I was walking out to the truck to take my daughter to school the other day when all of a sudden, I felt an unforeseen force enrapt my face. It seemed like numerous strands of invisible tentacles had wrapped around my head and entangled me in an unforeseen trap! In front of my daughter (as well as any unseen neighbors or gawkers), I began to flail and thrash around to try and remove the cursed obstruction. Despite my thrashing and manly dancing about, it still felt as though I was under attack! Despite my suffering and plight, my daughter proceeded to laugh at me and tell me I was being, “very silly.” She seemed unaware of the mortal danger I had just been subjected to, or the inner terror for which I had endured.
In short…I walked through a spider’s web.
Despite this harrowing event, my mind began to pursue how I could spin this experience (no pun intended) into a discipleship moment for both myself and others. What I ended up realizing was that my daughter, much less myself, had not seen the spider web that entrapped me. All she had seen was her dad acting like a maniac and dancing around like a lunatic in the driveway. It was silly and even entertaining for her because she could not see the full reason for my actions. Likewise, any passerby would also have only seen the grown man flailing about in what can only be described as an impromptu breakdance. It was this observation that got me thinking.
There is a sobering verse in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus states, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” This is just a small interjection from Christ’s larger Sermon on the Mount. Here is where Jesus goes through the Law and gives details about its meaning and importance. This particular passage points to the problem of our human ability to judge correctly. To provide true righteous judgment, one must know the full story. As human beings, we never truly know the full story of anyone’s life, which is why we leave the judgment up to God. Just as one was not able to see the spider’s web that I walked into, thereby they could have come to the wrong conclusion because of their limitations of perception. It is the same way with how we treat others in life and the aspersions or judgments we may cast upon others. How can we righteously do so if we cannot even see the full story of a person’s life, much less their current situation to the fullest?
Christ warns all his followers that the flawed judgment we may cast upon others might very well come back to haunt us. His warning should be taken seriously and be a reminder that it is not our place to conduct divine judgment upon other people, but instead leave that for our God who can see all things and knows all things. We cannot always see the spiderwebs that entrap people in their lives, but that isn’t necessarily our job. Our job is to approach said persons and ask if we can help them, thereby showing the full-encompassing love of Christ.
Watch out for the web my friends!
—
Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
