Jesus’ wisdom teaching on judging continues to play out before us Americans in the life of Donald Trump. When he first campaigned against former First Lady and Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, for the U.S. presidency in 2016, he encouraged his supporters attending his political rallies to yell, “Lock Her Up,” referring Ms. Clinton, and they did so with GUSTO. It was because she had inadvertently broken government security protocol by using a private email server for both personal and government electronic messages rather than the federal government’s secure equipment about which she had been instructed. She later admitted it was a “bonehead” mistake on her part.
During that year, the FBI investigated whether Clinton had committed a crime in doing that. About six weeks prior to the election, FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI had finished its investigation of Ms. Clinton’s misuse and concluded that she had not broken any laws. She certainly had no intention to break laws. Nevertheless, Trump continued to blast her about it, saying that if he became president he would reopen the case, saying she should be in prison.
Now, Trump is under investigation by the Department of Justice for something related to Ms. Clinton’s server mishap that is far more serious. When the ex-president vacated the White House, he took hundreds of government-classified documents that did not belong to him. And when the National Archives discovered it, they told him he had no right to do that and to return them. Trump constantly refused over a period of many months.
Then this year the Archives asked the Department of Justice to investigate it, which it has been doing. They sent the FBI to search and recover the docs at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Florida. The matter is now in the courts and Trump continues his obstinate ways, claiming he has a right to these sensitive documents. But in doing so, he continues to subject himself to legal jeopardy that could result in criminal prosecution and him going to prison for it. If that happens, the chickens will have come back to roost for Trump encouraging his political supporters to yell, “Lock Her Up!” Instead, the courts could tell prison guards, “Lock Him Up.”
Not long after Trump was president, I started posting about Jesus’ teaching on judging and relating it to Trump. (It’s now in my book, Bible Predicts Trump Fall.) Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (Matthew 7.1 NRSV). Many people stop there and conclude that all judging is wrong. Not at all! Continuing to read what he said corrects that.
Jesus continued, “For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get” (Matt. 7.2) Jesus thereby put himself under jeopardy as to whether he is a true prophet of God. He said if you do X, then Y will happen to you. That’s a prediction. This is a wisdom saying that Jesus is making, and wisdom sayings in the Bible, such as in the book of Proverbs, often involve prediction.
Jesus continued, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (v. 3). Jesus was using hyperbole by saying “log,” which gets peoples’ attention, is so graphic, and therefore memorable.
Jesus then said, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” (Matt. 7.5). Here, Jesus reveals that he does not mean all judging is wrong but that it should not be done hypocritically.
Former President Donald Trump is now experiencing what Jesus said here. Trump is being judged with the same measure with which he judged Ms. Clinton. Her mishap was about electronic messages that were government property that should have been made secure. But Trump’s mishap involves classified government papers that reportedly contain information about the nuclear weapons of foreign governments. Plus, Trump’s lawyer warned him that he would make himself legally culpable by taking top secret government docs that didn’t belong to him.
How does this work–what Jesus taught? I wonder if God caused Trump to fall into this sinkhole–taking government-classified docs and refusing to return them–because he judged Ms. Clinton, or if somehow it just happens without God’s intervention.
However it works, Jesus’ teaching on judging is playing out before us in our American politics, perhaps like never before. And it is showing us that Jesus was (and I believe IS) a true prophet of God.
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