In today’s gospel, many of Jesus’ Nazarene neighbors “took offense” at him and his words because they thought they “knew” him. And what they knew about him didn’t match what they were witnessing.

They were seeing and hearing Jesus in the flesh, right before their eyes! Why, we wonder, couldn’t they realize he was teaching with authority, that he was something special, that he was speaking the words of truth and life?

I believe it’s because they were human. And we humans like to think that we know best. And so, they weren’t open to the amazing gift standing right before them.

Like them, sometimes it’s hard for us to see the potential, the wisdom in people we have prejudged. We let past experiences and preconceived ideas cloud our perceptions and close our minds.

This leads us to judge others more severely than we judge ourselves, even though, as Christians, we know Jesus has told us not to (Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37). But at times, we fail and we give in to what almost feels like second nature.

Yet with prayer and reflection, we can find the freedom to suspend that impulse.

With God‘s help, we can open our hearts and grant others the grace that comes from trying to know and understand them, without pre-empting.

As we see and listen to them with our hearts, without judging, we allow God to work through them. And we thereby share in God’s love and divine plan.

Lord, help us to pause, take a breath, and seek your wisdom and Divine Love, this day and every day, whenever we are about to judge another harshly. Amen.

-by Cindy Murphy McMAhon