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Michelle DeRusha

Every Day Faith. Faith Every Day.

judging

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: When You Think You Can See but You’ve Got It All Wrong

March 3, 2014 By Michelle

I pulled into the parking space just as the red pickup truck next to me turned sharply, clipping the neighboring car so hard it rocked on its wheels.

The pickup idled. Behind the spattered windows rolled up tight, a man and a woman looked down at the scraped Ford. There was discussion. Mouths moved behind the closed windows. They looked, talked some more, laughed. And then drove slowly away.

I ran across the parking lot and into SuperSaver. Tossing my purse onto crates of tomato juice, I wrote a note and the license plate number on the back of a used envelope. And then I hurried back outside to place it on the damaged car’s windshield.

I was pleased with myself. They deserved it, that couple. They’d done something wrong and had even had the gall to laugh about it. They’d looked like the type who would do such a thing: unkempt, rough around the edges. Justice needed to be served, and I was the one to do it.

Halfway across the parking lot, note in hand, I stopped. The woman who had sat in the pickup truck now stood in front of the little blue Ford, hands thrust deep in the pockets of her ragged jacket. She surveyed the front bumper and then turned and sauntered toward the grocery store. One row away the man waited in the passenger seat of the red pickup.

I stalled a few seconds before following the woman back into the grocery store. In the produce section I plucked six oranges from the pyramid. I pushed my cart toward the onions, checked my list.

“May I have your attention please,” the announcer garbled over the store intercom. I paused. “Will the owner of a dark blue Ford, license plate OGI 782, please come to the customer service counter at the front of the store. The owner of a blue Ford, license plate OGI 782, please come to customer service. Thank you.”

Although this incident happened more than two years ago, I still think about it a lot, and I was reminded of it again when I read this week’s lesson about the blind man.

“I entered this world to render judgment,” Jesus told the blind man after he had healed him “– to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

Jesus was talking about the know-it-all Pharisees, of course, who just moments earlier had chastised the healed man, a sinner, for daring to contradict them, for daring to teach them.

As much as I hate to admit it, I know Jesus is talking to the know-it-all me in this story, too. That day in the SuperSaver parking lot (and many other days since then) I was the worst kind of Pharisee. I was confident I had it all figured out. Those people – the ones who looked a little unkempt, the ones who were different than me, dare I say less-than me – they had needed to be judged, and I had appointed myself to do it.

What I didn’t realize until almost too late was that I’d judged wrong; I’d been blind. I’d only thought I could see. And those people? The ones I’d deemed the sinners? The ones I’d considered less-than?

They taught me.

Questions for Reflection:
Have you ever wrongly judged someone? Have you ever considered that it might be you that Jesus is talking to in this story, or do you always assume it’s someone else?

Part of this post originally ran as a guest post two years ago at Emily Wierenga’s place. 

If you are looking for a daily devotional to accompany your walk through Lent this year, consider Beneath the Tree of Life – a collaborative effort between my church, Nebraska photographer Curt Brinkmann and me. It’s available as a free downloadable e-booklet to email subscribers of this blog. Click here for more details. {If you already receive these blog posts in your email in-box, scroll all the way down to the very end of the post to the blue box, where you’ll find directions for how to access and download the Lenten e-devotional.}

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Welcome to the Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word each week. If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information.

Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Please also try to visit and leave some friendly encouragement in the comment box of at least one other #HearItUseIt participant. And if you want to tweet about the community, please use the #HearItUseIt hashtag.

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

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Filed Under: judging, Use It on Monday Tagged With: Hear It on Sunday Use It on Monday, judgment

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: When You Make a Snap Judgment

March 18, 2013 By Michelle

I judge. In particular, I judge rich people. I suspect that if I didn’t know you, and you pulled up in front of my house driving a Mercedes SUV, I would make some assumptions about you.

I often assume that wealthy people are entitled and materialistic. I assume they’re greedy and don’t give enough to charity. Brad reminds me from time to time that rich people are not bad people simply because they are rich. Look at Bill Gates, he says. Bill Gates is hugely rich, but he also gives millions of dollars to charity.

True. So okay, Bill Gates is a decent rich guy.

The fact is, I make assumptions about wealthy people without even knowing them. I judge them based on the simple fact that they are rich. I realize this is grossly unfair and wrong. Irrational, even. And truthfully, I am getting better about it. Frankly, you can’t read about Jesus and the Pharisees and love and grace and still persist in irrationally judging people; it doesn’t work well. But still, it happens from time to time, almost before I realize I’m doing it. I judge rich people out of habit.

I thought about all this yesterday when we read the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus, the text notes, was the head tax man and quite rich. As my pastor pointed out, this was like saying Zacchaeus was a sinner and a sinner. Saying he was a tax man and rich was redundant, and the immediate implication was that he was bad, bad man – deceptive, corrupt, despicable. Thus, when Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ place for dinner, the crowd was indignant. “What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?” (Luke 19:8, Msg.)  They assumed, because he was a tax collector and rich, that Zacchaeus was a bad person, a sinner.

And they were wrong.

Turns out, Zacchaeus was actually a fairly upstanding citizen. “Master,” he said to Jesus, “I give away half my income to the poor – and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.” (Luke 19:9, Msg). Though wealthy, Zacchaeus gave a substantial amount to the needy. And when he did err, when he did sin, he repented by paying the wronged person back four times what he owed them.

In the end, Zacchaeus wasn’t who the crowd assumed he was.

When Jesus looked at Zacchaeus, he looked past his job title and status. He didn’t make a split-second judgment based on two simple facts. The crowd, on the other hand, judged Zacchaeus without knowing him. They couldn’t see beyond his wealth and his occupation.

They couldn’t see him as a person. They saw a tax collector, a rich man, and they assumed he was a crook.

I admit, yesterday’s lesson was a hard one. I’m thinking about the judgments I make every day, not only about rich people, but about others as well. It’s ugly stuff. It makes me squirm in my seat and rub my nose too vigorously. It makes me nervous and uncomfortable to admit this about myself. But it’s good, too, kind of like vaccinations are good. They hurt, they’re uncomfortable, but they are important and necessary.

So here are some questions for you to think about this week (and believe me, I’m thinking about them, too):

What assumptions do you make about certain groups of people, people you don’t really know?

Who do you judge irrationally, unfairly, based on very little information?

And how can you see those people differently, not as one-dimensional, but as real people, seen and loved by Jesus himself?  

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Welcome to the “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday” community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word.

If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information. Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Please also try to visit and leave some friendly encouragement in the comment box of at least one other Hear It, Use It participant. And if you want to tweet about the community, please use the #HearItUseIt hashtag.

Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!

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Filed Under: Gospels, judging, New Testament, Use It on Monday Tagged With: Gospel of Luke, Hear It on Sunday Use It on Monday, making judgments, the rich in Scripture

A Cracked Bumper and a Chip on My Shoulder: A Tale about Judgment

December 7, 2012 By Michelle

We make small-talk as we stroll back to our cars, waving to our kids as they disappear through the double doors. She’s new here – just moved to Lincoln this summer. “That’s a big transition,” I say. “How’s it going for you?” She admits it’s tough – scary and lonely. She doesn’t say the words “scary” and “lonely” out loud, but I know.

Our sons are in the same grade. I recall Rowan mentioning “the new kid” a few nights ago at dinner. “Did you talk to him at recess?” I’d asked. “It’s hard to be the new kid, you know. You should play with him.”

“We should have coffee sometime,” I suggest, as we pause near the crosswalk.

She punches my number into her phone. “I’ll text you right when I get back to my car,” she says, smiling. “That way you’ll have my number in your phone, too.”

She’s parked right behind me in front of the school, and as I slide into my seat, I notice her car in my rear view mirror. She drives a fancy SUV, the really expensive kind.

I check my phone a half dozen times that day and the next.

“I bet she saw my junky, dilapidated mini-van and decided not to text,” I say to my husband, Brad. We sit on the back patio as the boys play an elaborate imaginary game – something about Mario and Bowser. The sun hangs low, and I shield my eyes with my hand, squinting at Brad.

…I’m really excited to be over at Prodigal Magazine today. Will you meet me there for the rest of this story {and I apologize for the fact that I am sending you willy-nilly all over the place lately – I promise I’ll be staying here for the next few weeks! Thank you for your patience!}.

Filed Under: judging Tagged With: Prodigal Magazine

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: No Exceptions

September 17, 2012 By Michelle


 
As the sandwiches, Cokes and chips slid down the conveyer belt, the cashier turned to me with a question: “Likethatinasack?”

“I’m sorry, excuse me?”


“Likethatinasack?” 

I looked at her blankly.


“Do…you…want…it…in…a….sack?” She pointed at the plastic bag with a magenta fingernail.

“Ohhhhhh…a bag.Yeah, yeah. Please. A bag.”

I wondered if she could tell. Was it clear that I hadn’t known what she meant when she used the word “sack” instead of bag? The realization was sharp, sudden: I’d been in Nebraska all of two hours, and it felt like I’d landed in a foreign country. I didn’t even speak the language.

I often think about my move to Nebraska when I read the many verses about foreigners that are peppered throughout much of the Old Testament. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for the immigrants who come to the United States, most without a job awaiting them, or adequate housing. Most not knowing more than a word or two of English. Many not knowing a single soul. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it would be to navigate the aisles of SunMart, never mind converse with the cashier.

God is very clear about how he wants us to help these newcomers. Just as he loves the foreigners living among us, giving them food and clothing, he expects we will do the same:

“So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19).

The problem, of course, is that sometimes we make exceptions to this command. We decide only certain foreigners deserve our help – the ones who are here legally, the ones who aren’t stealing our jobs, the ones who we deem are working hard enough or who are assimilating as they should or who are learning English adequately. The ones who aren’t abusing the system.

We make exceptions. We determine who we will help and who doesn’t qualify.

I know this because I have thought exactly this way from time to time. And I’ve been set straight by God.

The truth is, God “shows no partiality.” (Deuteronomy 10:17)

He doesn’t separate foreigners into two categories: the deserving and the undeserving. Instead, he loves, clothes and feeds all, and he states explicitly that he expects us to do the same.

“Show love to foreigners,” he commands – not “show love to some foreigners” or “show love to these foreigners, but not those.” Simply, show love to all foreigners.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in politics and controversies and lose sight of what God wants. In the end, though, it’s not that complicated. The Bible is clear. God wants us to show no partiality. He wants us to love everyone.

No exceptions.

Do you ever make a distinction between who you deem deserving and who you deem undeserving? Have any of the verses about foreigners in the Bible ever changed the way you think? 

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One little note…before we get to the Hear It, Use It link-up: I wanted to let you know about a new link-up community launched by my friend Jenn LeBow — a Monday link-up community called Mercy Mondays. Today’s prompt is “Singing of his Mercy — How Mercy and Music Intersects for you.” Will you pop over to Jenn’s place to check it out? I think you’ll find it a cool place to hang for a while!

 : : : :
 
Welcome to the “Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday” community, a place where we share what we are hearing from God and his Word.

If you’re here for the first time, click here for more information. Please include the Hear It, Use It button (grab the code below) or a link in your post, so your readers know where to find the community if they want to join in — thank you!

Please also try to visit and leave some friendly encouragement in the comment box of at least one other Hear It, Use It participant. And if you want to tweet about the community, please use the #HearItUseIt hashtag.

 Thank you — I am so grateful that you are here!


 

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Filed Under: immigrant, judging, Nebraska, Old Testament, Use It on Monday

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Triple Type A, “make it happen” (my dad’s favorite mantra) striver and achiever (I’m a 3 on the Enneagram, which tells you everything you need to know), but these days my striving looks more like sitting in silence on a park bench, my dog at my feet, as I slowly learn to let go of the false selves that have formed my identity for decades and lean toward uncovering who God created me to be.

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