Parable 10 - The Judgment

Forty years ago, the incident happened. Cynthia was two years older than her sister, Barbara.

Barbara was younger and had a high-paying job and no money worries.

Cynthia had lost her job and was desperate for money. She and her husband were behind on rent. Cynthia was visiting Barbara, and when Barbara was in the restroom, Cynthia stole twenty dollars from her sister’s desk. Since it looked like there was at least two hundred dollars in a wad of cash, Cynthia didn’t think her sister would notice.

But Barbara did notice, because that wad of cash was to pay the teenage neighbor for landscaping work. Barbara had double-checked before her sister visited that the amount was correct. She put two and two together and called her sister.

Cynthia confessed to stealing the money, which she said was to buy a few groceries for her and her husband. She promised to pay the money back, and indeed, true to her word, when she got a new job, she tried to give Barbara the money.

But Barbara wouldn’t accept it. In fact, Barbara stopped talking to her. She was furious with her sister.

And so the two sisters stopped seeing each other.

Barbara always referred to her sister as “that no-good thief.” Both sisters had kids, and even though their kids rarely saw each other, they hated their cousins.

Numerous times over the years, Cynthia reached out to Barbara to try to smooth the waters of their relationship, but Barbara wouldn’t hear of it. “I could never trust you, because you’re a liar and a thief, and that will never change.”

Meditation

In this gospel, Jesus is making an important point. God sees what is going on inside of us, not just our outward actions. We may not physically mistreat someone, but if we constantly think poorly of them, if we are always angry with them, if we think of them as nothing but a fool, if we wish they were dead, then we are straying from God’s love. When we do that, our lives become miserable.

Test it out for yourself. Notice how you feel when you judge another person in negative ways. We may find ourselves feeling superior, but we are soon caught by our judgment. When we are caught in judgment, even thinking of a person who has done us wrong can send us into turmoil. There is an important difference between recognizing that people have done wrong and judging them as forever tarnished.

In our simplified story today, Cynthia has clearly done something wrong by stealing money from her sister.

Barbara has initially done nothing wrong, but she refuses to forgive her sister. This dispute spills into the next generation.

For forty years, there has been no peace between the sisters. How sad. And yet, this scenario is not uncommon.

Both are in misery. What goes on inside of us makes a huge difference. Jesus warns us for our own good. What the judgment will be in our next life, we won’t know until we get there, but long-lasting anger, resentment, and a desire for revenge do not make our earthly lives more peaceful. Jesus’ peace is His gift to us. Addressing anger and difficult situations is a pathway to that peace.

Lent is a time to take stock of what’s going on inside of us. The judgment is not just coming in the future. The judgment will be decided today.

Water the seed and ask yourself...

What unhelpful judgments am I harboring?