Our Venerable Father Hilarion the Great.
Philippians 2:16-23; Luke 6:37-45.
Read Luke 6:37-45
Jesus despises hypocrisy. He proclaimed woes to the scribes and pharisees for being hypocrites who were like whitewashed tombs, dishes that were clean on the outside but dirty on the inside, and “blind guides” who would strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (see Mt. 23). When we judge others, it is like noticing the speck that is in our brother’s eye while ignoring the log that is in our own (see Lk. 6:41). We become hypocrites. First we must attend to the log in our own eye, and then we will be free to assist others to remove the speck from their own.
Whenever we recite the creed, we affirm that we believe Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter is reported to say: “And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). Jesus is the merciful and just Judge. We are not called to condemn others. When the Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in adultery to Jesus, He told them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn. 8:6-8). We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and so none of us is without sin (Rom. 3:23). None of us can cast the first stone.
The devil’s role is to accuse. In the Book of Revelation, the devil is referred to as “the accuser of our brethren . . . who accuses them day and night before our God” (Rev. 12:10). The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is referred to as the Parakletos, the Advocate, the Comforter (see Jn. 14:26). Let us not be like the devil who accuses our brothers and sisters but rather be like God Who seeks mercy and compassion for others. Let us leave judgment to Christ and implore Him to show us mercy.