NOTES for Mat 7:1-12

Today's reading is devoted to two themes that, at first glance, are not directly connected. On the one hand, it speaks about judgment and about the fact that Christ's followers would be better off not acting as judges (vv. 1-5). On the other hand, Jesus directly advises His disciples to ask the Father for everything they may need (vv. 7-11). And this advice is introduced by words about a careful attitude toward what is holy (v. 6). At first glance, these are completely different things; but if we think carefully, we can notice that here too Jesus is again speaking about the Kingdom. Indeed, if a person can "not judge," it is only and precisely in the Kingdom.

In our fallen world, any evaluation almost automatically becomes not only a judgment, which is permitted to us, but also condemnation, which is forbidden. Evaluation without condemnation is possible only in the Kingdom, where the very environment in which communication takes place is different. In such an environment one can compare oneself with others without at the same time determining whose step on the hierarchical ladder is higher. And not because everyone in the Kingdom suddenly becomes the same, but because the ladder itself loses its significance there. In the fullness of the Kingdom each person receives his own fullness given by God, and then the comparison so familiar to us in our world becomes meaningless.

But how can such vision be attained in our fallen world? Obviously, only by preserving the Kingdom that is already given to every follower of Christ now, in this world. It is no accident that the Savior reminds us of the need to keep what is holy pure, without defiling it with anything unclean (v. 6). "Dogs" and "swine" are mentioned here for a reason: they are unclean animals that in the Bible often become symbols of uncleanness as such.

And the call to treat people as we would want them to treat us (v. 12) also reminds us of the Kingdom. It would seem that before us is only the well-known "Golden Rule" of ethics, but that is still not exactly so. The point is not to treat people the same way they treat us, but to treat them as we would want them to treat us. In that case it becomes clear that we can treat people only with love and certainly without condemnation: it is hard to find anyone who would not want to be loved, or would want to be condemned, even if that person understands that there is not much to love him for and that there is plenty to condemn him for. Here it becomes clear that in our fallen world this is impossible. But what is impossible here becomes possible in the Kingdom.

If we relate to our neighbors exactly as Jesus commanded us, then the Kingdom has already become reality for us, and then we can ask as people ask in the Kingdom, where God gives without measure. The point is not that while we are here He cannot give us everything He could give there. It is simply that in the Kingdom, having learned to give without remainder and in fullness, we will also learn to receive in fullness - as people give and receive in the Kingdom.