The homeless person and the judge…
I recently met a homeless person on the street and when I asked him who God is, he said: sure! Just look at my tattoo!
When I asked why he had chosen that particular text (which is part of Matthew 7), the answer was that he was judged a lot by people. And those people had a very wrong image of him, and he was done with that. With that tattoo, he wanted to indicate that he distances himself from their (in his view) unfair judgment.
And I get that. People are indeed quick to judge and as a person who lives on the street, you certainly have to deal with that. Most people really have no idea why he ended up on the street. Not at all. But their judgment of him… that is not gentle. That judgment is immediately clear: you drunk, go work for your money, a bunch of criminals, not to be trusted, lazy dogs, etc etc etc…
But if they had taken even an hour to have a real conversation, they would have discovered that there was a huge story behind this man. And in all honesty… if you or I had gone through the same thing… would we have done better? I am afraid not.
So no. I don’t judge that person. Not even one percent. And I also understand what he’s trying to do with that tattoo. And if you can take that step of not judging him, you can have a good conversation about how he is really doing. But also a conversation about the scary thing about that verse… because yes, with that verse as a tattoo he can perhaps create space between those people and him for now, but that verse also says something that cannot be avoided… because God is going to judge him/us/me…
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:14
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.
John 12:48
And there is no escaping that. You cannot separate yourself from that. And I hope and pray that God opens this man’s ears and heart so that he is judged and not condemned and that he really understands what his tattoo is trying to tell him…
