Last Updated on July 27, 2022 by Brad
A few years ago, this phrase was the popular response to almost everything. People wore bracelets, and for a short time in the relatively early social media world, the hashtag was common: WWJD
The issue that I always had with that was the appearance of this phrase seemed to coincide with many of the places where we might see other phrases that make us raise an eyebrow or two. “Only God can judge me,” is the one that comes to mind for me most often. The issue, of course, isn’t that these phrases aren’t true, but the way in which they’re used – or the particular timing or circumstances – make them less than genuine. In fact, more often than not, the circumstances negate the actual meaning of the phrase. “Only God can judge me,” is frequently used to justify actions we know other people wouldn’t approve and if we’re honest, we never took a moment to consult what God would have wanted in the first place. The same seemed to be true many times when I saw the WWJD response. What would Jesus do? I doubt you took a moment to consult, and even so, how do you know the answer here (that you seem to imply you’re privy to)?
Now, let me make one thing clear. I DO believe we can spend some time in prayer and reflection, especially when properly formed by study of scripture and other relevant sources, to have a better understanding of the mind of the Almighty. I do think there’s value in occasionally, gently, humbly, and with the utmost fraternal love reminding people to take into account what God would wish for them in terms of behavior and attitude. However, I would also say that more than 90% of the time, we simply don’t have that information at our disposal; not like we would like to think we do, and certainly not to the extent we can pass a judgement on someone else’s situation.
Here’s a case to illustrate my point — today’s gospel reading:
A couple of things come to mind. Right away, we might notice that Jesus told them (the people who brought the deaf man to him – and interestingly enough, not the deaf man himself) not to say anything about this to anyone. They didn’t listen because they (thought they) knew better. What would Jesus do? Celebrate this miraculous healing, right? Apparently not. The reason is that we (were we in that crowd) precisely did not understand his will or what was yet to come. I think this still holds true for the most part today.
Secondly, it was the group of people who brought the deaf man to Jesus for healing; the man didn’t come on his own. The circumstances were certainly different then than they are now, but today, it would almost be seen by the deaf community to be a mutilation of the body to seek hearing where you previously had none. Did these people understand that this man may not want that “healing” to occur? Not likely that they even stopped to consider it. This one holds true today in a much more prominent way, and well-meaning as people may be, this is where the ultimate standard of what is Christ-like behavior comes into play. We have to ask ourselves what is most loving in the situation. I promise, beyond any doubt, that making a decision without consulting the one most directly impacted by the decision is NOT an act of love by any measure. I know for certain that praying for someone with a disability to be healed of their circumstances when that person is a stranger to you can be quite offensive; what you perceive as a disability they may perceive as their special gift from God. Even if they don’t quite view it that way, who are you to determine what they want (or should want) from life?
I truly believe that our circumstances in life are either a blessing or a burden based on the way in which we choose to view them, and when we take these things to God with sincerity of heart, we get the response we need – whether it’s a miraculous change or nothing different at all other than our outlook – that we may have hope.
In many ways, the attempt to forecast what Jesus would do or how God judges a particular situation is our own pride and self-absorbed behavior – one of the primary things the entirety of scripture begs us to move beyond. It brings to mind another phrase of Jesus that we don’t hear very often in most of these conversations: “Remove the plank in your own eye before attempting to remove the splinter from another’s.”