God for deliverance. The praise recalls and proclaims the deliverance from death, for which God is thanked and praised. The crucial point is that todah presupposes a narrative, an account of what has happened in the life of the one giving thanks. One does not simply give thanks in a generic or abstract way. One gives thanks for a particular deliverance from suffering or mortal danger." (Stephen Pimentel, The Many and The One. Stephenpimentel.tripod.com)  Of course, Jesus would only be "delivered" from his suffering after his death and when he was resurrected by the Father but his  cry hear is for the ultimate thanksgiving of which he has given himself to usafter having delivered us, and saved our souls from the mortal danger of original sin. Tim Gray in his excellent article given below affiirms this, "

From Jewish Passover to Christian Eucharist: The Story of the Todah

TIM GRAY

Scholars have often wondered how the practice of Christian Eucharist could have arisen from the Lord’s Supper, which occurred in the context of the Jewish Passover. Since Passover occurs only once a year, how is it that the Christians got the notion that they could celebrate Jesus’ sacrificial meal weekly, if not daily?

The Last Supper, Gustave Dore.

The answer is found in the ancient Israelite sacrifice called the todah.
While most people have heard of Old Testament sacrifices such as the holocaust offering or burnt offering, those who have heard of the todah sacrifice are as rare as lotto winners. Today's ignorance concerning the todah, however, should not imply that it was unimportant to the Jews. Far from it. The todah was one of the most significant sacrifices of the Jews.
Indeed, an old Rabbinic teaching says: "In the coming Messianic age all sacrifices will cease, but the thank offering [todah] will never cease."

So, in summary, the whole point of Jesus' cry of anguish on the Cross was not a lack of faith on his part, but it does hint at his human nature- fully God, fully Man as the Theologians assert- and the sheer agony he endured at that point, also identifying and entering into our sufferings. However, it also hints at his Godliness and that he was giving praise even as he endured such anguish .

Heavenly Father, by the merits of the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus and through his Resurrection, have mercy on us and on the whole world.