Sunday, March 22, 2026
Sunday Reflection: In Judgment
Jesus clearly teaches us not to judge others. "Judge not, lest you be judged," is pretty straightforward.
In my adult life, though, I've had two jobs over the past thirty years: Prosecutor and professor. Both of those jobs have as an essential part of their functions the judgment of others. As a prosecutor, I was tasked with choosing who to accuse of a crime, and proving that they did it. Pretty judgy! And as a professor, a big part of my job is assessing the performance of my students and judging them.
I've always been aware of the tension between my faith and these roles. As a prosecutor, I often had the vision in front of me of Jesus saving the adultress in John 8; in that vision, I was a person holding a rock.
I do try to perform these roles with fairness and humanity, but that does not absolve me. I don't have a clear answer for why this is ok, and I have never been totally comfortable with it.
"Someone is going to have to do these tasks," I tell myself sometimes, "so it better be someone who can imbue it all with kindness, like me." Which is too generous to myself.
There probably are few jobs that don't carry similar contradictions-- but this one is mine, and sometimes it feels quite heavy.
