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Judgment

What if we told you that if Jesus had been born today, he would be from the sticks? The so-called boonies? A remote area that has a reputation of producing no one of prestige or education? The wrong side of the tracks? It may seem odd to think of Jesus this way, but it’s true. In Scripture, a conversation between two brothers, Phillip and Nathanial, provides context. One day Phillip met Jesus, heard his teachings, and felt his love. He was excited and went to share the good news with his brother, who replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
At the time of his birth, Jesus’ family was forced to flee Nazareth for Egypt after King Herod decreed that all children under the age of two be killed. Yes, Jesus was a refugee, and the people of his hometown were not wealthy or elite by any means. No one expected anything positive or prominent to come from there, let alone someone who would change the world forever.
Over two thousand years later, not much has changed. All we need do is turn on our televisions and observe how the media describes immigrants and refugees. They are often branded as invasive and disruptive, with their reasons for migrating and positive contributions muted. But why?
The answer lies, in part, within the concept of unconscious bias &#8211; we may not know an individual, but because of where they are from, the color of their skin, or what they are wearing,  we make judgments about them.
I was drawn to write this piece because I intimately understand the feeling of being dismissed because of where you come from. Unlike Jesus, I am not from the sticks, yet I, too, have judged because of where I came from. You see, back in middle school, I was the new black kid who moved from the looming city to the developing suburb. That gave the other kids a false narrative of how they thought I should be. Faster. Aggressive. Disruptive. Bold. In their minds, I wasn’t allowed to exist as I was because I looked a certain way and came from a side of town that mandated otherwise.
Jesus too faced stereotypes based on society’s ideas about who he should be. That’s why his persecutors inscribed “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” on the cross at his crucifixion. This was their attempt to mock him because how could a mere man from a small, forgettable town ever hold any power or authority? Perhaps others’ perception of him would have been different had he been born into a wealthy family in an area of prestige.
Jesus made a point to reach out to those who were judged because of their birthplace or circumstance. He spoke to Samaritans, the ethnic enemies of the Jewish people. He went out of his way to uplift lepers, who had been outcast by their communities. He conversed with women, who had little to no political power or social authority. He did so out of love, but he was able to do it so well because he had experienced similar dismissal.
Jesus provided an example of the powerful change that comes when we choose to overlook shallow demographics and focus our intent on truly understanding someone. How can we be more like Phillip, ignoring social hierarchy and judging not based on where someone comes from but solely on the content of their heart?

Jesus overcame bias, too.

When holding onto anger was most justified, Jesus forgave, and he called us to do the same. We’ve compiled some of our favorite stories here as a testament to the power of forgiveness not just in the lives of the ones being forgiven but in the lives of the ones doing the forgiving as well. It seems Jesus might’ve been onto something.

How to forgive like Jesus did.

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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-672 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline1-1.png" alt="Image quote that says: &quot;Remember when we were kids and a fight would break out at school?&quot; for the love your enemies page" width="1800" height="225" />
Remember when we were kids and a fight would break out at school?
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Everybody would come running and form a circle of excited spectators. We didn’t care about the cause of the conflict or worry about the people involved. We just wanted to see the drama unfold. And it was almost like drawing the crowd made the escalation of the conflict even more inevitable. It occurred to us that our current climate of cultural conflict can make it feel like we’re all back in grade school again, watching the fight.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-696 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image1-1-1.png" alt="Image of a quote that says: &quot;Our current climate of cultural conflict can make it feel like we're all back in grade school again, watching the fight.&quot; for the jesus love your enemies page." width="1800" height="975" /></figure>



Don’t get us wrong. Conflict can be healthy. Expressing outrage at <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/how-did-jesus-deal-with-injustice">injustices</a>, being a voice for the voiceless, and boldly representing your values and identity are important parts of the human experience. Jesus did all these things. But how often do our conflicts devolve from a dignified defense to a dehumanizing hate for others? And how often do we just consume conflict that really has nothing to do with values and everything to do with our guilty pleasure of hateful content, just like a grade school fight? 





<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-676 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image2.png" alt="Image of How often do our conflicts devolve from a dignified defense to a dehumanizing hate for others?" width="1800" height="1425" /> We stop our scroll to watch a video of people screaming at or getting physical with a customer service agent or a fast-food worker. We tune in to watch two political pundits tear each other apart on cable news. We like and share insulting jokes on social media made at the expense of those who think differently than us. We turn an unfortunate incident in a person&#8217;s life into a meme for people to mock them.  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-673 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline2-1.png" alt="Image of a quote: &quot;It's like our culture is addicted to hateful human conflict. We love it.&quot; for the love for enemies page" width="1800" height="225" />





And we love to pick a side. We identify with the reasonable neighbor dealing with the nosey troublemaker next door. We doomscroll opposing takes on trending topics that we know will only serve to make us <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/did-jesus-ever-get-angry">angry</a>. It’s like many of us are addicted to the fight. And it seems that the evolution of technology and media has created an arena that fuels the addiction — like those hateful images, videos, and stories — and ideas are <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/listen-louder-the-game">louder</a> than anything else we consume. But why?  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-677 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-1-7.png" alt="Image of a quote: &quot;Nothing keeps an audience engaged like turning up the volume on conflict.&quot; for the how to love your enemies page" width="1800" height="1200" />



Most media have a simple goal: Create content that will build an audience and sell that audience to advertisers. Newspaper publishers used to say, “If it bleeds, it leads,” because stories about violent crimes and conflicts often found their way to the front page, stoking the reader’s emotions and selling more papers. Now social media makes all of us partners in that emotional manipulation. The loudest and most charged content tends to get the most comments, likes, and shares. And as giant publicly traded media and tech companies feel the pressure to provide more shareholder value, they find ways to keep us consuming. And nothing keeps an audience engaged like turning up the volume on conflict. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-678 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-2-5.png" alt="Image of a quote: &quot;What could possibly be louder and more powerful than hate? LOVE CAN.&quot; for the love your enemies page." width="1800" height="800" /></figure>
Pitting us in ideological battles, amplifying hateful moments and stories in all of humanity all of the time — it is a great way to build an audience and sell ads. It’s also an effective way to make people feel <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/did-jesus-ever-get-angry">angry</a>, isolated, anxious, and distrustful of others. And, just like a slot machine, our social apps reward the pleasure centers in our brains with likes, shares, and comments when we participate — commenting on that divisive video or sharing that snarky meme. It’s systemic. It’s diabolical. And it works.  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-679 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-3-5.png" alt="Image of Jesus showed us the path to human flourishing and fulfillment was to love others as oneself " width="1800" height="1200" /> So what could possibly be <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/listen-louder-the-game">louder</a> and more powerful than hate? Love can. But not just any love. Confounding love. Unconditional love. Sacrificial love. The love we see in Jesus. This shocking and even revolutionary figure — who challenged the status quo of his time, who spoke out against the religious and political leaders of his day, who advocated for the marginalized and oppressed, but who always, always, always loved others despite their identity, beliefs, or values. Jesus showed us the path to human flourishing and fulfillment was to love others as oneself, even if it costs you your life. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-674 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline3.png" alt="Image of What if we tried to love our enemies the way Jesus loved his?" width="1800" height="110" /> How would it change the tenor of our conflicts and our conversations? What would the world look like if we all resisted the temptation to defend our self-interest at all costs and loudly proclaimed together that the love for others, the compassion for another’s lived experience, the empathy for their position, and the respect for their dignity were the most important values we all could hold? That’s a hard ask, seemingly impossible. But He Gets Us invites people to explore the story, teachings, and mission of one who lived that way. No matter what you believe about God or Christianity, consider this: What might we learn today from a person like that?

Jesus loved the people we hate.

As we were looking at ways to talk about Jesus’ unexplainable forgiveness, we kept coming back to one moment — when Jesus forgave the people who put him on the cross. It’s a moment that almost becomes more difficult to comprehend the more you think about it. He said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” How could he, an innocent man, possibly forgive the people responsible for his death as it was happening? How could he forgive the people who jeered and showed no remorse? It feels impossible, but it’s what he did.
As he hung on the cross, he didn’t lash out — he asked a friend to take <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/jesus-practiced-self-care">care</a> of his mother, he comforted the man being crucified alongside him, and he prayed to God to forgive the people who put him on the cross. He came to preach forgiveness, to give forgiveness, and, in that moment on the cross, to model it.
His earlier teachings — in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere — point us toward forgiving one another, and there’s a reason why. Jesus knew that seeking revenge or getting even doesn’t fulfill, and holding on to hatred and resentment only breeds more of the same. Forgiveness is a two-way street. It is a powerful display of love for the one being forgiven, but that’s not all. It is also a release of resentment for the one doing the forgiving. The choice to forgive — though incredibly difficult at times — is a choice that stops the cycle of hurt and pain, turns the page, and brings with it real peace. It is a choice that is good for us.
Even when rejecting hatred and resentment was hard, Jesus chose forgiveness. He offered that forgiveness freely, and his call is for us to do the same.
Scripture references: Luke 23:34, Luke 23:40-43, John 19:26-27, Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus chose forgiveness.

We were looking at the story of Jesus’ arrest and death and were struck with a simple question: who was responsible? Who put him up on that cross? What a messy question.
The circumstances leading up to Jesus’ death were chaotic. A week prior, he was drawing massive crowds. People pushed in close just to see him and to hear what he had to say. And then suddenly, everything changed. Whether it was because he called out the corrupt money-making methods used in the temple or because he was getting too popular and upsetting the status quo, the people in power decided to take action to get rid of him.
They took a mob with them in the middle of the night to arrest him. They held a hasty trial to make him look like a criminal. It worked, and the public’s perception of him flipped. By morning, a whole mob led by religious leaders called for his death. But there was a problem: according to their laws, they could not kill him. They judged him guilty and wanted the death penalty, but they couldn’t carry it out.
You see, the religious leaders had similar power to what news agencies and media groups have today. They had the ability to sway the court of public opinion — to present just the right information to get everyone on board with the guilty verdict, but they couldn’t deliver the punishment. They needed a third party with authority.
Pontius Pilate was that third party. He was the Roman governor of Judea, where all this chaos was taking place. The Romans had colonized Judea and were not held in high esteem for it, but they did hold all the power. So, the mob took Jesus to Pilate and demanded the death penalty. But Pilate wasn’t buying it. He questioned Jesus himself to try and determine what crimes he might be guilty of. What could he possibly have done that was deserving of death? Pilate found nothing. He declared to the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”
And this is the pivotal point in the story. The religious leaders and the mob wanted Jesus dead, and Pilate was the only one who could legally have him killed, but Pilate was sure that Jesus was innocent. He had the power to save an innocent man’s life, but an angry mob was at his gates — a mob that would only get more heated and violent if their demands were not met.
Civil unrest reflects pretty poorly on him as a governor, so what did he do? He sentenced Jesus to death. But as he did it, he made one last effort to avoid the guilt of killing an innocent man. He publicly washed his hands in front of the crowd. With it, he signaled to them that Jesus’ blood would be on their hands — they were responsible, not him.
There’s that idea of responsibility again. Who is ultimately responsible? Was it the religious leaders who organized and orchestrated the arrest? The mob who called for Jesus’ death? The bystanders who knew Jesus was innocent but sat silently, trying to stay out of the eye of the mob’s violence? Was it Pilate who was given the authority to kill or save but decided it was easier to shirk that responsibility and let an innocent man die than to face the anger of the mob and the guilt of the decision? The Roman soldiers who carried out the sentence and nailed Jesus to the cross? Or maybe all of the above? It’s a messy question with a lot of moving parts, and it’s just as messy outside the story of Jesus.
When someone is wrongly convicted, who is responsible? The real perpetrator of the crime? The officers who made the wrongful arrest? The prosecutor who used misleading evidence? The jury that determined a guilty verdict? The judge that swings the gavel? The countless others that felt in their heart something wrong was being done but stayed silent?
The way Jesus responded in the face of injustice suggests we’re asking the wrong question when we ask who to blame. When he was nailed up on a cross, he audibly forgave the people that put him there. He didn’t hold anyone responsible. When Jesus was the object of injustice, he chose forgiveness. And he called others to look inward and do the same. In a world of finger-pointing and blame-placing, Jesus’ approach is radical. We think living by it would change everything.
Scripture References: Mark 14:53-65; Matthew 27:23-24; Luke 23:34; John 8:1-11

Who was responsible for Jesus’ death?

There’s this scripture that kind of trips us up. Whether you’re a Bible reader or not, you’re probably familiar with it. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Matthew 7:1. Jesus says this toward the end of one of his most famous sermons. He was calling out the hypocrisy of pointing out the faults in others when we have our own faults we should be working on.
But is it realistic to never judge anyone? Truthfully, we must make judgments about people almost every day. When applying for a job, do I want to work for this person? When meeting someone I’m attracted to, should I ask them out on a date? When I need to confide in someone, who do I trust as a friend? Just spend a couple of minutes online, and we realize our entire world is now based on reviews. From doctors to hotels, restaurants to dog walkers, many businesses live or die by the number of stars by their name.
Honest evaluation, however, is different from the judgment Jesus was speaking of. Honest evaluation of others is necessary for a safe and functioning society. The judging Jesus refers to comes from a different place. It comes from our ego. We’re often seeking to elevate ourselves by belittling someone else. Or we try to justify our own bad behavior by labeling somebody else’s behavior as worse. Sometimes, biases and grudges affect how we view and treat others.
With that in mind, Jesus asked us to stop pinpointing the shortcomings of others and to look inwardly and deeply examine our own hearts and motives. It’s not comfortable. But here’s why it’s so important. Jesus knew that if we focused on our own faults and weaknesses, we could become more empathetic toward others. We’d recognize that, like us, every person has challenges and struggles that we can relate to. And that’s how Jesus’ radical love is demonstrated today. By recognizing our own flaws, we can all become a little more merciful, a little more patient, and a little more loving toward one another.
Scripture Reference: Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37; John 7:24

Can I judge without being judgmental?