Wake Up!

Pope Francis says that he wants his Priests and Religious to: "Wake up the world!"

This is all very good but to wake up the world you have to be awake yourself.

I am reminded of Jesus' message to the Pharisees: "'Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?.....  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.'"  Matthew 7 3,5 (NRSV)

While I do believe that Pope Francis is an enlightened person that does not guarantee that all of his Priests and Religious are enlightened.

The quotation above comes in the context of judgement.

Jesus says: "'Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.  For with the judgement you make you will be judged.'"  Matthew 7:1,2 (NRSV)

So all of the Churches that preach judgment are in error.

This is a basic mistake made by authoritarian religious leaders who have not fully experienced the real God.

They adhere to the rigid Orthodoxy taught in Theological Colleges.

But God is merciful and forgiving.

God does not judge us.

"First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye,''"  Matthew 7:5 (NRSV)    

{Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

Photo Credit: AdamCohn Flickr via Compfight cc

(The image has been slightly modified.)