Called Before the Judge
“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.” Matthew 5:25
Of all the wonderful qualities that Jesus possessed, He was also a very practical Savior. In His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), He made several statements for folks to follow which were just plain common sense. He said that whoever breaks one of the least commandments and teaches others to break them can’t expect to be held in great esteem in God’s kingdom (5:19). He also said to either answer yes or no and don’t go into a long dissertation about why you answered the way that you did–too much information (5:37). One’s word should be enough without making a vow. On the other hand, there are other statements made by Jesus which can be difficult to put into practice. For example, turning the other cheek if someone slaps you (5:39) or giving more than is required when someone sues you in a court of law (5:40). I suppose the most difficult one is to love your enemies (5:44), do good to them, and pray for them. The natural tendency for men and women is to hate their enemies.
In this particular statement referred to in the above verse, Jesus was making a point for those who had a disagreement with one another to quickly settle the matter. Don’t string it out, giving the argument time to fester and possibly allowing it to be blown all out of proportion resulting in broken relationships and ill will toward one another. It is much better to settle on your own than to have to go to court. Our political leaders sure could use this lesson from Jesus in settling matters between parties, committees, and the three branches of government. They string situations and disagreements out for years costing the taxpayers millions of dollars, and they usually never really settle the matter. I suppose one could label our government as dysfunctional. With all the money that they collect from us taxpayers, one would think they could settle matters in lickety-split time, but, unfortunately, it’s no longer about serving the American people. It’s about gaining power and control.
Speaking of control, I had an opportunity a few years ago to see our judicial system in action. One of my neighbors, who is now deceased, had sued a large bank over a foreclosure on his property. He was a Viet Nam veteran and had proof that he had been making the payments on his mortgage but was forced to move out of his home and live in his van for over a year. There were many people gathered in the small courtroom to appear before the judge to state their case. After the judge entered the courtroom, she began to call out all the cases on her docket in the form of a roll call to see who was there and who was not. Most of them were not present to my relief! She then went back to the top of the list to begin the proceedings of those that were there.
Some of the attorneys stood to tell her that there was a settlement in the works. She would dismiss them and go to the next one on the list. One lawyer stood and began to make an explanation about his case. She told him that she would get with him later about it. He said, “Your honor, if I could just have a minute, we won’t need to meet”. (I was thinking, whoa, he’s brave). The judge said, “No, no, no, no, no. I always get my way, at least in here”. A judge wields a lot of power. There was another case in which a friend of the complainant spoke for her. The judge asked her if she was a lawyer. She said that she was not, and then the judge lectured her about how much trouble she could bring on herself by representing someone without having a license to practice law. That case didn’t get very far needless to say, at least, not that day.
On this earth, probably one of the most intimidating events is to stand before a judge in a court of law. They basically have control over the destiny of those who stand before them. As nerve wracking as that is, imagine having to stand before the Judge of all the earth. Those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior don’t have to worry about standing before God, the Father. Jesus has already done that for us when He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and was resurrected to give us eternal life in heaven. Believers will appear before the judgment seat of Christ where He will bestow the rewards that we will receive commensurate with how we served Him and lived our lives for Him. The fourteen most desired words to hear from Jesus at the time when we depart this life: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:21,23). Is that not exceedingly preferrable to having to stand before the righteous and holy Judge as an unforgiven and unjustified sinner?
PS: My neighbor did win his case but was only able to live in his home less than one year until he passed away with cancer.