Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, May 30, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This passage is ostensibly about food. The early Christians disagreed about whether they ought to follow Jewish dietary laws. And it sounds like there were some folks in Rome who wanted to be vegetarians. Paul says, “God loves everyone whether they eat meat or not, so who are you to judge?”
My brother is a vegetarian. If I were to invite him to dinner, I’d serve something vegetarian, even though I’m not. I don’t eat sugar, but I don’t judge others for eating dessert. It’s kind of simple.
Of course, Paul’s writing isn’t really about food. It’s about having respect for others’ individual ways of expressing their faith, whether that’s a set of dietary practices, worship practices, or any other spiritual practice. I don’t get to decide the “right” way to be a Christian. In Paul’s time, Christianity was so new, no one really had a clue. Everything was open to discussion, which, I’m sure, is how this conflict over food arose. And here we are a couple thousand years later and we still can’t agree. So it’s best to leave any judgment required to someone better qualified to render it (and honestly, I’m pretty sure there’s not a whole lot of judgment coming from God, either).
What worship practices of other traditions bug me? How can I let go of judgment?
