There is a concern for others that is welcome. In fact, being concerned with others is a virtue. But minding other people’s business and judging them are not a gesture of true concern. It is easy to judge people who have done wrong or who seem to be living a sinful life. But we are reminded not to judge others, presumably because we really do not know the whole story—why they have done or are doing such things. Instead, we are to look at ourselves, to see whether we, too, are not guilty of the same. We cannot pretend to remove the “speck” in other people’s eyes when we failed to notice the “log” in our own. St. Paul reminds his communities we have a Master who alone has the prerogative to judge, before whom we shall appear and give account of ourselves (Romans 14). So, rather than busying ourselves with judging and condemning others, we should rather busy ourselves reflecting on and taking account of our own lives. Or should the occasion present itself, offer our help and support towards people who are in difficulty. Hypocrisy is a failure in discernment and betrays a lack of self-knowledge and self-respect.

The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”

Abram went as the Lord directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife, Sarai, his brother’s son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.)

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east.

He built an altar there to the Lord and invoked the Lord by name. Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”