Jesus Never Told Us to Judge Them

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37)

I was eating lunch the other day at the senior citizens center. I sat at the table with three elderly citizens, all of whom enjoying their golden years.

As I listened to them, I couldn’t help but notice how one of my lunch companions just teemed with love. The attitude and character that she modeled for us in the thirty minutes we spent together changed my life. Indeed, the Christian qualities I saw in this woman have convinced me how much I need to assess my own progress as a Christian. I trust. No, I pray that you will feel the same way after you read today’s column. Believe me, you and I can learn a lot about the quality of our own faith from what I saw during my short visit with her.

While we ate, this woman ultimately revealed that she had a lost a son to AIDS. She never mentioned how her son had contracted such a deadly disease. Frankly, I realized as her story unfolded that it really didn’t matter whether he died because of his sexual orientation, a needle stick, or a tainted transfusion. The real issue is that he was a victim and needed our love, not our judgment. “Jesus never told us to judge them,” she reminded me. “But he did tell us to love them.”

My new friend had dedicated the rest of her life to loving and caring for those whose bodies have been, or soon will be, ravaged by AIDS. She realizes that while their bodies may be condemned, sentence has yet to handed down on their souls. So, she loves them while many of us shun them.

I’ve always wanted to write a column on AIDS, but I never thought that an old woman would deliver the inspiration to do it. You see, I don’t agree that God brought AIDS our way to punish the world for the sin of homosexuality. Yes, I believe homosexuality is wrong. In fact, it is an “abomination”. “Thou shalt not live with mankind, as with womankind; it is an abomination.” (Leviticus 16:22)

But I also know that God intends for Christians to love their fellow man, even when he has AIDS. In fact, Jesus taught his disciples that Christians should first love God with all their hearts, souls and minds. Then, they should love their neighbor just as if he were one of their own. “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” he tells us. (Matthew 22:40)

Instead of following Jesus’ instructions, we use AIDS as an opportunity to condemn others. We show very little love for any of them. Instead, we seek to distance ourselves from them and use their malady to scare the devil out of the rest of us. We aren’t pointing them towards God, we are driving them away. And the irony of it all is that it’s the sin in our lives, not their lives, that will seal their fate. They may never see heaven because we never gave them the opportunity to see Jesus.

Our attitude about AIDS reminds me of the attitude that the Pharisees displayed when Jesus walked among us. They condemned Jesus for associating with sinners. You see they forgot to look at others through the sin in their own lives. Jesus reminded them as he continues to reminds us: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12)